| If The Playoffs Ended Today: AFC W-L ConfKansas City West 5-0 3-0 Houston South 4-1 3-0 Baltimore North 3-2 2-2Buffalo East 3-2 2-2Pittsburgh WC1 3-2 2-1 Denver WC2 3-2 2-1L A Chargers WC3 2-2 1-2NY Jets 2-3 2-1Las Vegas 2-3 2-2Miami 2-3 2-2Indianapolis 2-3 1-2 Don’t look now, but Sean Payton and the Broncos are in the playoffs. And for all their early struggles, the Jets and Dolphins are a game out of first in their division and half a game below the playoff line. NFC W-L ConfMinnesota North 5-0 3-0Atlanta South 3-2 3-0Washington East 4-1 2-1Seattle West 3-2 0-2Detroit WC1 3-1 3-1Chicago WC2 3-2 2-0 Tampa Bay WC3 3-2 3-2Dallas 3-2 1-1Green Bay 3-2 1-2Philadelphia 2-2 2-2 Dallas, Green Bay, Philadelphia and San Francisco – perhaps the four biggest brands in the NFC all outside the playoffs at the moment. The NFC Playoff Line is higher at the moment as the NFC has a 16-10 advantage in interconference play. This despite the NFC South being just 1-6 against the AFC (primarily the AFC West). That means the rest of the NFC is 15-4 against the AFC. |
| NFC NORTH |
| GREEN BAYWR ROMEO DOUBS has served his one-game suspension – incurred after he missed two games pouting about not being targeted enough. Even though, he was receiving all the passes a sane receiver of his skills could expect or hope for. Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com: Packers coach Matt LaFleur said Monday he came away from his meeting with suspended receiver Romeo Doubs optimistic the issues that led to the team’s disciplinary action have been addressed. The team suspended Doubs on Saturday for one game after he missed two days of practice and meetings on Thursday and Friday last week. The Packers beat the host Rams 24-19 without Doubs, who will be reinstated this week. “What’s done is done,” LaFleur said Monday. “We’re moving forward. I expect us collectively as a team to continue to move that way.” A report from Sports Illustrated said Doubs was upset about his opportunities in the passing game over the first four games of the season, two of which were played without starting quarterback Jordan Love. Doubs, who is in his third season with the Packers, has not spoken to reporters since he left the team last week. LaFleur said it would be a “one-day-at-a-time” process when it came to regaining trust with Doubs and the team. “The one thing I’ll say about it is it’s a pretty isolated incident,” LaFleur said. “This has not happened with him before and I don’t expect it to happen moving forward.” Before Sunday, Doubs ranked second on the team with 20 catches for 169 yards but did not have a touchdown. Meanwhile, second-year pro Jayden Reed has emerged as one of the Packers’ top receivers, if not the No. 1 receiver, despite playing mostly in the slot. With Christian Watson also sitting out Sunday’s game because of an ankle injury, Reed caught four passes for 78 yards against the Rams. The Packers went into Sunday’s game with only four active receivers: Reed, Dontayvion Wicks (two catches for 20 yards), Malik Heath (two for 14) and Bo Melton (one for 12). When asked after the game if those four rallied around one another in the wake of Doubs’ suspension, Reed said: “Yeah, of course. We’re here right now today, so that showed a lot.” Reed added he had spoken with Doubs and said, “He’s doing good.” One of the most popular storylines around the Packers going into the season was the lack of a true No. 1 receiver but rather a large collection of capable pass catchers, including the tight end group, which got a big game Sunday from Tucker Kraft (four catches for 88 yards and two touchdowns). “I would love everybody to go out and get every number they’d love to hit,” LaFleur said. “Especially for myself in trying to set up this team, it’s all about winning and how do you put each piece together to go out there and win games. We’re fortunate we have a lot of players we have a lot of confidence in, specifically on the offensive side of the ball in regards to trying to get everybody involved. It’s a good problem to have, but it could potentially be a problem if you let it be. I think for the most part our guys have done a really good job of just putting the team first.” Here are the numbers from Weeks 1-4 that caused Doubs to sulk: Rec Target Yds Yds/Tar Pct of TargetsDontayvion Wicks 8 22 104 4.7 18.6% Jayden Reed 17 22 336 15.3 18.6% Romeo Doubs 12 20 169 8.5 16.9% Tucker Kraft 12 17 130 7.7 14.4% So balanced targets among the three receivers with great results when throwing to Reed, pretty good with Doubs, pretty bad with Wicks. |
| NFC EAST |
