Kevin Lidlow @klidlow96
We have finally made it to gameday, after months of building the hype around the New York Jets from trading for Aaron Rodgers to Hard Knocks. The time is now to put it all on the field and prove the haters wrong and the believers right, and what better way than to do it against your division rival at MetLife stadium on September 11th. As we all know, this date was the day that changed America when the planes struck down the World Trade Center, and for Head coach Robert Saleh it’ll be particularly emotional after almost losing his brother on that day. I’d expect him to be fired up for this game, but it’s also time for him to really back up from what he’s been saying throughout the offseason.
One Jets Drive and Hard Knocks showed us a side of Robert Saleh that we have not seen before, sure we’ve seen him get fired up on the sideline but we actually saw up close of what he’s like behind the scenes. We saw him give the “Crow Vs Eagles” speech, the firing up o line speech, and the we can compete speech at the end. But most importantly we saw him as a head coach, as he was trying to light a fire on his team. While they passed the first part of the test, it’s time that it transitions onto the field and it starts tonight against the Buffalo Bills.
The Bills are coming off a bad finish last year when they got blown out by the Cincinnati Bengals in the divisional round. Despite that and the injuries they’ve battled through, they still finished the year 13-3 and another division title under their belts. Despite them not getting as much media attention, the division still runs through them and the Jets need to prove that they are ready to compete. The task at hand may be difficult but as long as they come out making fewer mistakes, they have a chance to win this game. It all starts with the head coach.
The speeches are only as good as the performance provided on the field, Robert Saleh has to show us that he is the right head coach for the New York Jets. In his tenure with the Jets, Saleh’s record is only 11-23. Throughout that time we have seen him make some questionable calls, like his time management, handling the development of Zach Wilson, etc. Tonight we need to see Saleh back up everything he has been saying all offseason, be aggressive, go for it on 4th and shorts. Keep the energy up, by showing his confidence in his team that they can get the job done.
Tonight is the night that it all has to come together, months of hyper and excitement has led it to this point. The Jets need to win this game and start fast, otherwise they will have to face the consequences from hearing about it the next day.