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Rich Cimini, ESPN Staff Writer
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The unrest began the morning of Oct. 8, when New York Jets owner Woody Johnson walked into coach Robert Saleh’s office and fired him in a conversation that lasted only slightly longer than a 30-second timeout.
The turmoil spiked Sunday at Gillette Stadium, where the Jets unraveled in mind-boggling fashion in a last-minute loss to the New England Patriots. It brought interim coach Jeff Ulbrich to the verge of tears in the locker room as he tried to convince his demoralized team that its five-game losing streak is “a moment of darkness,” not a permanent blackout.
Over a 20-day span, the Jets changed head coaches, demoted playcaller Nathaniel Hackett, traded for quarterback Aaron Rodgers‘ favorite wide receiver in Davante Adams and settled a contract holdout with Haason Reddick, an edge rusher who had been in no rush to report to the team that traded for him in April. Amid the upheaval, they tried to rally around a locker room speech from Adams that raised some eyebrows.
Final tally on the 20 days of tumult: Three losses, $20 million out of Johnson’s pocket (for Adams and Reddick) and questions about whether the “all-in” Jets might be all-out on the season by Tuesday’s trading deadline.
“Status quo is killer,” Johnson told a small group of reporters at the league’s fall meetings, explaining his rationale behind the coaching bombshell and the acquisition of Adams.
“One of the most talented teams ever assembled by the New York Jets” (Johnson’s words on Oct. 8) is on its way to becoming one of the biggest busts in recent NFL history. On this Halloween, the Jets are the scary movie. If New York (2-6) continues to spiral, maybe it can use Vincent Price in an AI-generated voiceover for its 2024 highlight film.
The Jets appeared lifeless in Week 7 and dysfunctional in Week 8, when they became only the second team in the past nine years to burn three timeouts in the first quarter. It’s anybody’s guess as to what they will look like against the Houston Texans on Thursday (8:15 p.m. ET, Amazon Prime) at MetLife Stadium.
“I know this season’s probably crazy, watching this,” cornerback D.J. Reed said. “I know the talent of this team, so it doesn’t make sense. I know that’s how the fans feel. I know they’re probably flabbergasted.”
The Jets have a future Hall of Famer in Rodgers, and likely Hall of Famers in Adams and tackle Tyron Smith, not to mention a handful of young stars on both sides of the ball. They billed themselves as a Super Bowl contender, with Rodgers saying before the season they were one of eight to 12 teams with a legitimate chance at the Lombardi Trophy.
Now they have a 10.5% chance of making the playoffs, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index.
Outside analysts are piling on, suggesting Johnson — desperate for an ever-elusive championship — rocked the team’s core by sacking Saleh and bringing aboard Adams (Oct. 15) and Reddick (Oct. 20) in the middle of the season.
“It seems like a lot of moves by Woody, and I really don’t understand how they add up,” former Patriots coach Bill Belichick said on the “Pat McAfee Show” on Monday. “I’d say it’s more of a question for him to answer than me. I think, from the outside, it’s hard to understand why they would do some of the things they did.”
Belichick has no affinity for the Jets because of the 2007 cheating scandal, Spygate, when the Patriots were fined for videotaping Jets defensive signs. But a former NFC general manager, a neutral observer, echoed Belichick’s sentiment, saying, “I’ve been around situations like this. There’s no karma, no intangibles. The locker room is filled with highly paid players, not a team. There’s no passion.”
Which is ironic, because Johnson said he made the coaching change to create a spark he believed was missing in the team’s 2-3 start. After 56 games of Saleh (20-36), Johnson wanted to give the popular Ulbrich, their fiery defensive coordinator who didn’t have any head-coaching experience at the time, the chance to get the team to where it hasn’t been since 2010 — the postseason.
But Johnson might have underestimated the impact it would have on the locker room. While no player has publicly questioned the move, the change did upset some players, according to two sources close to the situation. One of the franchise’s all-time greats, Hall of Fame center Kevin Mawae, told ESPN it was “a head-scratching move for a lot of people on the outside.”
ULBRICH HAS A lot on his plate. In addition to managing the game, he’s also calling the defensive plays — a job he refuses to relinquish.
He changed the playcaller on offense, replacing Hackett with passing-game coordinator Todd Downing, and he wants to maintain a semblance of continuity within the team. Therein lies his reasoning for remaining the defensive playcaller and coordinator.
But is he stretched too thin?
“That’s a great question,” said Reed, who proceeded to give a diplomatic answer.
Reed said it’s on the players to execute the plays that are called, no matter who calls them.
Without question, the defense has dipped without the defensive-minded Saleh in the building. When he was fired, the Jets ranked fifth in points allowed per game (17.0). Now they rank 12th (21.3).
The change in responsibilities has put a strain on the entire operation, and the cracks were revealed Sunday on a pivotal 2-point conversion attempt late in the game. The Jets took a delay of game penalty instead of calling a timeout when the play clock was about to expire.
Rodgers took the blame, saying he didn’t like the playcall against the defensive look and thought the 5-yard penalty was better than using another timeout. But there was indecision in the moment, rare for Rodgers. In fact, he motioned for a timeout, but the play clock had expired. Ulbrich could’ve called it, but the communication between Rodgers and the sideline appeared to be amiss.
In the end, Rodgers’ 2-point pass from the 7-yard line came up short, and the Patriots responded with a touchdown and 2-point conversion to win 25-22.
In the locker room, Rodgers addressed the entire team. His message, according to team sources: Things need to change quickly, but this is no time for finger pointing. His voice was raised, but he maintained “a cool head,” safety Isaiah Oliver said.