| WASHINGTONPete Prisco of CBSSports.com looks at the Commanders and pronounces it good. Easy. Simple. Smooth. If those words apply to your NFL quarterback, you have a good one. It’s only been five games, but those descriptive words certainly apply to Washington Commanders rookie Jayden Daniels. Some young quarterbacks make it look laborious to play the position, but he makes it seem effortless at times — even when he’s being chased and hit. As the second player taken in last year’s NFL Draft, he has quickly showed to be a quick study on playing the most important position in sports, so much so that he’s actually being mentioned as a potential MVP candidate. The Commanders have won four consecutive games to get to 4-1 and lead the NFC East. In doing so, they are the highest-scoring team in the league at 31.0 points per game. Daniels has 1,135 passing yards, four touchdown passes, two picks and a passer rating of 106.3. He has also rushed for 300 yards and four touchdowns. He is the first player in NFL history to pass for at least 1,000 yards and rush for at least 250 in his first five career games. Daniels has the Commanders up to sixth in my Power Rankings this week as they head to a monster Beltway Battle with the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. We will find out a lot about the rookie quarterback and this team when they play the Ravens. I had Daniels ranked as my top quarterback in the 2024 draft — you can look it up — and the reason was simple: He was a pure passer who could move. The doubters wondered if he would be physical enough, but he has already disproved that notion with his ability to stand in and make throws staring down the rush. Daniels played at Arizona State, which is my alma mater, for two years. He flashed, but he was inconsistent. When he transferred to LSU, he improved greatly, so much so that I said leading into the draft that he was the most-improved player I’ve ever seen in the draft process. The NFL people I trust told me he was a fiend when it came to preparation and work. That sold me on him. Combine that with an offensive coordinator in Kliff Kingsbury who is playing to his strengths, and it’s easy to see why it’s working for Daniels in his first five games. Studying the Commanders tape, which I broke down on for our CBSSportsHQ pre-game show this past Sunday, the thing that stood out was how Kingsbury has adapted his offense to make it work and to make it easy on Daniels, who excels with RPO concepts. Daniels and Kingsbury have taken an offense that had questions, especially up front, and turned it into one of the most-explosive we’ve ever seen. Great quarterbacks cure ills and bad ones expose them. Daniels is curing them. That’s why he’s in the MVP conversation. If he does play well this week, and outplays Lamar Jackson, then that talk will be even louder. The Commanders haven’t exactly beaten up on good teams — the combined record of the teams they’ve beaten is 6-14. But the schedule after Baltimore is Carolina, Chicago and the Giants. This team has a schedule and a quarterback that should make it a playoff team. It’s amazing what a special quarterback can do for a franchise. The Commanders fans need to understand that those years of worrying about the position are over. You have your guy for the next decade plus. Enjoy it. It’s going to be a heck of a run. |
| NFC SOUTH |
| NEW ORLEANSAfter winning the first two games with 45.5 points per game, the Saints have lost the last 3 while scoring 16.3 PPG. And now QB DEREK CARR has a bum oblique. Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com: Saints quarterback Derek Carr left Monday night’s loss early with an oblique injury and said afterward that he wanted to keep playing but physically couldn’t throw a football. “Not good, but we’ll get an MRI and all that tomorrow and figure it out,” Carr said when asked how he was feeling after the game. “I would’ve done anything to stay out there and keep fighting, but I couldn’t.” Carr said he felt something in his oblique and wasn’t able to make a throwing motion afterward. He isn’t sure the nature of the injury and isn’t sure if he can play on Sunday against the Buccaneers. “I just don’t know yet,” Carr said. “It wasn’t like a pain thing, it wasn’t like dealing with pain, if you can deal with the pain you can go. I just literally can’t do what I want to do. Obviously, it’s fresh and it just happened. You know me, I’m going to do anything I can to make sure I’m there on Sunday.” The Saints started the season 2-0 and looked as good as any team in the NFL. Now they’ve lost three straight and are a game behind both the Buccaneers and the Falcons, and a loss on Sunday would be a major blow to their playoff hopes. Carr wants to be out there, but on a short week that’s no sure thing. QB JAKE HAENER went 2-7, 17 yards in relief on Monday. He had only thrown one other pass in his career, another incompletion, prior to that action. Like Carr, Haener went to Fresno State and was a 4th round pick in 2023. |
| AFC WEST |
