Ending the Streak was Robert Saleh's Most Important Game as the Jets Head Coach

 After 15 games, eight years, 2,933 days the New York Jets have finally beat the New England Patriots!

Finally, the Jets have ended the longest head-to-head losing streak in the NFL. It only took the worst Patriots team in 26 years and a game played in a snow globe to end the streak. It took all of Breece Hall’s 190 total yards to secure victory. It took two 4th quarter interceptions, one of which was fumbled back to New England on the same play, to finally win against the Patriots. It took seven sacks of New England backup quarterback Bailey Zappe to finally beat Bill Belichick’s team.

The same Bill Belichick that took so much joy beating the team he walked away from a via napkin 24 years ago. He finally dropped a game to his most hated rival. This might be the last time Belichick faces the Jets in New England and possibly for the rest of his coaching career. The fact that the Jets beat Belichick in such a situation seemed all but impossible to me, but it happened.

This game says more about the state of the Patriots than it does the Jets, although half of the players playing in this snow-covered game will not be on either roster the next time both teams lace up their cleats. Wins like these for a team like New York don’t have any carry over from one year to the next, loses might, although if the Patriots do move on from Belichick the new coaching staff won’t care about dropping this game and having the Jets end the streak.

However, this game was extremely important for New York Jet Head Coach Robert Saleh. “I do appreciate how much everyone fought and grinded through all the adversity we faced” Saleh said postgame. The three-year head coach now finishes his third season with a record of 7-10. “We know what we’re capable of and we’re a lot closer than people think.” The 2022-23 New York Jets finished three games out of a playoff spot. In a league where an inch is a mile, three full games is equivalent to an Iron Man in terms of distance. This victory on Sunday was Robert Saleh’s 18 career victory, his 5th against an AFC East opponent. The reason why Week 18 was so important for Robert Saleh is because the jury is not out on him as a head football coach, but it’s getting close!

All the excuses that Saleh has relied on in his three years in New York will be stripped away next year. The quarterback that has been attached to him since he took over in Gotham, Zach Wilson, is according to a report, going to be traded in the offseason. The quarterback that Saleh himself flew across the country to lead his team will be waiting in the wings, Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers will be ready to prove the world wrong in 2024 even if in doing so Rodgers puts his team in unnecessary crosshairs. Saleh’s defense that he has rebuilt from the ground up and put up against the best in football will need to fork over some cash if it wants to remain at the top of the league. The expectations will be at the highest Saleh and his group next season. Even though Saleh was given another year to prove himself, Sunday was a job interview in the court of public opinion. The reason being, if the losing streak against the Patriots continued into the next season, what would have been 16-consecutive, nobody would have faith in Saleh to turn this ship around.

Not after compounding the streak continuing with the embarrassing loss 10 days ago in Cleveland. Where a former Jet, Joe Flacco, crushed his former teams’ dreams after the Jets turned Flacco away, even though the Jets were in need of a quarterback to save their season. Where a Jets player verbally flipped off essentially every Cleveland fan in attendance. A game where Saleh’s defense quit on national television and an offensive line that looked like it didn’t get off the plane from Newark.

That was on Robert Saleh.

All of this now is on Robert Saleh. No more hiding behind injuries, because multiple teams needed to turn to multiple quarterbacks to try to save their season, some like Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles doing so and still making the postseason. No more blaming “coaching” for a team that has been the most undisciplined squad resulting in the most penalties in the NFL since Saleh took over the as the Jets head man. No more avoiding responsibility on the offensive side of the ball because Saleh is a defensive minded coach. No more excuses!

2024 is year four for Robert Saleh. A fourth season in a coaching environment where many don’t see year two in one place. The Jets are acting like 2024 is 2004. They are in the old days of the NFL to try to instill “stability.” Well, in the old days, when you got a five-year plan, year four was the season where the talk of championship contention was expected be in the cards. If the Jets are truly not as far off as they say they are, then 2024 should end with nothing but competing for a title. A title that hasn’t found its way to Gotham in 55 years and counting…