As the Jets entered their bye week following the stirring upset victory over the Eagles last Sunday, one of the strengths of their team felt palpably evident inside their jubilant locker room.
They possess a powerful intangible that every head coach in every team sport desires to acquire, but can’t always find because that intangible is so ever elusive.
The Jets, from the stars on the team to the last few players on the roster totem pole, are bonded.
They’re doing this together. As a family.
Most teams will tell you they’re family, but more often than not that’s either lip service or mere hope.
You have to feel it, and I felt it inside that winning locker room on Sunday after Jets 20, Eagles 14.
In every corner of that room, players who made big plays to contribute to the upset victory were not talking about the plays they made but those their teammates made. There was a deflection of praise from themselves to the person next to them. There was a lot of talk from the players about how “blessed’’ they are to play with these teammates and this team, and it felt real.
In the look-at-me society we live in today, that’s music to a head coach’s ears.
Jets head coach Robert Saleh knows he has that kind of bond with this team, a group that has dusted itself off admirably after the devastation and deflation of Aaron Rodgers being lost for the season to a ruptured left Achilles tendon on the fourth offensive play from scrimmage in the opener.
In a way, the Jets improbably scratching out a win that night over the favored Bills after Rodgers was lost was a harbinger for things to come for this group in that it stuck together and did not fracture from the inside or lose hope.
Saleh, when he speaks about his players, often talks about their individual “superpower.’’ Saleh’s “superpower’’ is his ability to bond players together unselfishly for a common goal.
“Coach Saleh does a great job of rallying everyone together, getting everyone to buy in, play for each other, play violent, play carefree football,’’ receiver Allen Lazard said.
“I’ve got to give so much credit to the guys we have in this locker room, because nobody was expecting to lose Aaron four plays into the season,’’ defensive lineman Jermaine Johnson said. “A coach can say everything. A coach can demand everything. But if the players don’t buy in, it won’t happen.
“The guys we have in this locker room are just selfless. We play for each other, we keep the team goal first, 100-percent of the time, and everything else will follow. This is the only team I’ve played for, the one that drafted me, and I’m thankful for that. But I hear stories from other teams about how selfish guys can be on other teams. So, for us to have a locker room like this … I can only imagine how special this is.’’
Cornerback Bryce Hall is carving out a terrific comeback story for himself. He entered the league as a starter, was relegated to a backup role with the free agent signing of D.J. Reed and drafting of Sauce Gardner and finally was forced back into starting last Sunday when Reed and Gardner were out with concussions. Hall clinched the Jets’ win in Denver with a scoop-and-score fumble recovery, and last week he had a key interception of Jalen Hurts.
After the win against the Eagles, Hall wasn’t talking about himself, he was talking about what “an honor’’ it is playing on this Jets team, praising Reed and Gardner for the support they offered to him.
“This is going to be a special story when it’s all said and done,’’ Hall said. “I love those guys. It’s a special thing we got here.’’
Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas have cultivated that atmosphere in part through the players they’ve brought in, and those who didn’t fit because of selfishness (Elijah Moore) or pouting (Denzel Mims) that they’ve shipped out.
Linebacker C.J. Mosley, who dates back to the Adam Gase mess, when there was no hope inside the Jets locker room, called himself “blessed to be a part of this team with these brothers and these coaches.’’
Johnson, who’s looking like a force in his second NFL season, said after the win over the Eagles, “I learned nothing new about this locker room’’ through the upset victory.
“I’ve known the resiliency we have and the kind of mindset we have,’’ Johnson said. “I’m proud of the guys we have in this locker room. I’m proud of the way we performed, the way we faced adversity.’’
Together.
As family.
Read more
