Saleh tragedy: The New York Jet just officially fired Robert Saleh claiming 45-year-old paid a price for starting 2-3 this season and never had a winning season…
Furthermore, according to NFL insider Adam Schefter, the team’s decision to let go of Saleh shows that it supports the player behind center.
The 45-year-old paid a price for starting 2-3 this season and never had a winning season in New York. Saleh, who signed a five-year contract worth a reported $5million annually in 2021, leaves with a 20-36 record since taking over in 2021.
Popular defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich is due to take over as interim head coach ahead of a Monday Night Football showdown against the Buffalo Bills.
According to NFL insider Jordan Schultz, Saleh reported to work as usual on Tuesday and the shock decision was a “stunner” to many within the organisation.
A dismal showing against the Minnesota Vikings in London was the last straw for the New York hierarchy.
A week earlier, the Jets committed five false start penalties in a sloppy 10-9 loss to the Denver Broncos.
Saleh suggested that Rodgers’ use of cadence might have been an issue.
We gotta figure it out, whether or not we’re good enough or ready to handle all the cadence,” Saleh said. “Cadence had not been an issue all camp.
“I felt like our operation had been operating pretty good. Obviously today we took a major step back.”
Rodgers appeared put out when Saleh’s comments were pointed out to him.
“That’s one way to do it – the other way is hold them accountable,” Rodgers said.
“We haven’t had an issue, we’ve had one false start. Morgan (Moses) had one false start I believe, until this.
It’s been a weapon. We use it every day in practice. We rarely have a false start, and to have five today, it seemed like, four or five, it seems like an outlier.
“I don’t know if we need to make mass changes based on kind of an outlier game.”
Rodgers and Saleh always appeared to be reading from different playbooks.
Even a dominant win 24-3 victory over the division rival New England Patriots, where Rodgers looked like his former MVP self, caused headlines for all the wrong reasons.
After Breece Hall scored to make it 14-0, Rodgers slapped Saleh’s hand before the head coach went in for a hug.
The quarterback pushed him away and glared back while shouting something.
“He’s not a big hugger usually, so I didn’t know he was going for the hug,” Rodgers said after the game as he tried to play down the moment.
“He likes to do the two-hand chest push as well. He talks a lot about two-score leads. So I kind of gave him a push and said, ‘Two-score lead.'”
Actions speak louder than words and it was clear that there was an issue between the team’s leaders on and off the field.
