A strange week for the New York Jets is only going to get stranger. Just days after Robert Saleh was fired as head coach, further changes have been made to the interim coaching staff. Jeff Ulbrich announced Thursday that Nathaniel Hackett will be demoted.will no longer call offensive plays.
Hackett was widely believed to be in line for the job due to his relationship with Aaron Rodgers, and was the source of speculation surrounding Saleh's firing on Monday. Saleh had reportedly intended to remove Hackett from play-calling duties before he was fired, leading to speculation that Rodgers may have had a say in the firing. Since then, the Jets have tried to insulate Rodgers by claiming he had nothing to do with the move, and the new change in offensive coordinator continues that trend.
Ulbrich said Rodgers “understood” Hackett's decision to demotion and “supported” the decision. #Jets
— Rich Cimini (@RichCimini) October 10, 2024
The Jets' offense has been their biggest problem this season. Defensively the team was great under Saleh and Ulbrich, ranking 5th in the NFL in EPA per defensive play, but struggled offensively with Hackett and Rodgers ranking 22nd in offensive EPA per play. . A change in offensive coordinator may solve some of this team's problems, but Rodgers continues to play the worst football of his career.
Play-calling will now be handled by Todd Downing, who was the quarterback coach and passing coordinator. Downing's previous experience as an offensive coordinator is listed on his resume as being with the Raiders in 2017 and with the Titans in 2021 and 2022. Those teams' records were, well… bad.
- Raiders (2017): 16th in passing, 25th in rushing — 23rd in scoring.
- Titans (2021) 24th in passing, 5th in rushing — 15th in scoring
- Titans (2022): 30th in passing, 13th in rushing — 28th in scoring.
Basically, the Jets are going to have to hope that Todd Downing doesn't coach like Todd Downing to turn this situation around. I wish you the best.
