The Nathaniel Hackett era is officially over with the New York Jets.
Interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich announced during his media availability on Thursday, October 10 that he is making a change at play-caller permanently.
“Regarding the staff, after a lot of time to think about it, I did not make this decision easily by any means. I’m going to make Todd Downing the play-caller for the New York Jets moving forward,” Ulbrich said. “This is more a byproduct of a different take on things. I’m not saying it’s a better or worse take on things by any means, but just a different take on things. A fresh approach. So ultimately Todd will have the full say on the gameplan and ultimately the players that are called within the game.”
Coach Ulbrich announced that Todd Downing will be the play caller for Monday night’s game against the Bills.
Downing Has Prior Experience as an OC in the NFL
If the Jets were going to move away from Hackett, Downing was the clear alternative option.
He was already on the staff, getting hired in 2023 as the pass game coordinator. This offseason he added the quarterbacks coach title to his itinerary.
Downing has been an offensive coordinator twice before during his NFL coaching career. In 2017 with the then-Oakland Raiders and for two years with the Tennessee Titans from 2021 through 2022.
“Todd Downing with the 2021 Titans (who finished 12-5)
Points For: 15th
Yards: 17th
30+ point games: 5
20+ point games: 13
Ryan Tannehill: 3,734 yds 67.2 cmp% 21 td 14 INT 89.6 rating
Rushing offense (8 games of Derrick Henry):
551 attempts (1) 2,404 yds (5) 23 td (3) 4.4 y/a (14),” via Jets content creator Matt O’Leary.
Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic shared a “Notable Todd Downing stat as he takes over: His offenses were good in the red zone. Red zone conversion rates with the Titans: 2022: 6th [and] 2021: 8th.”
Is the offense going to be better with a different play-caller? Only God knows, but it will be difficult for it to be much worse.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This change should at a minimum mix things up and create a spark on the offensive side of the ball.
Ulbrich Has a Chance to Keep the Job Permanently
This is Ulbrich’s first whack at the head coaching pinata. This offseason he got a chance to serve in that role at the Senior Bowl.
Now he has a 12-game run as the interim head coach of the Jets. This is one of the more unique situations for an interim head coach.
He has a future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback, a top-10 defense, and one of the most talented rosters in football.
The problem is Robert Saleh wasn’t getting the most juice out of the orange. Ulbrich’s job is to maximize this group and realize its full potential.
One of the reasons the Jets pulled the plug so early on Saleh is because they wanted to see what Ulbrich could do with this unit. Saleh was no longer leading the room, motivating his group, and generating belief in the players.
Ulbrich now has a shot to run the team, we’ll see what he does with it.
