Jets’ playoff chase a historic task after stunning coaching change

When Jets guard John Simpson heard the news that the team had fired Robert Saleh last Tuesday, he had a flashback.

Simpson was on the 2021 Raiders, a team that lost its head coach, Jon Gruden, five games into that season.

Gruden was not fired, but he resigned after leaked emails of his has shown racist, misogynistic and anti-gay language.

“That was the first thing I thought of,” Simpson said later in the week. “It was out of nowhere. Change is never fun, but you’ve got to keep going at the end of the day.”

The Raiders were 3-2 at the time and special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia took over. Bisaccia went 7-5 as interim coach and Las Vegas made the playoffs.

They are the only team to make the playoffs in the Super Bowl era after an in-season coaching change.

The last team to do it before them was the 1961 Oilers.

Now, the Jets are trying to match those Raiders.

The Jets are 2-3 and still have playoff hopes under interim coach Jeff Ulbrich, but history is against them when it comes to changing coaches during the season.

In the last 10 years, there have been 22 in-season coaching change and those Raiders are the only playoff team. It is not comparing apples to apples for all of the coaching changes.

Many occur late in the season when teams are already eliminated or virtually eliminated from playoff contention. Some occurred with just one or two games left in the season.

There are six instances where it happened less than six games into a season like the Jets change:

• The Panthers fired Matt Rhule in 2022 at 1-4 and ended the year 7-10 under interim coach Steve Wilks.
• Those 2021 Raiders went 10-7 under Bisaccia after Gruden was fired at 3-2.
• The Falcons fired Dan Quinn in 2020 at 0-5 and finished 4-12 under interim coach Raheem Morris.
• The Texans fired Bill O’Brien in 2020 at 0-4 and finished 4-12 under interim coach Romeo Crennel.
• The Dolphins fired Joe Philbin in 2015 at 1-3 and then ended the year 6-10 under interim coach Dan Campbell.
• Washington fired Jay Gruden in 2019 with an 0-5 record and the team finished 3-13 under interim coach Bill Callahan.

There are other instances where an interim coach had some success after taking over around midseason. Gregg Williams went 5-3 in 2018 with the Browns after Hue Jackson was fired.

Antonio Pierce led the Raiders to a 5-4 finish last year after replacing Josh McDaniels.

It is usually not a recipe for success, though.

Jets defensive tackle Solomon Thomas was also on that 2021 Raiders team.

“It was a huge credit to Rich Bisaccia and the work he did with us. He believed in us,” Thomas said. “He set a standard of the group coming together and the players taking over the team and that’s what ultimately happened. We became a player-led team and we came together. Instead of playing solo football, we played team football and found a way to finish it out. It was a tough transition but we made it work and it’s the same thing we’re doing here.”

Simpson said he sees similarities between the 2021 Raiders and these Jets.

“I think it’s all the guys sticking together and then having a coach like coach Bisaccia to be the glue kind of and keep everybody on the same accord,” Simpson said. “I feel like it’s similar here. Coach [Ulbrich] is the real deal. He’s going to tell you how it is and then he’s going to love you up. That’s kind of what you want. He played in this league. He’s been in this league. It’s going to be good. I feel like the comparison is similar.”

Thomas said the players have no choice but to push forward now.

“The hard part of it is Saleh was a great coach for us,” Thomas said. “He’s a great man, a man that we love and respect. He gave us his all. That’s the hard part of it because we all love coach Saleh. We appreciate him for the opportunities he gave us and all that he gave to this team. Moving on is the only way forward. That’s the only you can look at. You can’t look at the past. You can’t dwell on it. We have to ride behind [Ulbrich]. We love [Ulbrich]. That’s what we’re doing right now.”