By the time the Jets reached Boston’s Logan Airport for the short flight home, Ulbrich already had graded the game tape. He watched it on the team bus. There was no time to waste on a short week.
“To neglect this tape would be criminal,” Ulbrich said. “It’d be egregious, because there’s things that need to be fixed.”
WHEN THE BIGGEST underachieving teams in recent NFL history are mentioned, the 2011 Philadelphia Eagles (the so-called “Dream Team”) and the 2000 Washington team land at the top of the list. Both collected big names, many of them aging, for what they hoped would be a mad dash toward the Lombard Trophy.
Washington added Hall of Famers Bruce Smith and Deion Sanders and 1990 No. 1 pick Jeff George, but it never clicked. Coach Norv Turner was fired with three games remaining. Washington finished 8-8.
“I can see some similarities to the Jets,” said Vinny Cerrato, Washington’s former director of player personnel.
Cerrato said the formula can work, but the team must have a strong culture and the players — both old and new — must be willing to buy in. He was a member of the San Francisco 49ers’ front office in 1994, when they used the same approach (a collection of marquee free agents on one-year deals) and won the Super Bowl.
Of course, the 49ers already had a championship pedigree. There was no such thing in Washington, where former owner Daniel Snyder coveted players with star power and later coddled them, according to Cerrato, who said the big-name players were invited to hang out in Snyder’s office.
“The other players see that and they kind of have control of things,” Cerrato said of the Washington situation. “You have to treat everybody the same.”
Referring to the Jets, he said: “Some of the players might be questioning Aaron Rodgers right now. If you bring in older guys, they have to be successful, because if they don’t have success, you’re looking at them like, ‘Oh, he was good at one time.’ The players might be seeing that in Rodgers.”
Statistically, Rodgers, 40, is having the worst start of his career. He’s 22nd in Total QBR (50.7), well below his career average (67).
To help the four-time MVP recapture his form, the Jets reunited him with Adams, 31, who requested a trade from the Las Vegas Raiders. In two games, Adams has seven catches for 84 yards on 15 targets.
His chemistry with Rodgers was remarkable during their eight seasons together with the Green Bay Packers, but his 47% catch rate reflects otherwise now. It smacks of a too-little, too-late move by a desperate team, but Johnson wanted to do everything possible to save the season.
It was costly; the Jets picked up Adams’ entire remaining salary for 2024 — $11.7 million. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills traded for a comparable receiver, Amari Cooper, and it cost them $800,000.
You might say the Jets paid a Rodgers tax, but they envisioned Adams as more than an accomplished receiver. They saw him as a culture changer, too.
His postgame speech to the team on Oct. 20, following a 37-15 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, drew raves from Rodgers and Ulbrich. In fact, Ulbrich used it as a rallying cry during the run-up to the game against New England, referencing it in a midweek team meeting.
Adams sensed an alarming “lack of energy and urgency” on the field in Pittsburgh and felt compelled to address it immediately after the game, even though he had been on the team for only a few days.
2:00
J.J. Watt cannot believe Texans are underdogs vs. Jets
J.J. Watt is in disbelief that the Texans are underdogs against the Jets on Thursday night.
“It’s a sad commentary on the team, that someone from the outside has to tell them what they’re doing wrong,” the former NFC GM said. One player, asked about how it felt to be called out by a new teammate, smiled and said, “No comment.”
When the locker room was opened to the media after Sunday’s loss, Adams was nowhere to be found.
Reddick held court after the game, but he refused to answer questions about his holdout, which failed to yield the financial windfall he coveted. His base salary is the same as before the holdout (prorated, it’s $8.7 million for the remainder of the season), and he secured some incentives that can help offset some of the $12 million he lost in salary and fines.
It was Johnson who pushed the negotiations across the goal line, taking an active role in trying to secure a key part of the puzzle — albeit months too late.
Reddick was the Jets’ biggest acquisition in the offseason, but the contract dispute robbed them of their No. 1 edge rusher. Asked if he feels in any way responsible for the team’s poor record, he replied, “Responsible for what?”
THE JETS WERE in a similar situation in 2002 — a record of 2-5, coming off a loss in which they blew an 18-point lead. It looked bleak, but they rallied to 9-7, good enough to win the AFC East — their last division title.
“We had no — quote, unquote — superstars,” Mawae recalled. “We didn’t have an Aaron Rodgers or Brett Favre coming in for that season, with everybody hoping that was the magic formula.”
The Jets hope to recreate that kind of magical run, but this is different because of the coaching change. The 2002 team was coached by Herm Edwards, who made the playoffs the previous year — his first at the helm. Players knew he wasn’t going anywhere. There was stability.
The current team is reeling in the aftermath of the franchise’s first in-season coaching change since the 1970s, and the likelihood is it will have a new coach (and possibly a new GM) in 2025. The uncertainty can trickle down to the locker room. Players know their fates won’t be decided by the current people in the building.
“Once you fire the coach, forget it,” Cerrato said. “It’s not going to work. Everything has to go right or they’re going to shut it down because they know change is coming. With the Jets, they all know. Everybody is going to be fired there.”
If they lose to the Texans, dropping to 2-7, Johnson & Co. will be confronted with a decision ahead of the Nov. 5 trade deadline: Do they give up on this once-promising season and start planning for the future?
That would run contrary to everything they’ve done over the past two years, from the Rodgers trade to the quick-fix moves over the past three weeks. Then again, you never know.
Remember, status quo is killer.