Jets' Robert Saleh to make changes, but not Zach Wilson or Nathaniel Hackett
Jets head coach Robert Saleh speaks during a news conference following an NFL game Sunday in Las Vegas. Credit: AP/David Becker
Changes are coming, Robert Saleh said.
Just not to the Jets quarterback position.
Or to their play-caller.
(So, basically — not to anyone fans are currently clamoring to get rid of.)
A day after another limp offensive showing against a beatable Raiders team, the Jets, who haven’t scored a touchdown in their last 11 quarters (and an overtime), are still scrambling to find answers. But they don’t believe those answers will come from replacing Zach Wilson or parting ways with offensive coordinator Nathanial Hackett.
In fact, Saleh said that replacing Wilson right now would simply be a change for change’s sake.
“When the reasoning [for change] is just to give a spark, I don’t adhere to that,” Saleh said Monday after the Jets’ 16-12 loss to the Raiders. “I’ve never felt like making one guy the fall guy is going to make everyone around him better. Now, if there was something that was going to make things better, yeah, you always look at that. Zach is actually playing pretty good. He’s much better than he was a year ago. He’s year one in a new system. A system that was built for Aaron [Rodgers]. Let’s be real. And now we’re trying to make a shift . . . I think he’s doing a good job.”
Saleh did say that they were considering other changes to get the offense going. It just likely won’t go as far as getting rid of Hackett, who at times has been criticized for overly conservative play-calling.
“We’re just looking at things with regards to schematically, the things we can do differently,” Saleh said. “Trying to continue to find ways to feature more of the things that our guys are comfortable with — obviously, game plan permitted . . . As far as meetings go, meeting structure, practice habits or practice plans and all that — we’re looking at everything. As far as personnel changes, we’re looking at some different personnel changes, which I’m going to keep here with me. We’re looking across the board to see if we can generate some offense.”
Wilson, who did have some good moments in Sunday’s loss, has taken most of the heat for the Jets’ ineffective play, particularly in the red zone, but Saleh thinks much of it is overblown. He has a 74.6 passer rating — the lowest of any starting quarterback other than Kyler Murray and the Giants’ Tommy DeVito, both of whom have started just one game this year. Wilson was 23-for-39 for 263 yards with an interception but did manage to go an improved 7-for-16 on third-down conversions.
Tight end Tyler Conklin echoed his coach’s sentiments, and excused Hackett from taking on all the blame, too.
“It never just falls on one person,” said Conklin, who had seven catches for 70 yards Sunday. “It never falls on just Zach, it never falls on just coach Hack, it never falls on just coach Saleh. It falls on all of us. I think that kind of goes back to what I was saying about looking inward and the unity of us coming together and make a decision on what we want to be because it’s not just one person’s fault.”
And with plenty of blame to go around, the Jets — and Saleh — are trying to focus on maintaining some semblance of continuity, even as they tweak things around Wilson.
“When speaking about Zach, I get it. There’s a yearning for more or whatever it is,” Saleh said. “You don’t want to be too drastic and just make changes to make changes because sometimes, guys just need a little bit of time and continuity to give themselves a chance to get the ball rolling. Because it’s not as easy as, OK, let’s just plug this guy in and here we go, we’re fixed . . . If he was deserving of it, I got you. Let’s change something.”
“ . . . To say one person is a reason for everyone failing, I don’t think that’s fair. I don’t think that’s right.”
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
