There was a plan put into place before this season by the Jets that included qualifying for the playoffs for the first time in 13 seasons, potentially winning the AFC East for the first time in 22 years and possibly even getting to the Super Bowl for the first time in 56 years.
It was a gaudy plan, for sure. But it felt possible with the acquisition of Aaron Rodgers, a proven championship quarterback wearing green and white for the first time since Joe Namath.
You don’t have to be a diehard follower of the Jets to know how that’s turned out.
Not as planned.
The fall of the Jets, who lost their fifth consecutive game on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in a 13-8 pillow fight with the Falcons, feels like it’s happened as rapidly as Rodgers’ Achilles tendon rolling up the calf of his left leg like a window shade on the fourth offensive play of the season.
Even with the losing season that this has devolved into, Rodgers figured to represent a get-out-of-jail-free card for those who run the Jets — head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas.
There’s been an assumption, with Rodgers vowing to return in 2024, that ownership will run it all back with the same leaders and try again.
But the way the Jets are playing now, particularly on offense, you have to wonder if there’s an expiration date on that get-out-of-jail-free card.
You have to wonder how many more times Jets owner Woody Johnson can stomach sitting in his suite watching his team perform the way it did on Sunday, how much more of the booing from the infuriated home fans he can stand listening to.
This, for Saleh and Douglas, is not sustainable, and they have to know it.
It’s difficult to fathom, should the Jets lose the rest of their games — which is eminently possible given the fact that they don’t have an NFL-caliber quarterback among the three healthy ones they have on the roster — that Johnson doesn’t lose whatever patience he has left.
I know Jets fans want a pelt for this, and they’re rapidly turning against the head coach, because he’s always the first to bear the brunt of the frustration.
But I don’t reside in the camp that believes Saleh should be fired, because he remains a strong motivator, which I value as highly for head coaches as any trait. Every week, I see Saleh’s players playing hard for him despite the terrible circumstances the team has found itself in with an offense that would have trouble producing a touchdown in a Pop Warner game.
There hasn’t been a hint of a finger-pointing from Saleh’s defense, which has shown zero lack of intensity despite knowing its efforts are going to be for naught with the inept offense’s inability to score a touchdown.
But Saleh is the head coach and that, of course, makes him in charge of the offense as well as the defense.
When he was asked if he has the players on offense to improve in the final five games, Saleh, looking utterly beleaguered, said, “We have to find a way to get the guys that we do have better.’’
The Jets were 3-3 at the bye week after defeating the Super Bowl runner-up Eagles and it looked like their season was about to take off — even without Rodgers. They survived a dog of a game in a 13-10 overtime win over the Giants to get to 4-3 immediately after the bye and a playoff berth looked like a legitimate possibility.
But the Jets have lost their last five games since, scoring two offensive touchdowns in that span, and that’s inexcusable — even for a team ravaged with injuries.
“We’re searching,’’ Saleh said. “You have to find ways to get better and compete. You have to keep grinding.’’
The Jets have scored a total of 10 offensive touchdowns in 12 games this season, which is an ineptitude that’s difficult to fathom. In their past six games, they’ve produced three offensive touchdowns — none on Sunday against Atlanta.
When Tim Boyle, who replaced ineffective No. 2 Zach Wilson, who’d taken over after the Rodgers injury, was replaced by Trevor Siemian in the fourth quarter Sunday, it marked four quarterbacks the Jets have played this season.
If Siemian starts next Sunday against the Texans, that’ll match the most quarterbacks the Jets have started since 1989 when Ken O’Brien gave way to Tony Eason, who gave way to Pat Ryan, who was replaced by Kyle Mackey.
The Jets finished 4-12 that season and Joe Walton was fired as head coach, having cups of beer hurled at him on his way out of the Giants Stadium tunnel for the final time.
If the Jets run the table and lose out, they’d finish 4-13 on a 10-game losing streak and that grand plan they put into place for 2023 may rupture the same way Rodgers’ Achilles did three months ago.
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