| KANSAS CITYQB PATRICK MAHOMES, the son of a pitcher, is all in on the Royals and their postseason run. Nate Taylor of The Athletic: Mahomes instead sat in front of his belongings in the middle of the Chiefs’ locker room. Still wearing his dirty white pants, Mahomes could finally do what he wanted to do midway through Monday night’s game against the New Orleans Saints: watch highlights of the most important game of the Kansas City Royals’ season. Mahomes smiled, laughed and pumped his fist while watching highlights on his phone of the Royals’ 4-2 road win over the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the American League Division Series, tying the series at one game apiece. Before he left his seat in front of his locker, Mahomes, who guided the Chiefs to a comfortable 26-13 victory over the Saints, wanted to send a message to Kansas City sports fans. “ROYALSSSS!!!” Mahomes wrote on his X account. “The K about to be jumpin this week!!!!” Mahomes knows the Royals, who are in the postseason for the first time since 2015, will host the Yankees for Games 3 and 4 of the series later this week at Kauffman Stadium, the 51-year-old venue that sits next to Arrowhead Stadium, the 52-year-old venue that hosted Monday night’s Chiefs game. On a rare night in Kansas City sports history, Mahomes said he did his best to concentrate on leading the Chiefs past the Saints instead of wondering how the Royals were doing against the Yankees. “You could feel that (things) were going good” for the Royals, Mahomes said of the Royals. “There was kind of a lull there toward the end of the game and I was like, ‘They’re not showing the score (in Arrowhead); The Yankees came back.’ But the Royals got the win. It’s extremely exciting. We knew the fans at Arrowhead are going to be loud, raucous and be really into the game. “But I haven’t gotten to experience that in Kauffman sold out (in the) playoffs, so it was cool to see that kind of combined.” In June of 2020, the Royals announced that Mahomes was the newest member of the club’s ownership group. The fans inside Arrowhead informed Mahomes and his teammates late in the first quarter of how the Royals were performing in the fourth inning. Many of the 73,000 fans who wore red in support of the Chiefs during a TV timeout began a “Let’s go Royals!” chant. The Royals beat the Yankees with a solo home run from Salvador Pérez, RBI singles by right fielder Tommy Pham, center fielder Garrett Hampson and third baseman Maikel Garcia and strong pitching from Cole Ragans and four relievers.– – -After 26-13 over New Orleans last night, the Chiefs have an 11-game winning streak (counting postseason). Scott Kacsmar points out an oddity about it: The Chiefs have won 11 straight games without scoring more than 27 points, which ties an NFL record. 2023-24 Chiefs – 111928-29 Packers – 111932-33 Bears – 9 They have gone 23 games without scoring more than 31 points (they have done that twice).- – -In the ebb and flow of WR RASHEE RICE’s knee injury, the Chiefs are feeling better today. Adam Teicher of ESPN.com: The Kansas City Chiefs and wide receiver Rashee Rice have “a lot of optimism” that his knee injury isn’t as significant as initially feared and that his recovery timeline could be “much shorter” than first believed, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Monday It’s still unlikely Rice will play again this season, but doctors will not know for sure until they perform surgery Tuesday morning, the source said. Rice injured his right knee in the Chiefs’ Week 4 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. Sources initially said Rice was feared to have torn his ACL, but the team has yet to officially clarify the nature of the injury. There is damage to the lateral collateral ligament (LCL) in his knee, a source told Schefter. The Chiefs placed Rice on injured reserve Thursday in a move that will sideline him for at least the next four games. Rice was injured when quarterback Patrick Mahomes accidentally collided with his knee when the two and other players were chasing a Chargers fumble that followed an interception. Rice entered Week 4 leading the NFL in receptions with 24 and was second in yards with 288. We note that Teicher says “it is still unlikely that Rice will play this season” so the news isn’t that good. |
| AFC NORTH |
| CLEVELANDSome good news for QB DESHAUN WATSON as he “resolves” his latest lawsuit. Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN.com: One month after a new lawsuit was filed accusing Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson of sexual assault and battery, the case has been resolved, according to the plaintiff’s lawyer. “We have now resolved our client’s claim with Deshaun Watson,” attorney Tony Buzbee told ESPN Monday night on behalf of the woman. “The settlement is confidential.” Watson’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, later also confirmed that the case has been resolved. According to the lawsuit, which was filed Sept. 9 in Harris County, Texas, the alleged actions occurred in October 2020 before Watson and a woman, identified as Jane Doe in the court filing, were set to have dinner at her apartment. Watson was a member of the Houston Texans at the time. Watson denied the allegations in a statement issued by Hardin. The NFL has been reviewing the complaint under the personal conduct policy, but the league did not place Watson on the commissioner’s exempt list because there have been no formal charges filed and the review had just begun. A league spokesperson declined to comment Monday night. Buzbee previously told ESPN that the woman, as well as two additional witnesses, planned to speak with the NFL. