Now and then, Mike Francesa can dial it up and find his 95 mph fastball. Generally speaking, it has to do with a certain level of incompetence that follows around the New York sports scene like a stench. And Francesa is the master of his craft when it comes to that.
And speaking of incompetency, New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh has opened himself up to criticism for handling Aaron Rodgers’ unexcused absence. Some of that included Pat McAfee taking aim at the Jets’ head man for causing “unneeded sh*t” around the veteran quarterback’s minicamp no-show, with the host of The Pat McAfee Show implying that Gang Green completely botched its handling of it.
While Francesa’s rant, as shared by Funhouse (BackAftaThis on X), is along those same lines, he made it quite clear who he was talking about. And on his The Mike Francesa Podcast, he didn’t beat around the bush while going in on the leader of the Jets, who has an 18-33 record in his first three seasons as the head coach.
Mike Francesa murders #Jets HC Robert Saleh. pic.twitter.com/jgjrDSheQk
— Funhouse (@BackAftaThis) June 14, 2024
“And Saleh, who doesn’t know how to handle any situation, he makes every situation worse when he gets in front of a microphone,” said Francesa. “He handled this terribly again this week. If he is OK with this, then he just made it worse. He is a puppet in this game. He just showed you what a puppet he is in this game. ‘It’s an in-excused [sic] absence. I’m fine with it; he’s not here.’ How could you be fine with it if it’s an in-excused absence?
“You can’t have both. If it’s in-excused, how can you be fine with it? Then, none of your guys have to show up. It’s either mandatory or it’s not. It’s not somewhat mandatory, or it’s mandatory to everybody but the guy that runs the franchise. ‘The guy who’s more important here than I am. More important here than anyone is.’ And there’s a coach basically saying, ‘I’m here, and I’m at his beck and call. He runs the franchise; I don’t.’ That’s why Saleh has no chance; he has abdicated his own power and given it to the quarterback.
“You can’t do that as a head coach.”
It’s hard to argue with any of Francesa’s points here; he probably shouldn’t expect that he and Saleh will trade texts about Zach Wilson like Joe Beningo has.
[Funhouse]
