Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00We continue our breaking news reaction to the huge, huge news
00:08out of the National Football League. Still, that happened
00:10about 15 minutes ago and it's sending shockwaves around the
00:14NFL after only five games into 2024, his fourth season as the
00:20head coach of the New York Jets, gang green has fired
00:24Robert Sala. Again, it might not be overly shocking that he
00:29was on the hot seat or that there might be some friction in
00:33the relationship between the head coach Sala and his
00:36quarterback Aaron Rodgers to do this now after only five games,
00:42albeit dropping two in a row and a two and three sub 500
00:46start is rather shocking to me. We have learned in the last
00:50five minutes or so that defensive coordinator Jeff
00:52Ulbricht will be named the interim head coach for the New
00:57York Jets and Joe, the story for the Jets, whether it was
01:01Sala, Aaron Rodgers, whoever really calling the shots this
01:04year. One thing had to happen in terms of season success. You
01:09had to snap the 13-year playoff drought by far the longest in
01:15the National Football League. Do you think the change at head
01:19coach will help the Jets do that? It can't hurt him at this
01:26point. I mean, here we are heading into what week six,
01:30Ben, the Jets still don't have an identity, do they? And I'm
01:33sorry, but that falls on your head coach. Make no mistake
01:38about it. This guy is responsible for a lot of the
01:42loose ends that happen with this team, the penalties, the
01:45undisciplined nature. There's obviously Aaron Rodgers aside,
01:52there are some locker room issues in the New York Jets
01:55here. A lot of finger pointing, a lot of guys not taking
01:58responsibility. Listen, not every guy is, this is a first
02:02time head coach. It was a nice hire to begin with. You thought
02:06the defense would be better. It was better, but not everybody
02:10is a great head coach. And no less, you bring them into New
02:14York with the Jets and you give them Zach Wilson for a couple
02:18of years. And then you bring in Aaron Rodgers, who gets hurt
02:22in his first year. And it's very easy to see the wheels
02:26falling off this wagon. He had one year left on his contract.
02:30They obviously were going to go in a different direction. Then
02:32anyway, if you want to save the season, now is the time to do
02:37it before you take on your division rival, the Buffalo
02:40Bills here on Monday night. Absolutely. So Joe, absolutely.
02:44So it makes Monday night's matchup in MetLife even that
02:49much more crucial. Not only is it a divisional game, you are
02:53hosting the divisional favorites. And I think perhaps
02:57that's the reason for the timing of this decision by the
03:01Jets franchise, the impetus because of the importance of
03:05Monday night against Buffalo. You heard Craig Misch mention
03:09it. The New York Jets are a two and a half point underdog. The
03:12interim head coaching bump reports around the Jets
03:15organization. Everybody, coaching staff, players, roster,
03:20management, front office. They love Jeff Ulbrich, the
03:23defensive coordinator. And the defense has been very, very
03:28good. But I don't think it's the defense that needs to
03:30perform on Monday. If you were looking for a bump, perhaps
03:35it's Aaron Rodgers. The 40-year-old quarterback threw
03:38it 54 times in London on Sunday against the Minnesota
03:42Vikings. But three interceptions. If I was going
03:45to bet anything in that game, it'd be 300 plus, two plus
03:49passing touchdowns for Aaron Rodgers. There is no doubt in
03:53my mind. There has not been a doubt in my mind since he
03:56signed with the Jets in March or he was traded from the Jets
04:00or made his intention clear that he was going to play with
04:03the Jets from March of 2023 that Aaron Rodgers called the
04:07shots in the Big Apple. That Aaron Rodgers was the actual
04:10guy running the organization and wearing the pants. Not
04:13owner Woody Johnson, not head coach Robert Sala as we have
04:17clearly seen, not general manager Joe Douglas. It's Aaron
04:21Rodgers. So, all the burden is on Aaron Rodgers to make sure
04:27the New York Jets are a playoff team when all is said and
04:30done. Yeah, I mean, listen, there's kind of no excuse at
04:34this particular point and I think the front office kinda
04:38says it. Listen, we're up against the clock. So, they've
04:41gotta do something if they and with Miami situation, New
04:45England, obviously, Buffalo's got some issues there as well.
04:50I mean, if you're gonna make a move like this, it's you're
04:53throwing all your chips into the center of the table there
04:56and going, now is the time. Now is the time. Absolutely so. I
05:00mean, now is the time. There's no doubt about that. The time
05:03is now for New York. Minus 140. The price on the Jets to miss
05:10the playoffs. They are now favored for the first time this
05:12year to be on the outside of the playoff conversation in the
05:16AFC looking in. Oh boy. More reaction later. Again, the
05:20fallout continues after the New York Jets make their decision
05:24to fire Robert Sala after only five weeks in to the 2024 NFL
05:30season. It was his fourth year at the helm of this Jets
05:34organization. He will end out his three-plus-year tenure.