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the woman still intended to interview with the league as part of its investigation. Watson, 29, served an 11-game suspension in 2022 after more than two dozen women accused him of sexual assault and inappropriate conduct during massage sessions. A pair of Texas grand juries declined to pursue criminal charges against him, but he served his suspension after the NFL and the NFL Players Association reached a settlement in his disciplinary matter. Presumably, the “resolution” will include a depletion of Watson’s considerable fortune. |
| AFC SOUTH |
| HOUSTONPete Prisco on the Texans who are third in his current NFL rankings: They seem to find a way each week to win close games, which is a sign of a good team. We still haven’t seen their best yet. |
| AFC EAST |
| NEW ENGLANDChad Graff of The Athletic on the impending promotion of rookie QB DRAKE MAYE: Will they bench Jacoby Brissett and start Drake Maye in five days or in six? Because the way coach Jerod Mayo spoke in his Monday morning news conference, change is coming. It now seems just a question of whether the Pats make the switch for their home game on Sunday against the 4-1 Houston Texans or wait until the Monday after to anoint Maye as the quarterback heading into the London game against the 1-4 Jacksonville Jaguars. Do they pick the home game against the tougher team? Or the weird week of prep (that includes an international flight) against a lesser team? We’re asking those questions because, on Monday, Mayo struck a drastically different tone. The coach who for four weeks defended Brissett at every turn, preached patience and stressed the importance of sticking to the team’s plan for developing Maye instead left the door open for the switch that has been anticipated since Maye was taken with the third pick in April’s NFL Draft. Mayo used to say things like this, which he said a week ago: “Jacoby is 100 percent our starter.” What was Mayo’s tune on Monday? “We have to look at every single unit and every single player and figure out how we use this roster to go out there and win games,” Mayo said when asked about a potential quarterback change. Of course, the play of the Patriots offense isn’t giving the coach much reason for optimism. Yet when Brissett’s poor numbers came up in the past, Mayo tended to defend the veteran quarterback by noting the pressure he’s often under and the toughness he shows in repeatedly bouncing back. But Monday was different. “It just wasn’t good enough,” Mayo said of Brissett’s performance, an 18-of-34 passing outing for 160 yards. “I thought we played well enough defensively and on special teams to win the football game. Look, as the quarterback, and he understands this, he touches the ball on every single play and we didn’t … score enough points to win the game. I think he would echo that same sentiment that it wasn’t good enough.” We’ve covered every twist and turn with the Patriots’ quarterback situation. And I’ve made it clear that the Patriots should switch to Maye. But as reader Braden D. noted in the comments of Sunday night’s story, the decision can be conflicting as a fan with legitimate reasons for apprehension about throwing Maye into the fire given the state of the roster around him. So based on Braden’s suggestion, let’s dig into the stats (all from TruMedia unless otherwise stated) to examine what the Patriots coaching staff will likely be considering, the pros and cons of switching to Maye right now. ProsThe Patriots need something to jump-start this offense. It simply isn’t working. Or, to be more specific, the passing game isn’t working. The Pats are running it fairly well given that every team they face sells out to stop the run. New England is facing more Cover 1 defense with a single-high safety than any team in the league. Yet the running game has been fine. The Patriots rank 11th in the NFL in explosive plays from the running game, 17th in rushing success rate, and ninth in yards per rush. Teams are daring the Patriots to beat them deep, but until they switch to Maye, there’s no real threat of them doing that. This is the reality of the offense with Brissett. They have the fewest passing yards in the NFL, the worst net yards per attempt, the fewest passing touchdowns and the worst completion percentage. They’ve allowed the second-most sacks and have the second-worst percentage of explosive plays from their passing game. There are reasons beyond Brissett for the unit’s struggles, but Brissett is compounding them by holding onto the ball for too long. Only five teams have been