While nearly impossible, it’s important to put the fallout of the New York Jets’ firing of coach Robert Saleh into two distinct buckets.
The first and most obvious: This is a move that, according to people familiar with the situation, stunned Florham Park on Tuesday morning. Saleh was obviously under pressure to win, but the Jets will play for a chance to tie for first place in the AFC East in six days. Saleh came in to work Tuesday expecting to continue preparation for the team’s Monday Night Football matchup against the Buffalo Bills. The Jets are sixth in defensive EPA per play allowed this year and first in the league since Saleh took the job in 2021. The Jets have also allowed the fewest points per drive during that time frame. Saleh was tasked with cleaning up organizational toxicity that had been building up since the decay of the Rex Ryan regime, and he spearheaded the development of the team’s best young defensive players since Darrelle Revis. The staff won seven games with a combination of Zach Wilson, Trevor Siemian and Tim Boyle last season, and is now just five games into a campaign with Aaron Rodgers, a quarterback Saleh tried to hold accountable despite his freewheeling nature and obvious stranglehold on the organization.
