What a difference a week can make.
Heading into Week 8, we heard certain talking heads around the league state that New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh should be fired after a pathetic effort in New England. Now, the franchise just knocked off the number one seed in the AFC behind an unexpected offensive turnaround.
The media narrative has already shifted and Mike White is the man of the hour, with quarterback controversies being pushed and bold statements being made one way or the other. Quite frankly, it’s a typical overreaction Monday around the NFL but it’s an atypical one for the 2021 Jets.
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Good Morning Football Hypes Jets
It’s rare that we see some Jets hype hit the internet but Kyle Brandt and Peter Schrager of Good Morning Football were all about Gang Green on November 1.
“This is the Saleh experience we were promised,” Brandt began, “this is what we were told, enthusiasm and game balls and all that. Look, they beat the [Tennessee] Titans, they beat the [Cincinnati] Bengals, they’re very weird and also like all of a sudden, very scary. We’re going to digest this Mike White thing all week but that team got really fired up to play for that dude and there is a danger in that. I didn’t think I was going to be saying that this year or this decade, I don’t want to play the Jets right now because I don’t want to lose to them and they’re afraid of nothing apparently.”
Brandt is right about one thing, you never know what you’re going to get from this young Jets team in 2021 and you cannot make the mistake of taking them lightly. It seemed like the Bengals did and they got a friendly NFL lesson because of it, never doubt the opponent.
His other point he made was interesting too, the roster got really “fired up” to play behind White. Maybe that’s an over-exaggeration because that same roster voted rookie Zach Wilson a captain before Week 1, but they did appear motivated in Week 8. Personally, I’ll credit that motivation to the Week 7 blowout that embarrassed this group.
Schrager noted that it can be “very very distracting when there’s all that noise [about coaches and GMs getting fired] going on while you’re talking, and then all of a sudden this thing happens and it’s — okay, we can breathe, we can take it, we’re young, we’re gritty, we’re going to fight for this coach.”
I do believe that this team was fighting for Saleh on Halloween. The athlete-friendly coach started to take some heat after the Patriots loss and for good reason, but his coordinators and his players responded with an upset for the ages.
Now they have to start stacking these performances, as Coach Saleh loves to say.
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Quarterback Controversy?
I’ll publicly state for the record that I believe Wilson is the future of this franchise, but the media will always run with a narrative like this until the wheels fall off. It’s the nature of the business because it sells.
GMFB did just that as co-host Kay Adams asked Schrager and the crew if there could be a quarterback controversy brewing in New York if White has another stellar outing on Thursday Night Football.
“Are you kidding, we’re already having [the discussion] now,” exclaimed Schrager, “like they’re done with Zach — 400 yards!”
This is where I disagree with the GMFB team. Done with the generational talent that the team traded Sam Darnold in order to draft? Done with the rookie that you just named a captain? This story sells headlines but it’s pretty unrealistic and it could also be dangerous.
You do not want to create a divide in the locker room over White versus Wilson, especially when the former has to repeat what he did on Sunday to even warrant consideration. Here’s one important detail to remember when debating this hot topic.
ESPN Analytics writer Seth Walder tweeted: “Mike White completed 82% of his pass attempts yesterday… but his average air yards on those passes was 3.7 [yards]!”
Once an NFL defense has the available film and the time to prep for this type of offense, it becomes a lot easier to stop. The Indianapolis Colts will force White to throw the ball downfield in Week 9 — something he’s not known for. If he can do that on primetime, then maybe we can have a conversation about the former Dallas fifth-rounder deserving a look as the permanent starter.
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