For Jeff Ulbrich in his football career, this was a long time coming.
It was also a moment to pay attention to what you wish for.
Monday night against the Bills at MetLife Stadium, the 47-year-old Ulbrich, who played linebacker in the NFL for 10 years and was an assistant coach for 14 years, took to the sideline for the first time as a head coach.
The result was hardly what he had hoped for, a 23-20 loss to the wild, bizarre, and at times sloppy Bills.
Frankly, this was a very similar result to the recent results on Robert Saleh's resume that resulted in Saleh being fired on Tuesday.
On Saturday, at the end of a long, eventful and emotional week for Ulbrich, who was promoted to head coach of the Jets after Saleh, the man who brought him to the Jets, was fired five days earlier, he made his first official appearance at any time. Taka was asked. He wanted to be a coach.
“It was really slow for me.” [playing] Because I remember early in my career saying, “You know what? 'Why would I want to do that?''' Ulbrich recalled. “Later in my career…we drafted [linebacker] Patrick Willis. I was the backup and spent a lot of time with him. We watched a lot of tapes together. I did a lot of unnecessary things [work] on the field.
“I still remember it like it was yesterday. We were playing the Cardinals and I was watching on the sideline. He played in the Cardinals game and looked at me. I remember looking at him. [The play] That's what we focused on that week, and it felt better than any play I've ever made for myself. And it was like, “I was hooked.” ”
Ulbrich's romantic memories of his love for coaching were far from his mind during the stressful night he would endure in his head coaching debut.
His defense was ravaged by Josh Allen and Buffalo's running game. Allen completed 19 of 25 for 215 yards and two TDs. The Bills ran for over 150 yards.
“That's not the start we're used to defensively,” Ulbrich said after the game. “That's not winning football from a defensive standpoint.”
The Jets were penalized 11 times for 110 yards of damage, a display of the very same poor discipline that skewered Saleh during his tenure.
Jets kicker Greg Zuerlein missed two short field goals, one in the third quarter of a 20-20 game and the other in the fourth quarter when the score was still tied, resulting in a crasher in a close game. .
When it was all said and done, Ulbrich summed up his first game as head coach as follows, directing defensive plays and overseeing the entire team as usual.
“It was a challenge, but by no means overwhelming,” he said.
Ulbrich was in an incredibly good mood and remained committed to his team despite the heartbreaking loss.
“Even though we're 2-4, we're by no means out of this situation,” he said. “Absolutely not. I know the character of that locker room. I know how we will respond.”
Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner said he had “a lot of respect” for Ulbrich in his head coaching debut.
“He was trying to do everything he could to put us in a position to win this game,” Gardner said. “All the credit goes to him for doing that and putting us in a perfect position to think we could win a game like that.”
Gardner said Ulbrich's message to his players after the game was, “We're in a hole, but if we can get out of it, it's going to be an even better story, a great story.''
