Robert Saleh praises Zach Wilson, Mike LaFleur and blames himself for Jets' loss

Robert Saleh defended rookie quarterback Zach Wilson and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur for the fourth-down play that cost the Jets a win over Tom Brady and the Buccaneers on Sunday.

Saleh said it starts with him and that he takes responsibility for the miscommunication on how the fourth-and-2 play with 2:17 remaining should have been run in the Jets’ 28-24 loss.

Saleh wanted Wilson to hand off to Braxton Berrios on a reverse. Instead, Wilson tried a quarterback sneak and was stuffed. Brady got the ball back with 2:12 left and no timeouts and led the Bucs on a game-winning 93-yard touchdown drive.

Based on what he saw on film, Saleh feels confident that if Berrios had gotten the ball, he would have picked up the first down and the Jets would have won the game.

"The play call, the thought process, all of it, I think was really, really sound all the way across the board," Saleh said Monday. "There was a miscommunication. Whenever there’s a miscommunication, it always starts with me first. This isn’t anything to blame anyone on.

"What hurts the most is the fact that one sequence took away from all the unbelievable things that happened. I thought LaFleur called an awesome game. I thought Zach played an awesome game. Our O-line, our defense played really well. There were so many great things that were happening in that game. For it to be overshadowed by something that always starts with me, that’s what makes me sick."

Wilson has come under fire for his decision-making at the end of the game. The play has two options: hand it off or keep it, depending on what Wilson sees from the defense. Wilson said Sunday that he saw an opening in the A-gap and thought he could get the first down.

On SNY’s postgame show, three former Jets — Bart Scott, Willie Colon and Leger Douzable — criticized Wilson for not handing it off.

They said Wilson tried to be the hero and made it about himself and that he didn’t need to be explicitly told to hand the ball off to Berrios. Douzable said Wilson "honestly needs to apologize to all his teammates."

Saleh came to Wilson’s defense, saying the rookie wasn’t being selfish, just doing what’s in the playbook.

"I don’t know about that one," Saleh said. "He’s a rookie. His head’s barely above water with regards to the scheme. He’s still in the pleasing mode of his career in terms of just doing things the way it’s drawn up. If you’re talking Year 3 and Year 4 and he does something like that, you can say maybe.

"As a rookie, he’s still trying to figure this league out, trying to figure out what he can and can’t get away with and how to take control of things. He’s nowhere close to that in terms of a selfish player."

When Wilson is completely comfortable in the offense and with everything around him, Saleh said the quarterback will just make a gesture to LaFleur in big moments and say, "Hey, we’re doing this, buddy.’’ At this point, Wilson doesn’t have the gravitas to change a play, especially in a spot like that.

The Jets (4-12) have played competitively the last three games and had a chance to win all three, and Wilson has showed improvement. Going into the final game of the season Sunday at Buffalo, the Jets just want him to continue to focus on learning the offense and growing within it.

Saleh and LaFleur are longtime friends and have a great relationship. Saleh said he has tried to build a "culture around here where people look inward first," and his coaches do that.

After the game, Saleh said he went back and looked at what he could have done differently to make sure everyone was in position to be successful, including kicking a field goal that would have given the Jets a seven-point lead. He is confident he made the right call to go for it.

"I’m really proud of our guys," he said. "I feel like we won that game. That was the frustration that you all felt [from me] yesterday. I loved the thought process all the way across the board. I thought the play call was magnificent. It was creative. It would have been a first down.

"We’ll be better for it next time. That’s one silver lining today — we’ll win games because of the things that happened yesterday."