There are a few NFL coaches who are regarded as the greatest in the business today. Most of us can agree that Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers), Sean McVay (Los Angeles Rams), Andy Reid (Kansas City Chiefs), and Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco 49ers) are at the top of the list.
With a cumulative win-loss record of 435-247 (64% win percentage), 31 postseason berths, eight Super Bowl appearances, and four Super Bowl titles, these coaches have clearly been successful.
My case for keeping Robert Saleh as head coach looks pointless right away when weighed against his miserable win-loss record of 18-33 and lack of postseason experience. However, it’s impossible to ignore the similarities between these coaches and Saleh.
Three of the top four coaches I listed are regarded as offensive masterminds. They had some of the top coordinators in the game on staff when they each won their individual Super Bowls.
Steve Spagnuolo, a 2008 Super Bowl champion with the New York Giants after helping to overcome the then-unbeaten New England Patriots, was Reid’s defensive coordinator while he was with the Chiefs.
When they advanced to the 2020 Super Bowl, Kyle Shanahan’s defense staff, led by Robert Saleh, held quarterback Patrick Mahomes to a QBR of 63.5.
There was Wade Phillips of the Los Angeles Rams. Some people rank Phillips as one of the all-time great defensive coordinators. The last time a defensive player won MVP was during Phillips’ lone Super Bowl triumph in 2016. Von Miller was one of those players.
The lone defensive-minded head coach among the four, Mike Tomlin has an amazing 17-year winning streak, but his team hasn’t had much luck in the postseason recently.
Bruce Arians was his offensive coordinator throughout his lone Super Bowl victory and his final Super Bowl appearance, which occurred in 2009 and 2010, respectively. In addition to winning a Super Bowl with the greatest quarterback of all time, Tom Brady, in Tampa Bay, Arians was a highly successful head coach, with a 62.4% victory percentage.
Unfortunately, this hasn’t resulted in victories for us Jets supporters. But take a look at all of the elite head coaches listed above; during their most prosperous seasons, they all had excellent opposite-side-of-the-ball coordinators. And the Jets have really fallen short in this area.
When it comes to the offensive end of the ball, Robert Saleh and the management have made poor choices. Mike LaFleur’s best days are still to come; he was a young, inexperienced player.
Everyone is aware of Nathaniel Hackett’s past. In summary, though, he was successful with a subpar quarterback in Blake Bortles and then again with one of the best quarterbacks in Aaron Rodgers. Of course, there is ample documentation of the Denver fiasco.
Play action and the run game were key components of offensive designs throughout that Bortles season in 2017. Even with today’s technology, such a scheme still requires a standout quarterback and, most crucially, an elite offensive line to produce results. The Jets lacked both, and they believed Aaron Rodgers would make everything right.
When you have a quarterback like Aaron Rodgers, a lot of your offense is dictated by his pre-snap judgments and his pre-snap observations. After Rodgers was injured, Hackett didn’t appear to make any offensive modifications, according to reports from Zack Rosenblatt and Dianna Russini of The Athletic.