slower at getting rid of the ball than the Patriots. Brissett is simply too slow when he needs to make the kinds of quick decisions that would mitigate the offensive line’s issues. Brissett ranks 19th in the league in the percentage of throws he makes in 2.5 seconds or less. If Maye were better in that area, the offensive line wouldn’t look so bad. Maye played behind a bad offensive line last year at North Carolina, so he should be used to getting the ball out quickly. The expectation with Maye isn’t that he’d come in and be a top-10 quarterback as fellow rookie Jayden Daniels has done in Washington. But if the Patriots can hit a few deep passes, defenses will have to change the way they play the Patriots, which could open up even more success in the run game. At the very least, that would be more worth watching than what we saw Sunday. Plus, while the situation around the quarterback isn’t great, there’s no guarantee next season is going to be dramatically better. What if the top-five pick the Patriots are lined up to get doesn’t pan out? What happens if receivers again turn them down in free agency or trades? Should they just keep Maye on the bench — potentially for another year or two — until they finally feel they have a suitable setup? ConsThere’s no debate about where to start here. The Patriots’ supporting cast for Maye — or any quarterback, for that matter — stinks. There’s not a team in the league that would trade its 10 other offensive starters for what the Patriots have. Let’s start with the offensive line. It was already a bad unit before it lost a starting offensive tackle (Chuks Okorafor) and a starting center (David Andrews). The Pats have now used five different starting O-line combinations in five games. They’ve allowed the highest pressure rate in the NFL (46 percent) despite being blitzed at only the 16th-highest rate. While you could argue that the offensive line was mostly fine on Sunday against the Dolphins, new center Nick Leverett was a disaster. According to Pro Football Focus, he matched the most pressures allowed (10) by a center in one game since the company started charting in 2006. Do you really want to put Maye under center with that guy? The wide receivers are the other issue. While getting Kendrick Bourne back helps, it’s still a group without a player who strikes fear in opposing defenses. Demario Douglas is the only receiver on the team with positive yards after the catch over expected rate (xYAC), per Next Gen Stats. Meanwhile, K.J. Osborn and Ja’Lynn Polk rank last and second-to-last out of 118 qualified players in separation when targeted, per Next Gen Stats. Meanwhile, Polk ranks 113th in yards after the catch over expected. Sure, it helps the Patriots to be able to lean on the running game, but the offense has bigger problems than the quarterback. So why risk hurting Maye’s development by putting him out there with a bad setup around him? “Those guys, it was a little bumpy at first, Jayden Daniels aside, but those guys are playing at a high level,” Mayo said of the other first-round rookie quarterbacks in action this season. “It’s natural for fans and for the media to say, ‘Well, we have a good quarterback waiting in the wings as well.’ At the same time, our mentality is: How do we develop him? How do we get the guys on the field around him to develop, and move forward from there?” Although the two starting rookie QBs not named JAYDEN DANIELS haven’t been lights out, we note they have a combined starting record of 10-5 JAYDEN DANIELS 4-1CALEB WILLIAMS 3-2BO NIX 3-2 The other two rookie first round QBs – MICHAEL PENIX, Jr. (organizational decision) and J.J. McCARTHY (knee injury) – have not played a down. |
| NEW YORK JETSSometimes an owner hangs in for awhile with an embattled coach – and sometimes he jumps the gun before the coach is really embattled. Jets owner Woody Johnson was the latter on Tuesday. The first story from ESPN and Adam Schefter: The New York Jets have fired coach Robert Saleh after starting the season 2-3, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich will be the interim head coach, a source told ESPN. Saleh, who was hired by the Jets in 2021, had a 20-36 record as the team’s head coach. Saleh’s firing marks the first time in owner Woody Johnson’s 25-year tenure that he has fired a coach in the middle of the season. After last season, a 7-10 finish, Johnson acknowledged that he was livid with the outcome and raised the stakes for Saleh by demanding significant improvement. Saleh becomes the third NFL coach to be fired after losing a game in London, according to ESPN Research. The Raiders fired coach Dennis Allen in 2014 the day after they lost 38-14 to the Miami Dolphins at Wembley Stadium, while the Dolphins fired coach Joe Philbin in 2015 the day after they lost 27-14 to the Jets at Wembley. Saleh’s firing comes two days after the Jets lost 23-17 to the Minnesota Vikings at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The