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Wealthy Cimini, ESPN Employees Author
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Upset by the crew’s 2-3 begin, Jets proprietor Woody Johnson made a shocking and unprecedented transfer Tuesday morning, firing coach Robert Saleh and naming defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich because the interim head coach.
Johnson, together with his first in-season teaching change in 25 years of possession, mentioned he consulted with basic supervisor Joe Douglas, however he known as it “my resolution and mine alone.” Woody Johnson and his brother, Christopher Johnson, the vice chairman, broke the information to Saleh in his workplace on the crew facility.
Saleh was shocked, sources mentioned. He was escorted to his automobile by the director of safety, a supply confirmed, in what was described as protocol.
“That is in all probability the perfect crew I’ve had in 25 years,” Johnson mentioned on a convention name with reporters. “I simply felt that one of the simplest ways to go ahead was a brand new path. Taking Jeff Ulbrich and making him the interim head coach, I assumed that might get probably the most out of this crew and provides us the perfect probability that all of us need to have, which goes to the playoffs.”
Saleh, who promised a number of championships when he was employed in 2021, completed with a 20-36 file and no playoff appearances. The Jets have a 13-year playoff drought, the longest energetic drought within the NFL, however they started the season with Tremendous Bowl expectations, largely due to quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
The Jets’ Week 4 loss to the Broncos shook the group. The following day, the Johnsons and crew president Hymie Elhai expressed their issues to Saleh in a gathering, in response to a number of sources. In a way, Saleh was teaching for his job on Sunday in London, the place the Jets dropped their second straight sport — a 23-17 loss to the undefeated Vikings.
“It is not simply the final two video games that has precipitated this resolution; it is a longer time-frame,” Johnson mentioned. “I’ve had a pair years to consider this, and, yeah, I simply suppose we are able to do higher. The crew can do higher as we’ve this new management.”
Ulbrich, in a midafternoon video convention with reporters, described the change as “4 hours of craziness.” He addressed all the crew Tuesday, saying his message to the gamers was, “It is time to lock arms.”
He has some massive selections to make within the subsequent 24 hours because the Jets start preparations for Monday evening towards the Bills. The most important one includes embattled offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, who may very well be stripped of his playcalling duties. Ulbrich was noncommittal, although he did say he would seek the advice of with Rodgers.
“I don’t see modifications in, essentially, titles and positions,” Ulbrich mentioned. “So far as duties and the method itself, we will take a tough take a look at that.”
That features whether or not Ulbrich will relinquish his defensive playcalling to a different coach on employees.
The struggles on offense, specifically, have pained Johnson. Sources mentioned he pressured Saleh to vary offensive coordinators after the 2022 season, changing Mike LaFleur with Hackett. The Jets traded for Rodgers, who, after lacking practically all the 2023 season with a torn Achilles, has did not elevate the unit this season.
Addressing the offense, Johnson mentioned, “I feel one of many causes that I made a decision to make a training change on the highest degree is precisely that. We have to discover methods to win, and so we’re not going to search out these methods by doing the identical factor time and again and over.”
Underneath Saleh, the Jets began six quarterbacks — Zach Wilson (33 video games), Mike White (7), Rodgers (6), Joe Flacco (5), Trevor Siemian (3) and Tim Boyle (2).
“We have been underperforming for regardless of the cause, and we will take a tough take a look at all of it,” Ulbrich mentioned, talking of all the crew.
“I actually imagine, we lock arms, we decide to the method that we put in place, and we may have success. We’ll,” Ulbrich added.
Regardless of the Sept. 30 assembly with Saleh and crew brass, there was a way within the group that Johnson would wait just a few weeks earlier than making any main modifications if the dropping continued. On Monday, Saleh expressed confidence that they’d get it circled, telling reporters, “I am not panicked. No person within the constructing is panicked.”
Nonetheless, there have been indicators of locker room grumbling after the loss in London.
“I’ll be sincere, individuals get uninterested in listening to the identical s—,” linebacker Quincy Williams advised SNY. “Individuals need to take accountability from the highest to the underside. That is all I’ve to say … individuals have to begin taking accountability. I am uninterested in saying the identical factor each week.”
Johnson mentioned Rodgers had no enter into the teaching change. He mentioned he spoke to Rodgers after Sunday’s sport, claiming Saleh’s standing or a possible transfer wasn’t mentioned. There had been hypothesis of a rift between Saleh and Rodgers, relationship to Saleh’s resolution to superb the four-time MVP for taking a trip to Egypt throughout the necessary minicamp. Publicly, each males denied any friction of their relationship.
Regardless of the two-game dropping streak, the Jets are just one sport out of first place within the AFC East. Their sport towards the Payments (3-2) is for a share of the division lead.
Ulbrich, 47, a former longtime 49ers linebacker, was employed by Saleh because the defensive coordinator in 2021. Underneath Ulbrich and Saleh, the Jets have emerged as a perennial top-five protection. Ulbrich, a Pete Carroll disciple recognized for his vitality and upbeat persona, has no earlier head-coaching expertise.
An October firing is not unprecedented within the NFL. In 2022, the Panthers fired Matt Rhule after Week 5. Lane Kiffin was fired by the Raiders after Week 4 in 2008. The one crew in Tremendous Bowl period to make the playoffs in the identical season after altering coaches was the 2021 Raiders, who promoted Wealthy Bisaccia to switch Jon Gruden. In that case, Gruden resigned after a report that he used anti-gay, misogynistic language utilized in emails.
Johnson has employed seven full-term head coaches in his tenure.
“I’ve had sufficient expertise doing these items,” he mentioned. “It is the primary time I’ve achieved it this early, however … I assumed — and suppose — that this may assist the crew, assist this gifted crew obtain the targets that the crew needs, and that I need, and the followers need.”
