Robert Saleh can’t run from his grim Jets reality

Robert Saleh is getting a little taste of how life in 2024 is going to be for a coach in his fourth season who has won only 20 games after Sunday’s debacle against the Broncos.

Just one week after the Jets were riding high following the win over the Patriots, they came crashing to Earth, and many people are pointing the finger at Saleh as the reason why.

The 13 penalties are seen as a reflection on him not holding players accountable. The sloppy offense is blamed on him for hiring Nathaniel Hackett. The leaky second-half run defense is blamed on his defensive philosophy. The nonstop rain is blamed on him not having more control over the weather.

OK, I made up that last one, but would you be surprised?

This is now how it is for Saleh, and all he can do to change it is win football games — something he has not done enough of during his time with the Jets.

Depending on your viewpoint, there has been an excuse or a reason for Saleh’s struggles in his first three seasons. In 2021, he was revamping a team that had won only two games the year before with a rookie quarterback and young players in key spots all over the roster. In 2022, Zach Wilson was public enemy No. 1 for Jets fans and the reason the team could not get over the hump. In 2023, Aaron Rodgers’ left Achilles snapped four plays into the season.

The Rodgers injury gave Saleh a mulligan, and Jets owner Woody Johnson decided to run it back with Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas for the 2024 season.

Saleh is now 20-35 as Jets coach, and fans are fed up waiting for things to click. Even though the team is 2-2, there were cries for him to be fired after Sunday’s game. That is over the top. Saleh deserves this season with Rodgers. He deserves credit for what he’s accomplished with the Jets. He changed the culture. He has built a top-10 defense. Now, he needs to win with Rodgers.

There is always a bull’s-eye for the fan base on someone in the organization. Sometimes, it is the starting quarterback. Sometimes, it is the offensive coordinator. Sometimes, it is the GM. Many times, it is the head coach.

The current bull’s-eye is locked on Saleh.

It was an interesting coincidence that Wilson was on the Broncos sideline Sunday watching a Jets performance that became all too familiar when he was the Jets quarterback. But now, Wilson is the Broncos No. 3 quarterback and no longer draws the scorn of Jets fans.

Rodgers has four MVP trophies and still walks on water for most Jets fans. No one is blaming him.

Hackett catches some heat, but we’re way beyond the stage of firing the offensive coordinator to make the fans happy. That happened two years ago with Mike LaFleur.

If this season goes south, Douglas will get blame and will probably lose his job. But he is not front and center right now.

Saleh is, and he is going to be the one who takes all the shots after a loss like Sunday’s.

It is on him now to clean up the mistakes from Sunday and make sure the 10-9 loss to the Broncos was a blip on the radar and not a sign of things to come.

There is no excuse for a team committing 13 penalties, but I also disagree with the idea that a head coach controls how many penalties a team commits. The Texans and Ravens currently rank first and second in total penalties. DeMeco Ryans finished second in Coach of the Year voting last year, and John Harbaugh is considered one of the best coaches in the NFL. It is easy to scream “undisciplined” when a team has a bad penalty game, but it is not that simple.

The optics of Sunday’s loss are terrible for Saleh, and it is not just the penalties. The team had nine days to prepare for a second straight home game against a team with a rookie quarterback and played like … that.

This is going to be life for Saleh in 2024. It’s a win-or-else season for him and it certainly feels like every loss is going to spark a conversation about Saleh’s ability to do the job.