Jets entered the 2024 season with high expectations, with quarterback Aaron Rodgers returning from an Achilles injury that had derailed his 2023 season after just four plays, but they have struggled on offense. Quarterback instability marked Saleh’s tenure as the Jets started six different quarterbacks in his four seasons: Zach Wilson (33 games), Mike White (7), Rodgers (6), Joe Flacco (5), Trevor Siemian (3) and Tim Boyle (2). Saleh’s tenure was marked by strong defense and poor offense, largely due to the quarterback instability. In his first season, they drafted Wilson No. 2 overall, but he struggled mightily and eventually was benched and replaced last season by Rodgers, who tore his Achilles on the fourth snap of the season. Worst record as Jets head coachRobert Saleh’s .357 winning percentage ranks as the worst in Jets franchise history among coaches with a minimum of 40 games at the helm. Coach RecordRobert Saleh 20-36 (.357)Todd Bowles 24-40 (.375)Bruce Coslet 26-38 (.406)— ESPN Research Frank Schwab of YahooSports.com quickly declares Saleh to be a “scapegoat.” The NFL is a results business. You are what your record says you are. And so forth. But Robert Saleh was the first coach fired this season because he couldn’t catch a break. Saleh never got his quarterback and that wasn’t all his fault. Saleh ultimately didn’t get the job done, as his 20-36 record will tell you. But Zach Wilson, Aaron Rodgers and others didn’t exactly help. The Jets shocked the NFL world by firing Saleh on Tuesday after a 2-3 start. It wasn’t totally out of the blue, because the Jets came into this season with an enormous amount of pressure to win and haven’t looked good most of the season. The timing seems odd, but Saleh losing his job was possible at any time the Jets were under .500. Everyone knew that coming into the season. Chiefs’ new look offense with old faces beats the Saints to move to 5-0But Saleh being ousted shows that you can find your dream job and then lose it because of circumstances completely out of your control. Robert Saleh fired during his 4th seasonBefore he was fired, Saleh had to wonder how everything would be different if Rodgers hadn’t blown his Achilles last season. Or if Rodgers hadn’t come at all. The one thing that Saleh got right in his three-plus seasons as Jets coach was defensive brilliance. They were bad in his first season but the roster was a total mess. In the three seasons that followed New York was fourth, third and second in yards allowed. The Jets’ yards allowed per game dropped precipitously each of the past three seasons, while their red zone efficiency and third down conversion percentages were elite, according to TruMedia data. Saleh was hired because he was a great defensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers, and he delivered on that part of the job. The offense didn’t cooperate. The first misstep was Zach Wilson. If the 2020 Jets didn’t get two meaningless wins in December under Adam Gase, they would have drafted Trevor Lawrence first overall and not Wilson second. Lawrence has his own issues but he’s light years better than Wilson, one of the biggest draft busts in many years. Perhaps Saleh can be blamed for not developing Wilson, but let’s see if Wilson emerges as a viable quarterback with any other coaching staff in his career. Most likely, it just seemed that the Jets made a bad draft pick. That’s not all on Saleh. Rodgers was going to fix it all after the Jets made a big trade for him. Then, four plays into last season, he tore his Achilles. Saleh can’t control that. If anything, going 7-10 last season with the worst quarterback play in the NFL showed that Saleh can coach. He had to feel like with just average quarterback play the Jets would have made the playoffs. And it’s hard to put the blame on Saleh for the offensive issues. Saleh doesn’t win with Aaron RodgersRodgers is, as Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy once said, a “complicated fella.” To get Rodgers, Saleh had to give up a lot of control. Nathaniel Hackett is a Rodgers favorite, and even though he had a horrible season as the Denver Broncos head coach, he was hired to be the Jets’ offensive coordinator. That was a transparent move to land Rodgers, not because Hackett is a brilliant offensive mind. Hackett was kept on for a second season and it’s hard to imagine that was solely due to his offensive acumen. The Jets, and Saleh, bent over backward to make Rodgers happy. When the offense struggled this season with Rodgers, who was a year older and coming off a major injury, it’s hard to pin that (or things like Breece Hall’s sudden struggles) on Saleh. It also didn’t help Saleh that his complicated QB publicly gave him a subtle rip for not holding players accountable, or had an awkward moment on the sideline with him when Saleh apparently wanted to give his quarterback a celebratory hug. And some other things were completely out of Saleh’s control. Imagine if kicker Greg