The New York Jets head coach has made a series of embarrassing blunders in the preseason, and this week he compared his rookie quarterback to a player who was selected in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft.
New York Jets Head Coach Robert Saleh Embarrassingly Compared Zach Wilson to Josh Allen to Divert Blame Away From His Bad Coaching.
Robert Saleh was regarded as a home run acquisition by the New York Jets when he was hired this past summer. Saleh was regarded as the best head coaching prospect on the market, having built an outstanding defensive culture with the San Francisco 49ers.
New York was active in their pursuit of Saleh after finally moving away from Adam Gase, Sam Darnold, and an overall dismal period of Jets football. They wanted to combine the best coach available with a new franchise quarterback.
Things aren’t going as planned after five games.
The New York Jets have a 1-4 record.
Getty Images/Jim McIsaac/Robert Saleh
While the Jets’ roster is far from ideal, their current 1-4 record shows how badly things are currently going. Both the offense and the defense are underperforming, prompting some to question Saleh’s hiring and Zach Wilson’s draft selection.
While it’s much too early to make any predictions regarding Saleh and Wilson’s futures, it’s worth noting that this is not how the Jets’ front management expected things to play out this season. They hired Saleh with the expectation that he would be a terrific head coach. Wilson was selected with the expectation that he would be the solution at quarterback for the next decade or more.
Yes, it is still early. However, we haven’t seen much of anything good from the Saleh/Wilson team so far, and Saleh is already making excuses.
Wilson has been likened to Bills quarterback Josh Allen by Robert Saleh.
There’s a lot to hate about the Jets’ present situation. Wilson’s performance through five starts, though, is unquestionably at the top.
The former BYU quarterback has thrown nine interceptions to only four touchdowns, and his quarterback rating (QBR) is a dismal 23.9. Wilson hasn’t even come close to performing like a No. 2 overall selection yet, which is one of the main reasons the Jets are now 1-4.
Fans and pundits alike are questioning Saleh and the Jets’ approach to Wilson development.
Wilson is unlikely to develop and learn from throwing interceptions once a week as things are right now. Saleh, on the other hand, is sticking to his guns.
He’s urging Wilson to be patient, saying that MVP contender Josh Allen struggled in his first few NFL starts as well.
“Josh Allen’s statistics were the same as [Zach Wilson’s] for the first five games of his rookie year,” Saleh remarked. “It’s going to start clicking,” says the narrator.
The New York Jets need to rethink their offensive scheme.
Apart from the fact that Allen’s development has no precedence, there’s another major difference: Josh Allen is *way* more gifted than Zach Wilson. The ceiling is much lower. As a result, best of luck with it. https://t.co/x5oJRnlhma
October 13, 2021 — bomani (@bomani jones)
For starters, Allen’s statistics through his first five career starts weren’t quite as awful as Wilson’s.
Allen threw five interceptions and five touchdown passes (two passing and three rushing). When compared to Wilson’s nine interceptions, there aren’t many parallels.
Second, blaming Wilson’s poor start on Allen’s amazing improvement over the last three seasons is simply a ploy for Saleh to deflect responsibility. Great coaching is one of the most important reasons Allen’s growth progressed so quickly. Saleh is in charge of ensuring Wilson’s development, and he’s failing miserably.
Instead of comparing Wilson to other quarterbacks, maybe Saleh could look at fresh teaching techniques that would help his failing quarterback succeed. Just an idea.
Pro Football Reference provided all stats.
The Miami Dolphins have a major problem that an injured Tua Tagovailoa won’t be able to solve.
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