Robert Saleh's tenure as Head Coach of the New York Jets is over, and it stunned everyone. Yes, the Jets are 2-3, their season hangs in the balance heading into Monday's match-up with the Buffalo Bills, but nobody, and I mean nobody expected owner Woody Johnson to pull the trigger now, in-season, with 12 games left.
But, as Johnson said publicly Tuesday, he feels this is the best roster of talent he has had in his 25-years as owner.
And that was enough impetus for him to make the move to fire Saleh in the early morning Tuesday. In fact, according to reports, Saleh arrived for work as he would normally and found out of the Johnson's decision shortly there after.
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Johnson only consulted with General Manager Joe Douglas, even though his mind was already made up, and according to reports, Aaron Rodgers was not an influence, directly.
If you want to believe that.
There were also reports Tuesday that Saleh was considering demoting Offensive Coordinator Nathaniel Hackett from play-calling duties in favor of Todd Downing, but he never got the chance to do it as Johnson came down with the edict.
Was Aaron Rodgers involved? Who knows. But it is ironic that Johnson made the move on Saleh amid the Hackett report. Hackett is close with Rodgers. Make your own guess. Rodgers was also blamed for Mike McCarthy's dismissal in Green Bay back in 2018. This is nothing new.
While Saleh's firing appeared inevitable, it wasn't like all the blame was on him, even if he was the head coach. The offense is broken. It needs to be fixed, and the Jets are piolted by a 40-year old quarterback who is both hurt and irritable. Not a good combo.
It will be fascinating to see how Jeff Ulbrich handles this situation. If he can get the Jets to the playoffs, then he would have earned the head coaching job. If not, the Jets will need a complete house cleaning come January.
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