WAKE-UP CALL
Jets coaches answer for ‘alarming’ showing in blowout loss to Patriots
On the day after one of the worst losses in franchise history, Jets coach Robert Saleh talked about his belief that the Jets will someday win championships.
“I’m really just focused on trying to get these guys to play their absolute best so we can show the entire Jet nation why I truly believe we’re going to win championships,” Saleh said. “I know it’s hard to see right now, but I know the direction we’re going in, I know where it’s going to get.”
That feels like a parent talking about their belief that their newborn will someday be President of the United States. File that in the “it’s nice to dream” category.
At the moment, the Jets feel much closer to another lost season than ever sniffing the Super Bowl. They are 1-5 and the Patriots dismantled them on Sunday, 54-13. It was the most points they had given up since 1979 and their biggest margin in a loss since 2010.
Along the way, the Jets lost starting quarterback Zach Wilson to a PCL sprain in his right knee that will keep him out 2-4 weeks. Now, they face a red-hot Bengals team that just scored 41 points on the Ravens.
It was the same old problems for the Jets against the Patriots mixed in with a few new ones. The offense failed to score a point in the first quarter again. The Jets have now gone scoreless in the first quarter of their first six games. They are being outscored 44-0 in the opening period.
The Jets opened Sunday’s game with another three-and-out on offense and then put together a decent drive on their second possession but failed to make a 48-yard field goal. Saleh defended the offense’s start on Sunday.
“I thought the offense did a really, really nice job coming out and starting the game the way we needed to start it,” Saleh said. “We just didn’t capitalize and finish in positions that we had a chance to. Defensively, we did not answer the bell and I think to a man, coach and player, we can all agree with that. Again, it’s continue harping on the small details that separate winning and losing.”
Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur was tougher in his assessment of his unit.
“Not good,” LaFleur said about their open. “The first three-and-out is never good, particularly when they went down and they scored and you want to bounce back. It’s well-documented and we talk about it, too, we’re not going to hide behind anything. We’ve talked about it as an offense, but you can’t press to try to do anything. You just have to go out and do your job and we didn’t get that done. We didn’t get that done as coaches.”
LaFleur said he opened Sunday’s game with two run plays to “ease” Wilson into the game. The Jets gained 1 yard and 3 yards on the first two plays and then Wilson got sacked on the third play, forcing a punt. LaFleur admitted that this deep into the season they should not still be having execution issues.
“It’s totally alarming,” LaFleur said. “That’s what our record shows right now that we’re not winning football games that we’re not having success.
There’s no question. There’s nothing anyone is going to say that’s going to make it any better or worse right now. We’re as hard on ourselves as anybody out there. We’re working to get this thing fixed. No one really cares what year you’re in but ultimately
that’s what is going on right now.”
As bad as the offense was, the defense may have been worse on Sunday. The Jets allowed 551 yards, the most they have given up since 1998 and the 54 points, the fourth-highest total in team history. Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said the defense had a “very honest” meeting on Monday about what went wrong and said he felt a range of emotions Sunday as the Patriots scored at will against them.
“Embarrassment, anger, everything imaginable from that standpoint,” Ulbrich said. “It’s inexcusable and it can’t happen again.”
brian.costello@nypost.com