Over on the other side of our New York football town, Brian Daboll has been celebrated for the job he’s done with the Giants and their mercurial and miraculous turnaround this season.
And justifiably so: The Giants first-year head coach is the hands-down early favorite as NFL Coach of the Year with the roster-depleted Giants 5-1 through six weeks after winning a total of 22 games in the previous five seasons.
But as Daboll has been deified six games into his Giants career, it’s time, too, that we salute Robert Saleh and the job he’s steadily done with the Jets, who are 4-2 and very relevant after Sunday’s resounding, eye-opening 27-10 domination of the Packers at Lambeau Field.
New York football, which has been a laughingstock for the better part of the past decade, is in good hands right now and that’s largely thanks to the two head coaches.
Saleh, since the day he was hired as the 22nd head coach in Jets history last year, knew the challenge that lay ahead.
He knew the history of the franchise. He knew about “same old Jets.’’
The list of head coaches who had been laid to waste before him was daunting, with Todd Bowles and Adam Gase the latest casualties in a growing line of headstones in the Jet cemetery.
Saleh took the job anyway. He didn’t blink.
Jets coach Robert Saleh. Getty ImagesSaleh was well aware of the pitch and elevation to the mountain he was about to climb when the Jets called. He accepted the challenge and began the climb — even though it was against long odds.
Since the day he arrived, Saleh has done his best to temper expectations, which he knew was going to be difficult considering how starved the Jets fan base has been.
Last season’s 4-13 record with a minor league roster was considered a honeymoon period as Saleh began to insert his program and build his culture. Then the Jets collected three first-round picks in April’s draft, a bonanza that included cornerback Sauce Gardner with the fourth-overall pick, receiver Garrett Wilson at No. 10-overall, edge-rusher Jermaine Johnson with the 26th pick and then running back Breece Hall at the top of the second round.
The enthusiasm of the Jets fans began to build.
In a conversation with Saleh just before training camp began in July, Saleh spoke about how excited he was about the infusion of talented youth, but he was treading cautiously because he knows the timetable for the development of young players varies greatly.
Saleh was anxious to see how quickly he could coax his young players to become game-changers, players who win games in the fourth quarter.
The evidence through six games is this: While there’s still a long way to go, those young players have been showing up as game-changers, winning games in the fourth quarter.
So, that culture Saleh has been instilling is taking and it appears to be building as he’s cultivated confidence and swagger inside the locker room.
The Jets celebrate during their win over of the Packers. AP“It started Day 1 last year when this whole staff got here about changing the culture,’’ Jets receiver Braxton Berrios said Monday. “It’s been a constant push, a constant message over the last year and a half and now it’s finally starting to show.’’
It showed in a statement victory Sunday at Lambeau.
Sunday’s win was one of mixed emotions for Saleh, because he defeated one of his best friends in Packers head coach Matt LaFleur and because he knows the hype train is about to enter overdrive.
That’s why, in the immediate aftermath of the victory, Saleh was doing all he could to apply the brakes. Safety first.
“I’ll be honest, it doesn’t mean anything,’’ was his answer to the first question in the postgame press conference. “Just like a loss wouldn’t have meant anything.’’
Saleh said this with a straight face.
It was clear he was delivering a message to his players after the signature win: Don’t let this go to your head.
Left tackle Duane Brown said Monday that after the Jets lopsided home win over the Dolphins two Sundays ago, Saleh’s locker-room message to the players was to make what they’d just done feel “normal.’’
After Sunday’s win in Green Bay, Saleh told his players they should “expect’’ to do what they’d just done.
Brown said after the win over the Packers, “there was a big celebratory feeling’’ inside the locker room in the immediate aftermath, but added that it “sobered out pretty quickly and everyone was like, ‘OK, we won, that’s great, now let’s get another one.’ ’’
Evidence of Saleh’s culture taking hold.





