‘Saleh wasn’t the issue for the Jets, it’s Rodgers’

Former Buffalo Bills assistant coach Phoebe Schecter is an NFL pundit and plays for Great Britain’s flag football team.

Robert Saleh became the first NFL head coach to lose their job this season as he was fired by the New York Jets after last Sunday’s loss in London, and I was surprised that it happened so early.

It’s not like they have a terrible record. They’re 2-3 and going into Monday Night Football against Buffalo, their divisional rivals. They could be playing for first in their division, so it felt a bit abrupt really but, ultimately, it don’t think Saleh was the issue.

When you bring in a quarterback like four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers – one of the biggest names in the sport – you’re bringing in much more than just a player. He almost becomes his own offensive coordinator, right? That’s not necessarily an easy relationship for a head coach and quarterback to have, and there were signs of murkiness in the water between Saleh and Rodgers.

Rodgers had a really good game against the Patriots three weeks ago but there was that moment when Saleh went to hug him and Rodgers pushed him away. Then after losing to Denver, they both talked about cadence issues and people being held accountable. Those were signs it was going this way but coming this soon, I think it’s unfortunate on Saleh.

The Jets have made [defensive coordinator] Jeff Ulbrich the interim head coach and he said [quarterbacks coach] Todd Downing will become the offensive play-caller.

He’s essentially demoted [offensive coordinator] Nathaniel Hackett, which I think is what Saleh wanted to do before he was fired. But Saleh, a defensive-minded head coach, had lost that power on the offensive side of the ball and I don’t feel like Rodgers would have been making that a nice environment for him.

I think it’s really telling that as soon as Ulbrich gets into the role, he demotes Hackett. Ulbrich’s been there, he’s seen what’s going on, he’s been in all the team meetings, so he’s going to know what the issue is.

If we really look at it, I think the issue is that 40-year-old Rodgers isn’t operating at his best. He’s not as mobile and he threw three interceptions last Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings at Wembley Stadium.

If we talk about being accountable, you can’t have what we call the BBL – bad body language. On the last interception Rodgers threw, the Jets were going down the field to win the game and he had [wide receiver] Garrett Wilson open. He just underthrew the ball on that. But his immediate reaction is shrugged shoulders, palms up, ‘what are you doing?’ You just don’t do that.

Rodgers has brought in his own people, like Hackett and [wide receiver] Allen Lazard. However, when Hackett was at the Green Bay Packers with Rodgers, he was the offensive coordinator but head coach Matt LaFleur was still the play-caller.

For me, LaFleur was the genius behind it, putting Rodgers in the right positions. I think Hackett’s just been doing what Rodgers wants to do, to play his style of football, but I don’t think that offensive scheme best fits the team.

Trading for [Raiders receiver] Davante Adams is something I think the Jets will now look to do. They have the salary cap space to do it and Rodgers will want it because they have that relationship from playing together for so long with the Packers.

The Jets still have every opportunity to become a successful team, but if they do, people are going to think ‘oh, it’s because they fired Saleh’. That’s not the case. Under Saleh, the Jets’ defence has been in the league’s top five and gave them a chance of winning the last two games; it’s the offence that has been pretty much bottom of the pack.

The Jets have put themselves in a funny position so it’ll be really interesting to see what happens with a new play-caller in place and how the defence operates now.

Phoebe Schecter was speaking to BBC Sport’s Ben Collins