Content available exclusively for subscribers
There is no doubt, he’s an alpha dog . . .
Robert Saleh is a true leader of men.
He’s not just playing one on TV. He’s legit.
And he’s got some heavy lifting to do moving forward, leading the Jets.
The club has missed the playoffs 11 years in a row.
They have to learn how to win, learn how to close out games.
And a lot goes into changing a team mindset. It’s not just about amassing better talent.
Bill Walsh once said, “Champions behave like champions before they are champions.”
Walsh led the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl championships.
This Zach Wilson situation, whatever you think of it, some might argue this isn’t behaving like a champion before you are a champion.
It’s turned into a distraction.
But you know what might be just as bad, are the teammates that felt they needed to comment on it.
Do you think commenting on a teammate’s social life on Twitter is part of a championship formula? Perhaps not.
You don’t need that.
Saleh needs to address the team about the ills of social media, and I’m sure he will.
The quarterback has enough to deal with now regarding the TMZ, Page Six story that has been created, but now websites are writing sidebars on his teammates’ comments.
Farm your own land.
Getting back to Wilson, the team’s own social media account, which can be very sassy, and promotes Wilson quite a bit, perhaps a tad too much considering he’s not an established NFL, what are they going to do now?
Anytime they start promoting Wilson this summer, you know what’s going to happen on Twitter – the trolls will be out in full force, about his love life. They are going to be ruthless. You don’t need to be an expert on social media to see what’s coming.
And he’s going to hear it from fans. Not necessarily from fans at training camp, but at stadiums, home and away.
Like we said, he’s up the pressure on himself, which was already enormous.
So the Jets’ social media account might need to chill out on the Wilson hype.
But you know what, they needed to do that anyway.
If I see a highlight of that play where Wilson chucked it down the field against Tennessee to Corey Davis for a TD one more time . . .
How many times are you going to show us that play to promote Wilson? It was a nice play, but it was a street-yard play, a broken play, and you aren’t going to be able to do that with regularity. Think about it. Was there another play like that the rest of the year? A broken play where he throws a bomb for a TD? Can’t think of another one. The point is NFL QBs generally need to matriculate the team down the field, winning from the pocket, reading defenses well, going through progressions smoothly and being accurate. Street-yard plays are fine mixed in, but you can’t rely on them as your modus operandi.
But Saleh certainly has a lot of work to do this year to turn his club into a winner. He knows that.
And one thing he needs to do is talk to the team about the ills of social media, whether it’s regarding posts about themselves or their teammates.
July 13, 2022
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Thursday.