There was a moment in Hard Knocks when Robert Saleh expressed that one of his biggest pet peeves as a coach is when an opposing coach, whose team is performing well, walks up to the coach of the losing team at the 50-yard-line and says, “Man, you guys play hard.”
Following his team’s 37-20 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Thursday Night Football, Saleh said he appreciated how his team fought in the second half.
So, what gives?
The New York Jets head coach was known for his passion during his time in San Francisco. His emotion on the sideline made him a guy that players wanted to play for. And yet, that’s been few and far between during his tenure with Gang Green, as he fell to 17-33 after Thursday’s loss.
As the losses pile up — one more embarrassing than the next — it’s fair to ask Saleh what’s on his mind. With New York’s latest drubbing draped in pre-snap penalties and avoidable mistakes, ESPN’s Rich Cimini asked Saleh why he didn’t seem angry.
“Do you want me to throw the podium on the floor?”
Robert Saleh was asked about not seeming “angry” about the Jets’ struggles: pic.twitter.com/vDhtPxSnRQ
— Jets Videos (@snyjets) December 29, 2023
“You don’t seem — and maybe you’re not conveying what you really feel inside — but you don’t seem like particularly angry upset about it. I’m wondering if you can just share what’s really churning inside of you now?”
It’s certainly a valid question, but based on the terse exchange that followed, Saleh didn’t exactly understand what was being asked of him.
“Um,” Saleh said, followed by a lengthy pause, “I’m not sure of your question, Rich…
“Do you want me to throw the podium on the floor?”
It’s a rhetorical question, but many Jets fans would like to see that from their head coach or at least some emotion. Cimini was merely trying to get Saleh to open up and share his feelings as a season draped in Super Bowl aspirations has gone awry. And it largely has to do with coaching.
Again, the Jets, one of the more undisciplined teams in the league, had 12 penalties in the 17-point defeat. Saleh was peppered with questions about his team’s lack of discipline, and he struggled to find an answer, saying, “I gotta figure it out.”
Maybe figuring it out doesn’t start with Saleh throwing the podium on the floor, but neither does a stoic head coach largely void of emotion.
[SNY Jets]
