There is a new era of New York Jets football with Jeff Ulbrich now at the helm.
He was named the interim head coach after Robert Saleh was fired following the team’s Week 5 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
Since Ulbrich took over, a lot of notable people have reached out including Saleh.
“Look I talked to him [the day Saleh was fired] and he said he was obviously blindsided but I talked to him this morning as well and he said I’m still hurting. [He told me] this is the first weekend I haven’t been involved in football since 2001,” NFL on FOX Insider Jay Glazer revealed on Sunday, October 13. “He also was another head coach that reached out to Brick and said, look we all knew you were going to be a head coach after the year anyway. You got a playoff team over there, go after it.”
Ulbrich Has a Legitimate Path to Keeping the HC Title Permanently
When a head coach is fired in the middle of an NFL season that normally spells doom. Only four teams in NFL history have started the year with one coach, finished it with another, and ended up making the postseason.
Those four teams were the 1942 Chicago Bears, the 1952 Los Angeles Rams, the 1961 Houston Oilers, and most recently the 2021 Las Vegas Raiders, per Jets senior reporter Randy Lange.
Something those teams didn’t have that the Jets have is future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Jets owner Woody Johnson said this current crop of players ” is one of the most talented teams ever assembled by the New York Jets.”
No pressure Ulbrich.
The longtime former NFL player has aspirations to be a head coach and now he has a golden opportunity. If he can maximize the talent on this roster, make the playoffs, and maybe make a run Ulbrich might not be going anywhere after the season is over.
You could make an argument that Ulbrich has the best chance an interim head coach has ever had of keeping the job permanently based on the talent around him.
A New Philosophy Is Coming for the Jets Offense the Rest of the Way
“You guys just talked about the non-existent running game for the Jets and Ulbrich says that is going to be a huge difference for us. We are going to be committed to the run and by the way Aaron Rodgers is fully on board with this,” Glazer revealed.
The green and white are averaging just 80.4 rushing yards per game this season which ranks last in the NFL, per ESPN.
Breece Hall was supposed to be a straw that stirs the drink and the team stumbled into rookie Braelon Allen in the draft. However, they have been anything but this year.
Hall has toted the rock 65 times for 197 rushing yards. He is averaging a measly three yards per carry on those touches.
Despite the putrid results, the Jets have a pair of talented and capable running backs in the backfield. It’s about sticking to it and not abandoning that identity during the game.