05:38Fifty-six games as the head man with just a twenty and thirty-six
05:44record. Okay, maybe you excused the Zach Wilson era or last year
05:49after Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles after only four
05:52offensive snaps but what was so damning Joe was the two and
05:56three start through five weeks this year with all the
05:59expectation and a healthy Aaron Rodgers this year for
06:03gangrene. A team expected to win double-digit games. A team
06:07expected to make the postseason and snap a 13-year playoff
06:11drought. After five weeks, the odds have shifted. The Jets now
06:16favored to miss the playoffs at minus 140. Jeff Ulbrich, the
06:21defensive coordinator now named the interim head coach but all
06:25the pressure continues to mount on the 40-year-old
06:29quarterback who threw three interceptions last week and
06:32cost his team a game in London. That's Aaron Rodgers. As we said
06:37Joe, in our last segment discussing this, the time is
06:40now and it must happen right away. Yeah, I mean, listen,
06:45sometimes you just you need a new voice. I've we've been
06:51we've been hearing it for a while now that maybe not
06:54exactly the best X's and O's, you know, coach and again, you
06:59can be a great defensive coordinator and not be a great
07:02head coach and unfortunately, you can make the argument that
07:07hey, listen, this guy went through six different starting
07:10quarterbacks during his tenure as the head coach of the Jets.
07:13Zach Wilson, Mike White, Flacco, Simeon, Tim and we get it,
07:19right? But there's other things outside of that that apparently
07:24have not been going well and if you're going to have a shot
07:27this season in a very winnable AFC East right now with all the
07:33injuries to Miami and Tua and New England being down and
07:36Buffalo not being the same Buffalo Bills. Hello, this is
07:42you've got to make this change. If you felt there was a reason
07:45in that locker room that they needed a new voice, well, then
07:48you make the move. You know, a great guy, Robert Sala doesn't
07:53make him a great head coach. That's the bottom line and I
07:57think Joe, the magnitude of Monday night's game at home and
08:00Met life against the Buffalo Bills who have dropped two
08:03straight games and sit there with an approachable three and
08:07two record even as the Jets have started sub 500. We know
08:10of all the issues to the Dolphins, the Patriots are the
08:13team. We kind of expected them to be not really going to be a
08:16winning team this year that the Jets are looking up at Buffalo
08:20literally in the standings and on Monday night in saying it
08:24must start now. So although only five weeks feels drastic,
08:30it seems to be the sentiment that this New York Jets team
08:33can contend for a playoff spot, a divisional title, and maybe
08:37even a conference championship Joe over the last two years
08:40again since March of 2023 when Aaron Rodgers emerged out of
08:44the darkness and put the ayahuasca away. It made his
08:48intention clear that he wanted to play for the Jets. The
08:51question has always been is it realistic to consider them an
08:55AFC or Super Bowl contender would making the postseason and
09:00snapping along playoff drought more than a decade at the time
09:03be considered success. Where do you stand now on the Jets after
09:09the dismissal of Robert Sala five weeks into this season? I
09:14think we're going to know rather quickly whether or not
09:17there were some issues stemming from the top of management
09:22there beginning with the head coach. We'll see. I still don't
09:25think the Jets have an identity. I still don't think that
09:29there's enough accountability in that locker room with Sala.
09:33You know, sometimes you try to be everyone's best friends and
09:36navigate and that doesn't work out here and I think some of
09:40the comments from Sala over the last couple of weeks have shown
09:44that yeah, there's got to be some accountability in that
09:48locker room again. People get very complacent in a locker
09:52room. Ben when they realize that the bark is much worse than
09:56the bite. So maybe the front office says, let's get Ulrich
10:00in there. Let's get a new voice and new leadership and we'll
10:04know if they don't beat Buffalo and they embarrass themselves
10:08again, then Sala over it won't make a damn bit of difference.
10:11They're no good two and a half point underdogs are the New
10:15York Jets on Monday against Buffalo. My question was going
10:19to be with the weight of expectation this year. How many
10:22times with the Jets continue to be a dog a dog across the pond
10:26in London. They did not cover against the Vikings a dog week
10:30number one in Santa Clara. They got blown out by the 49ers and
10:35Aaron Rodgers at the age of 40 years old after a torn Achilles
10:39needs to start looking like the four-time NFL MVP and not the
10:43guy who is 40 years old off a devastating injury that had the
10:47worst statistical year of his entire NFL career in his last
10:51fully healthy year in 2022. Just want to provide some
10:55context. Joe, you mentioned the quarterbacks that Robert Sala
10:58has had to be the head coach for I think you could excuse a
11:0220 hit 36 record. But again, you're not given the benefit of
11:07the doubt just because of that. I do want to provide though
11:10how great the defense has been even this year. One of seven
11:13teams around the NFL holding opponents to 17 points per game
11:17or less. They held the Broncos to 10. Bo Nix to 60 yards still
11:21couldn't put up enough against Denver's defense to win that
11:24game. Last week, Minnesota scored 23. Great one offensive
11:28touchdown. The defense did enough. This is from ESPN's
11:32Benjamin Solak who does a great job of course with the stats,
11:34the game breakdowns, all of that stuff. Since the 2021
11:38season, Robert Sala is first in New York. The Jets defense is
11:41first in the NFL in points per drive. First in EPA per play,
11:45expected points added. Third in success rate despite being on
11:51the field, the fourth most amount of snaps in the last
11:55three plus years. He's a great defensive coach. We'll see where
12:01he lands next. And again, Joe, as we have said, the impetus and
12:05the pressure is on Aaron Rodgers and the offense to win on
12:10Monday against Buffalo. No Monday night regular season game
12:14in week six. It's carried more weight perhaps than this one
12:17against Buffalo. Nothing is more important than this game and
12:23history tells us the Jets are probably a really good bet on
12:27Monday night against a still banged up Buffalo Bills team
12:31here. So, this is gonna be interesting. Buckle up. A big
12:35one. A big one. Buckle up indeed.