Robert Saleh was fired as head coach of the Jets on Tuesday morning amid a disappointing 2-3 start.
Chad Millman and Simon Hunter, co-hosts of The Favorites, joined Green Dot Daily to discuss their reactions to the firing, what this means for the Jets this season, speculation on a potential trade for Davante Adams, and how they're betting the team for the rest of this season and in this week's game against the Buffalo Bills.
What was your reaction to the firing of Robert Saleh?
Chad Millman: My immediate reaction was, does it really matter who the interim coach is? Because Aaron Rodgers is running that team.
It's been clear the entire season, with every awkward interaction between the two of them that Rodgers would then casually brush off in his press conferences, that Saleh would try to thread the needle on nuancing why it's not a big deal that he and Rodgers are miscommunicating and saying they're communicating fine.
A combination of defensiveness and enabling Rodgers throughout the first five weeks of the regular season has been both torture and comedy when trying to watch Saleh explain away the disconnect between him and Rodgers.
Unless Rodgers is all of a sudden going to decide to start incorporating more play action into the offense and execute a more modern NFL offense. Saleh is not going to be the difference in this team salvaging a season.
Simon Hunter: I don't really know how it's Saleh's fault that this team isn't playing well right now. I feel like it's all on Rodgers. It wasn't his fault that Rodgers couldn't make a completion when they needed it against Denver. Same thing against the Vikings. The defense dominated the Vikings. That game was Rodgers’ fault.
He had Garrett Wilson at the end streaking down the sideline and he missed him wide open. I don't know if I can blame the coach for a lot of their issues right now. So to me it doesn't really make sense.
They had the ability to go after Bill Belichick or Mike Vrabel this past offseason and they passed on it and now they're firing Saleh five games into the season.
The Jets are going to Jets.
Should the Jets still trade for Davante Adams? Would he help with their problems?
Chad Millman: I don't think it has an impact on whether or not the Jets are going to go after Davante Adams. The only thing that matters about going after Adams is if Rodgers says we want to go after him.
He's not connecting with Wilson. The only player he's connecting with is Allen Lazard, who's a mediocre receiver at best, but he's getting the lion's share of the targets because that's who Rodgers is most comfortable with.
They got Nathaniel Hackett because Rodgers said we wanted him. They're not running motion, they're not running play action. That's what offenses in the NFL are doing today. That's not what the Jets are doing with Hackett because Rodgers doesn't want to do that.
So if Rodgers is all of a sudden going to say you fired the coach, now get me the receiver, because if we don't get the receiver, it's not really going to matter. I can't be at my best. They're going to do everything they can because they're so invested in Rodgers.
Simon Hunter: It's why not at this point? You guys have burned the boats. There is no turning back. You are stuck where you're at now. So keep digging the hole deeper.
If the goal is to win this division and make the playoffs — if that is the end goal of this ownership — why not go get Adams? Your best receiver this season is Lazard. As crazy as that sounds, he has outplayed Wilson in almost every game they've been in.
You’ve just got no other option. There’s no way this fixes anything in my mind, but it's not going to hurt the team. We've seen their chemistry is off the charts. So I'd make the move. Just go get them.
Is now the time to buy Jets futures?
Simon Hunter: We’ve talked about it on our show and said we aren’t touching any type of futures in the Super Bowl market for this team. And the big reason is Rodgers.
In his career when everything was perfect, he still always found a way to lose those close games in the playoffs. Now we're seeing him take a step back. He's not the quarterback he was before the injuries during those MVP runs.
He's entered into a new era of his career. And that era does not win games in Kansas City in January or go to Baltimore and wins games.
I have a hard time trusting him when there's other teams I have more faith in. There is no value right now in betting Jets futures.
Chad Millman: I'm not wasting my money on the Jets right now.
I'd honestly be more inclined to buy into Joe Burrow and the Bengals to win the Super Bowl than I would be with the Jets. Even at 1-4 with a historically 5.6% chance to even make the playoffs.
At this point, at least Joe Burrow is playing like an MVP. He’s leading the league in touchdown passes, one of the best in EPA at the quarterback position. They need to get their defense right, but I still think there's an opening for them.
I think the Jets don't have the roster, the talent or the coaching right now.
Do you bet on the Jets this week on Monday Night Football against the Bills?
Chad Millman: This is 100% when you bet on the Jets. I'm not wasting any money on the futures, but we got a “rah rah” spot at home in the division as an underdog. This is exactly when you want to bet on the Jets.
It might have been a tough bet to pass on even before the firing, but you're going to get one shot to rally and do something special in a home game in prime time against a Bills defense that is definitely struggling as we've seen the past couple of weeks.
One thing we know Aaron Rodgers can do is maneuver defensive backs and maneuver linebackers, especially of lower quality.
Simon Hunter: We've seen in Josh Allen's history that the one team he struggles with in this division is this Jets defense. They match up really well against what this Bills offense wants to do.
I was really hoping this was going to stay at +3, but now it's already going down and is +2.5 or +2 at most books.
I think most professionals have the same view as me and Chad. This is a big bump for this Jets team already in a good spot.
This was already a nice spot to fade a banged up Bills team, and it just got even better.
The Favorites is an Action Network podcast where Chad Millman and professional sports gambler Simon Hunter analyze every matchup to select their best bets from the NFL slate. Utilizing Action Network's data-driven analysis, the latest injury news and insider info from Simon's network of professional bettors, together they craft their betting card for the weekend, along with moneyline parlays, totals, survivor pool picks and so much more. You can find new episodes of The Favorites every Sunday night, Tuesday and Thursday on the Action Network YouTube channel or wherever you find your podcasts.
