Woody Johnson has given up on the season – what that means for Jets coaches and players

When New York Jets players returned to the team’s facility from their bye week on Monday, they were greeted by speeches from an interim head coach and an interim general manager.

Most of the list was brought to New York by Robert Saleh and Joe Douglas. Both were fired before Thanksgiving, the Jets playoff hopes dead by December. So on Monday, it was Jeff Ulbrich and Phil Savage who stood in front of the team and delivered words to convince them that there is still something to play for, even if it doesn’t really feel like it. Ulbrich talked about finishing the season “the right way” over the final six games, starting with Sunday at home against the Seattle Seahawks. Savage talked about the importance of maintaining professionalism regardless of the situation the Jets find themselves in.

“If you don’t like what’s going on … you have to make some sacrifices to make these changes happen.” pic.twitter.com/qnZAGWG6ON

— New York Jets (@nyjets) 25 November 2024

It would be fair to wonder if that message falls on deaf ears at this point, especially since owner Woody Johnson has already flipped the site to 2025. If it wasn’t obvious when the Jets fired Douglas as general manager last week, it was on Monday afternoon when the Jets announced they hired The 33rd Team, a media and consulting firm run by former Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum, to help them in their search for a new general manager and head coach. Tannenbaum and former Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman will lead the way in a “supportive role to help identify and vet candidates in addition to coordinating interviews.”

Of course, the Jets are 3-8 and have a less than one percent chance of making the postseason, according to the New York Times playoff simulator. If the Jets somehow won all of their remaining six games, that number would still only jump to 30 percent.

When Ulbrich was given the interim head coach tag upon Saleh’s firing in October, it was with the idea that the rest of the season would serve as his audition for the full-time job. Now the Jets are actively searching for his replacement — though Ulbrich hasn’t been ruled out as a candidate. Awkward?

“Honestly, it’s not at all,” Ulbrich said. “My focus is to finish the season the right way, play a brand of football we’re all proud of, myself included, and that starts with Seattle.”

With Ulbrich as head coach, the Jets defense has taken a dive. Since Week 6, Ulbrich’s first game as interim head coach, it ranks 30th in defensive EPA, 26th in rushing defense and 24th in points allowed per game. match. The defense has also forced the fewest turnovers (two) in the NFL during that span and hasn’t recorded an interception since Week 5, Saleh’s last game as a head coach. Tackling has been an issue highlighted in the Week 10 loss to the Cardinals, in which the Jets missed 20 tackles.

None of that helps Ulbrich’s case for earning the full-time job, but as with Jets players, the next six games will also serve as his audition for the rest of the NFL. Ulbrich doesn’t give up calling, he said, and maintains control of his unit while also trying to lead the entire operation. It’s a formula that hasn’t worked so far.

“We created a really clear vision of where we need to improve and found some things,” Ulbrich said, declining to elaborate. “Of course you find the things you don’t do well, you have to improve them. But then we also found some things that I think we can really build on.”

Ulbrich’s highest task in the last six games: buy-in. The players know that the person running the organization (Johnson) has already given up on their season and is looking forward to next year. Their head coach was fired. Their general manager was fired. They’re 3-8, the playoffs are unrealistic, and there doesn’t seem to be much to play for — other than pride.

It’s been a crazy season to say the least. “There’s definitely a word for it,” said linebacker CJ Mosley, one of the team’s captains. “You could throw many different synonyms in there. (Firing) doesn’t happen much, but it does. It is unfortunate that this has happened to us this year. We can only control what we do on the pitch. … You can’t make any excuses when there are changes in our dressing room, changes upstairs, downstairs or around the corner, the only thing we can control is when we step between the white lines, what we do to win football games. As players, that is what we have to make sure our main focus remains on.”

Mosley added that the goal going forward is simple: win.

“Even though we come out of this bye week with a losing record, it doesn’t have to stay that way,” he said. “We can find a way to win the last few games and try to make something out of the last six weeks that we have because at the end of the day, at the end of the season, whether we finish with all the wins , all losses. or .500, change will happen regardless. So we might as well do what we can while we’re here.”

There are plenty of players and coaches with something to prove. Ulbrich wants to prove he deserves a chance to be a head coach, whether it’s with the Jets or someone else. Mosley will be keen to prove he still has something left in the tank, although a neck injury could still keep him out of Sunday’s game. There are many key players set to hit free agency this offseason, and others who will battle for roster spots — whether it’s with the Jets or with one of the other 31 teams.

“We understand they’re doing things upstairs and figuring out what’s going to happen next year,” said offensive tackle Morgan Moses, who will be a free agent. “But a lot of people in this locker room are playing for a lot of things, whether it’s free agency, whether it’s more playing time, whether it’s to be on the 53-man roster. If you’re a practice guy, there are so many variables that guys will contribute to this thing. And all we have to worry about is playing football. I’d say a lot of it is outside noise and we’re going to control the things we can control in the locker room and it’s just getting ready for Seattle.”

Then there’s Aaron Rodgers. The quarterback turns 41 in December and is in the midst of one of the worst stretches of his career. He has never been the starter on a team that was out of the playoffs this early. He has been pitched all season and one latest report from NFL Network suggested that Rodgers has refused to get scans on his injuries so the team could not prevent him from playing. Rodgers has looked like a shell of himself, unwilling to throw the ball downfield or play on the run, which used to be his signature.

There’s the question of whether the Jets (or Rodgers himself) will ultimately shut it down, especially as it becomes clearer that neither Rodgers nor Johnson is likely to continue this marriage into 2025. But Ulbrich said Rodgers looks healthier, when he comes out of goodbye. week than he has had at any time in the last month.

“A healthy Aaron Rodgers is the Aaron Rodgers we all love,” Ulbrich said.

On Monday, Ulbrich was in the unfortunate position of being questioned about things that were largely out of his control: Rodgers’ status for the rest of the season and Johnson’s over-involvement in the team’s day-to-day operations, as detailed by Athletics last week.

When asked, Ulbrich said he was “not informed of the” report about Rodgers refusing to take tests, and would only say three words to the question of whether there are internal discussions to shut him down: “It isn’t there.”

Will Rodgers be the starting quarterback against Seattle?

“Absolutely,” Ulbrich said.

As for Athletics‘s report that safety Tony Adams was benched as the Week 11 starter at Johnson’s direction, Ulbrich didn’t exactly say “no.”

“Guys, I preach to the players about that singular focus going forward and pouring everything into this Seahawks team and owning this process,” Ulbrich said. “I have to live that too. I can’t sit here and talk about things that may or may not have happened. Mr. Johnson and I have a good dialogue, consistent dialogue, we talk all the time and we have very honest conversations and I want to keep those conversations between the two of us.”

The Jets have a lot of questions about what the future looks like around here. They will not be answered until after the season. Meanwhile, they still have six games to play.

(Photo: Luke Hales/Getty Images)