He didn’t have to be Ray Handley following Bill Parcells, or Ben McAdoo following Tom Coughlin. Robert Saleh was following Adam Gase.
“Get used to the mantra ‘All gas, no brake,’ ” Saleh said at his introductory Jets press conference over Zoom during the pandemic. “We’re not talking about effort on the field, we’re talking about the process at which we do things. We’re talking about the way we prepare, the way we wake up every single morning, the way we rehab, the way we communicate, the way we speak to one another.
“When we wake up in the morning, we will all, from top down, step on the pedal and find a way to get somewhat better than we were when we woke up. To our fans, we embrace your passion, we embrace your expectations, we cannot wait to go on this journey with you. … Please understand we understand that we have a lot of work to do.
“But make no mistake — no mistake — that our goal is to win championships. … It’s gonna be an exciting time, and I promise that you’re gonna love what you all see.”
Three years later, Saleh will be taking an 18-33 record into the 2024 season. He will be taking a 13-year franchise playoff drought into the season. He will be taking a 55-year Super Bowl drought into the season.
Three years of “All aghast, no break.”
Zach Wilson is gone. Aaron Rodgers has a healthy, albeit 40-year-old, Achilles. There are no excuses now anymore for Saleh, and no more mulligans.
It is past time for him to win, and win big. The division is more up for grabs now than it has been since Tom Brady left New England.
Win the damn thing.
It is past time for him to remind everyone, from Woody Johnson on down inside the Jets Atlantic Health Training Center, that he was hired to be the CEO leader Gase was not.
More than the coach of the defense. The coach of the entire team.
No one will care whether Rodgers continues to lobby for him if Saleh doesn’t at the least coach a playoff team.
No one will care how well he works with GM Joe Douglas — there is room on the hot seat for the two of them — should Rodgers fail to help save him, and them.
Saleh spending more time brainstorming on offense with Rodgers or maybe popping into a meeting room hardly means that Rodgers will be deferring to any Air Saleh operation.
It isn’t Saleh’s fault that Wilson was a bust. His mistake was throwing him to the wolves on Day 1. Saleh isn’t going to magically transform into Kyle Shanahan and whisper invaluable sweet somethings into offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett’s ear. But it behooves Saleh to show the owner that he’s at least trying to be the coach of the entire team.
“Just understand what they’re trying to accomplish and just trying to provide some insight from a defensive perspective,” Saleh said at Jets OTAs of his contributions to the offense. “I’ll have suggestions just like any other head coach.”
Garrett Wilson welcomes them.
“We’ve had some great conversations about ball,” Wilson said. “The fact that he values my opinion as much as he does, I’ll never take that for granted. The fact that he has all that knowledge on defense, it helps us on offense. You see teams around the league try to mimic what he’s done. He’s had a lot of these [defensive] guys for three years now, so maybe that’s where you see him venture on to the offensive side. Guys know their stuff now. “
It is difficult to get past the perception that Aaron Rodgers isn’t the head coach (and GM) of the New York Jets. It would be comforting for fans to recognize and acknowledge that this is Robert Saleh’s team.
He and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich ought to field an elite defense with stars at each level — Quinnen Williams, C.J. Mosley, Sauce Gardner. Brant Boyer is a highly respected special teams coordinator. Saleh has better protectors and playmakers now for Rodgers, and a better backup QB in Tyrod Taylor.
Rodgers wanted to play for him. And wanted to continue playing for him this season. But now it is winning time for Saleh. Or else.
His players play hard for him. He needs them — LT Tyron Smith, RG Alijah Vera-Tucker, RT Morgan Moses, WR Mike Williams, and most of all, Rodgers — to play healthy for him. He needs to figure out a way for his defense to win the close games, should there be more storms to weather.
“I think we’re all hopeful, and we all believe that if we can stay healthy,” Saleh said, “we’ll be pretty damn good.”
All gas, no brake, please.