FOXBORO, Mass. — While not at a Ted Lasso level, New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh is a coach that generally has a good, upbeat attitude. You kind of have to when coaching the perpetual tire fire that is the Jets.
But he seemed downright sad Sunday afternoon after his team got undressed 54-13 by the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.
The Jets lost a ton of players due to injury, among them quarterback Zach Wilson, then had to watch as the Patriots scored at will late in the game to needlessly run the score up on them.
His words after the game were those of a man who hadn’t yet lost hope, but his tone sounded like that of a defeated man.
“Starts with coaching all the way down,” Saleh said after the game. “Obviously. we’ve got to be better. They punched us in the freaking mouth and scored points, so credit to them. That’s it. I mean, I’ve been in part of some of those in my life. They just don’t feel good.”
To the Jets’ credit, the messaging from Saleh to the players was the same. They know that they are better than this and everyone is trying, but things just aren’t coming together.
“This is the NFL,” Saleh said. “You give up 50 points, it’s embarrassing. I don’t think I’ve had this feeling after a game since 2017 against Dallas. A helpless feeling where you’re just watching, you’re trying to figure something out.
“I’ll be honest. We talk about adversity. Everyone was asking. You can chalk this one up, it’s here. This is from coaches all the way down. NFL doesn’t really give a flying (expletive)Â — excuse my language — in terms of scheduling. We got to line up the next week and for the 11 or 12, whatever we got left. I know we got the right men in that locker room. I know we got the right people in that locker room. I know we’ll come back strong. But we got to get it going.”
That, by the way, was not the only time Saleh had to apologize for his language.
“Every once in a while you get your (expletive) — excuse my language — get your teeth knocked in,” he said.
Obscenities or not, that’s about as perfectly as you could put what happened to the Jets on Sunday.
