This once-promising Jets season has cratered and the team is now preparing for its 12th straight season without a playoff berth.
None of the players or coaches have had to live through that entire 12-year drought, but owner Woody Johnson has. You now have to wonder if Johnson will be looking for someone to fire after this collapse. The Jets were 7-4 at the end of November and the playoffs looked like a realistic destination. But the Jets have lost five games in a row and were eliminated from playoff contention with Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks.
It is unlikely that Johnson will fire general manager Joe Douglas or head coach Robert Saleh. The coach who could be in the crosshairs, though, is offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, Brian Costello of the New York Post reports. The Jets have scored four touchdowns in this five-game losing streak and LaFleur has had no answers whether Zach Wilson or Mike White is at quarterback.
Saleh predictably threw his support behind LaFleur.
“I think in moments like these, this is Year 2 of commitment to go young everywhere,” Saleh said. “Coaches, players, staff, everybody, and it’s so important to take a deep breath, keep the main thing the main thing, and make sure we do a great job with regards to self-scouting, evaluation, and make sure that we’re telling ourselves the truth rather than allowing narrative and panic to set in, so these are all things that we’re going to study the heck out of once the season is over.”
“It’s not basketball where you can point at one person, or golf where you can look inward,” Saleh said. “There’s 11 guys on the field, and each of those guys have a football coach. There’s a lot of moving parts in one play, there’s a lot of moving parts, and to try to pinpoint one person just to make people feel good about giving a reason why something’s failing, it’s not fair to players, it’s not fair to the GM and the scouts, it’s not fair to anybody, but finding the truth is what is fair, and that’s something that takes time.”
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