Zuerlein made a field goal in the final minute of a Week 4 game against the Denver Broncos. Would a 3-2 Jets team, tied for first place in the AFC East, be firing its coach? Probably not. If the Jets had Lawrence and not Wilson; if Rodgers had gone to the Denver Broncos or somewhere else when the Packers were shopping him and the Jets had figured out a different solution at quarterback; if Rodgers had stayed healthy when he might have still had a good season left before age 40; or even if New York’s kicker hadn’t missed a field goal to beat Denver, Saleh’s story might be much different. At very least he probably still has a job. Saleh’s final record with the Jets will say 20-36. He isn’t totally off the hook for that, or the Jets’ poor start to this season. But he also couldn’t catch a break. Saleh ultimately took the fall as others around him failed. Life in the NFL isn’t always fair. So – did Woody Johnson fire Saleh over the objections of GM Joe Douglas. Or did Douglas seek out Johnson and ask/demand Saleh’s termination and Johnson somewhat reluctantly complied. Or somewhere in the middle? And if the former, is Douglas on thin ice? Someone named Tony Banks on Twitter: @hiphopstolenIt’s funny in @nyjets land today. Joe Douglas, for three years, has given Saleh the worst QBs around and kept his job. Then, the owner wanted a package of Hackett and Aaron Rogers. And that pairing hasn’t worked either. Jeff Ulbrich is now in so, Go Jets. I root for the uni. Tyler Sullivan of CBSSports.com wrote this a couple of weeks ago: The New York Jets have plenty of hype surrounding them as they are set to begin their 2024 regular season in San Francisco on Monday night. While the key storylines will surround Aaron Rodgers returning from his season-ending Achilles injury and the franchise looking to snap its playoff drought, another situation worth monitoring has popped up in the front office. General manager Joe Douglas is entering the final year of his contract and has yet to sign an extension, according to NFL Media. It is a rarity for GMs to be entering a lame-duck season, but the report notes that all sides are comfortable with this position. Douglas was hired by the Jets in 2019 after he served as the vice president of player personnel with the Philadelphia Eagles. While New York has yet to reach the playoffs under Douglas’ watch, he has helped bring the organization to relevancy and inject them with top-tier talent via multiple avenues. The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard Douglas was able to execute the trade that landed Aaron Rodgers in 2023 and was also responsible for the drafting of wide receiver Garrett Wilson and cornerback Sauce Gardner, who won Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year honors in 2022. Running back Breece Hall, pass rusher Jermaine Johnson II and offensive lineman Alijah Vera-Tucker are among some of Douglas’ other key draft finds. However, it hasn’t been entirely rosy for Douglas. He did select Zach Wilson with the No. 2 overall pick in 2021, which proved to be a bust. More recently, he traded for former Eagles pass rusher Haason Reddick this offseason and he has yet to show up amid a contract dispute that extends back to his time in Philadelphia. Of course, if the Jets accomplish what they are capable of in 2024, odds are this situation with Douglas gets sorted out rather easily. Still, it remains in fascinating situation to keep an eye on throughout the year. The Jets are only a game behind the mighty Bills and a half game below the AFC Playoff Line. So, as Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com reports, Saleh was stunned: Robert Saleh had no idea he was going to be fired this morning. Saleh told Jay Glazer of Fox Sports he was blindsided by Jets owner Woody Johnson walking into his office and firing him today. Heading into this season, Saleh thought he had a very good roster, and he thought he would be given a longer opportunity to win with that roster than he was. Instead, Saleh is fired after a 2-3 start to the season. Johnson would likely counter by saying Saleh got plenty of time to build his team in New York, and his 20-36 record as the Jets’ head coach is obviously not good enough. Saleh was the 49ers’ defensive coordinator for four years before Johnson hired him to be head coach of the Jets, and will likely be looking for another defensive coordinator job soon. For now, he’s out in a place where he thought he had job security. This from Woody: This was not an easy decision, but we are not where we should be given our expectations, and I believe now is the best time for us to move in a different direction,” Johnson said in a statement. Two of the losses, including the one that got him fired, were to Minnesota and San Francisco (the latter we still believe is a good team). The wins were over Tennessee and the Patriots. So the 10-9 home loss to the Broncos in Week 4 would seem to be the tipping point on those “expectations.” |
