Johnson Speaks As If He Were Just Another Spectator In The Jets 2023 Crash

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Jets owner Woody Johnson stood up in front of reporters before Thursday’s NFL Honors program to spin the wreckage of a car he designed and was driven by the General Manager and Head Coach he hired. Gang Green, overhyped in the preseason, lost control after four snaps when star quarterback Aaron Rodgers ruptured his Achilles. The campaign went sideways shortly thereafter, with a quarterback carousel leading the team to a 7-10 record that clinched a 13^th straight season of failing to qualify for the playoffs, the longest drought of any club among the nation’s four major pro sports leagues.

Now Johnson, the worst owner in the New York metropolitan area, wants to make it seem like it all happened under someone else’s watch. Head Coach Robert Saleh’s inattention to offense. General Manager Joe Douglas’ failure to roster a competent backup QB (a nice slam on a player still under contract in Zach Wilson). It’s as if Johnson had no authority to hold them accountable after this debacle.

Johnson went further in his complaints over the imbalance between his team’s units in an ESPN interview. “(Saleh is going to concentrate on offense,” he said. “He's got [Defensive Coordinator] Jeff [Ulbrich] to kind of do the defense, and we've got good special teams. It's offense, offense, offense."

In other words, maybe don’t draft a redundant edge rusher this year, ok Joe? There were several offensive linemen and wide receivers on the board at No. 15 who could have helped a win-now team with a then 39-year old quarterback as opposed to selecting Will McDonald IV, who was given the least amount of snaps of any Jets first-round pick since the immortal Vernon Gholston in 2008, according to ESPN.

As for Saleh, Johnson said he thinks he will be better in 2024 because he’s been learning on the job. Um, then why have the Johnson’s (including brother Chris when Woody was deployed as the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom under President Donald Trump) never hired anyone with more than three games of head coaching experience since they purchased the team in 2000 other than the disgraced Adam Gase?

Johnson could have cut bait with Saleh after last season’s crash of six straight defeats to finish the year at 7-10. Except Johnson gambled that Rodgers would only attach himself to the Jets if he were to pair Saleh with Offensive Coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. Now Johnson is singing a different tune.

“We have all this talent, and we have to deploy talent properly,” Johnson said. “So I think they all got the message. This is it. This is the time to go. We've got to produce this year."

All this talent. Going into a season without a backup QB. Such malfeasances are typically fireable offenses in the NFL. Many coaches and GMs are let go simply because of the losing. But no, both Douglas and Saleh are coming back for another season despite posting some of the worst records for people in their respective positions who have had their lengthy tenures (Douglas since 2019, Saleh since 2021) in the last 25 years. All Johnson would say when asked why was an “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” type reply.   

“I’m not a playoff mandate [guy] but we have to do a lot better than seven games,” Johnson told the New York Post’s Brian Costello.

So, would 9-8 suffice? Who knows with this guy.                

He only knows that turning over the football operations is hard work, and if he can put it off for another year while collecting revenue from his sold-out stadium, then that’s what he’s going to do.