Jets head coach Robert Saleh knows all the noise outside the organization and about the organization. There was a lot of hype surrounding the team following their acquisition of quarterback Aaron Rodgers. That hype included an appearance on HBO’s “Hard Knocks”, which felt more like it should have been titled “Aaron Rodgers and Friends”
All that hype quickly evaporated when Rodgers suffered a torn Achilles just four plays into his Jets’ debut against the Buffalo Bills. As more injuries piled up and the offense majorly struggled, the Jets limped to another 7-10 finish on the season.
Saleh knows his team has to start winning football games, rather than just winning the offseason and only then will the talk about the team change.
“When you lose, you’re a loser,” Saleh said, via ESPN’s Rich Cimini. “I suck, [GM Joe Douglas] sucks, we all suck. It goes with the territory, but the best thing we can do is put our heads down and … go to work. All the feel-good stuff for the offseason doesn’t matter. We’ve got to win football games, and when we win football games all the narratives will change.”
The very lesst of goals this season for the Jets is to secure their first winning season since 2015 when they finished 10-6. A bigger goal is ending a 13-season postseason drought. An even bigger goal would be to win their first division title since 2002. Ultimately, the Jets want to be in New Orleans next February for Super Bowl LIX.
The Jets have done all they can in recent weeks to build an offense that can lessen the pressure on their defense and allow Aaron Rodgers to thrive in New York. The Jets added Tyron Smith, John Simpson and Morgan Moses on the offensive line and signed former Chargers wide receiver Mike Williams to pair with Garrett Wilson.
Understandably, the narrative surrounding the Jets is something along the lines of “We’ll believe it when we see it.” The Jets have put themselves in a position to make people believes in them, but we’ve also been down this road before. Results have to happen now.