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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Robert Saleh was once known for his fire. As the San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator, that manifested itself in celebratory screams, pats on the helmet, claps, laughs and emphatic hugs. He brought that with him to the New York Jets too, though he throttled it back as a head coach. Every now and then, it comes out, like when he ran all the way to the end zone from his spot on the sideline in Week 1 to celebrate with returner Xavier Gipson on his game-winning punt return touchdown against the Buffalo Bills.

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Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel saw that version of Saleh all the time in San Francisco, where they coached together, the two becoming close friends. They faced off Friday, and before halftime, McDaniel was the one celebrating, running along the sideline, smiling and laughing after an improbable touchdown. It was a 99-yard interception return off an end-of-half Hail Mary throw from Jets quarterback Tim Boyle. It was the first time anyone’s scored on an end-of-half interception off a Hail Mary since at least 2006, which is the first year ESPN started tracking those plays.

When it happened, Saleh stared blankly into space, chewing a piece of gum, in utter disbelief. He was flustered when Amazon’s sideline reporter came over to interview him on the way to the locker room. He could barely muster any words.

“Just unfortunate,” he said.

A PICK-6 ON A HAIL MARY. UNREAL.#MIAvsNYJ on Prime Video
Also available on #NFLPlus https://t.co/PL1eCJzDjs pic.twitter.com/8zqFmNhQE6

— NFL (@NFL) November 24, 2023

There’s not much for Saleh to celebrate these days, not like he used to. Any momentum the Jets felt like they gained from D.J. Reed’s interception, or the interception Jets cornerback Brandin Echols returned for a touchdown on the previous drive, evaporated. The only momentum the Jets have now is the kind carrying them in the wrong direction, back to the bottom of the AFC, a promise of six more weeks of misery ahead of them. For most of the second half, Saleh held that same blank stare, and his hands rarely left the front pocket on his hoodie. There wasn’t much clapping. Quickly, what was a 10-6 score before the Hail Mary pick six turned into a 20-6 blowout in the third quarter — and 34-13 loss to the Dolphins when the game ended. The Jets (4-7) have lost four games in a row while featuring an offense that, somehow, only seems to be getting worse.

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It’s difficult to believe that Saleh, or general manager Joe Douglas, for that matter, can survive this season if it keeps going this way. Saleh said after the game he’s not worried about his job security. At this juncture of another bad Jets season, maybe he should be.

The Hail Mary feels like the best illustration of the Jets and where they stand.

It was an act of desperation for one of the NFL’s worst offenses. Maybe if they hadn’t had such a hard time scoring — before the interception, they’d scored one touchdown in their previous 51 offensive possessions — they would’ve simply kneeled before halftime and went into the locker room feeling some momentum after Reed’s interception.

But the reality is this is one of the worst offenses in recent memory — in an organization that has been able to make that statement on more than a few occasions over the last decade. They’ve scored 10 offensive touchdowns in 11 games. Zach Wilson was benched for Boyle after only throwing six touchdowns in 10 games. Saleh has resorted to benching Wilson and other high-priced veterans like wide receiver Allen Lazard — the $44 million free agent signee was a healthy scratch Friday — to offer some form of accountability in an attempt to provide a spark. It hasn’t helped.

“It’s just, we’re trying to score,” wide receiver Garrett Wilson said about the Hail Mary. “We get it at the 50, defense makes a play, gives us a chance, and obviously we’ve been in a tough spot so let’s go get a shot, let’s throw it at the end zone, see what happens.”

Wilson sighed.

“It goes so wrong, man, it goes so wrong,” Wilson said. “That’s one of them things where that could describe a lot of things so far.”

Dolphins safety Jevon Holland caught the ball at the 1-yard line, without a Jets offensive player in sight to tackle him. Tight end Tyler Conklin was just out of reach for a tackle.

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“I felt pretty helpless right there,” he said.

Left tackle Carter Warren barely attempted to tackle him as he got close, and it might not have mattered anyway. Guard Xavier Newman and tackle Max Mitchell dove and missed. Guard Laken Tomlinson and center Joe Tippmann tried and failed, too. Wilson, per Next Gen Stats, traveled 176 yards on the play from end zone to end zone trying to catch Holland, but by the time he reached him, the Dolphins defensive back had already scored.

In the second half, the defense ran out of steam, ending by allowing 395 yards one week after allowing 393 against the Bills. Boyle threw another interception in the fourth quarter — along with a late touchdown to Wilson — and didn’t do much to make the Jets feel like they were appreciably better off with him than someone else at quarterback, finishing with 179 yards on 38 pass attempts. They finished with 159 total yards, only a slight uptick from last week’s 155 yards against the Bills. The Jets are last in the NFL in yards per game, third-down conversions and red-zone touchdown percentage. They are 30th in scoring.

Nobody has a good explanation — including Saleh. Some in the Jets organization might want to use the Aaron Rodgers injury as an excuse, or the injuries to the offensive line, or the lack of useful weapons outside of Wilson or running back Breece Hall — but they aren’t the first team to suffer through bad luck, to lose their quarterback or to fail to build an adequate roster of talent capable of competing with good teams. They are the first team to have all that happen and be this bad on offense. That’s not an exaggeration, their third-down offense is the worst in recorded NFL history dating to the 1970s. Saleh is running out of answers.

Despite all the personnel changes Saleh has made, he’s standing pat with offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett as the primary play caller. He didn’t have a great reason why he’s doing that either.

“It would be a really long answer, answer for another day,” Saleh said. “When you look at it all — and again, it’s a little bit of everything, whether the calls could be better, whether the execution can be better, whether our one-on-one battles could be better — it’s taking advantage of the situations we have when we get them. Do I think play caller will fix that? I don’t know. I don’t have an answer for you on that one.”

He’s out of answers. Soon, he might be out of time. The Jets and Dolphins were the first teams to ever play on Black Friday, the only NFL game millions of football fans could watch Friday. They bore witness to a Jets offense that has become the laughingstock of the NFL — and it’s difficult to believe owner Woody Johnson will be OK with that perception. The only hope for Saleh, Hackett and Douglas — who deserves his share of the blame for building this roster — might be Rodgers coming out and saying that he won’t return without them.

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But what would Rodgers be returning to anyway?

The Jets don’t even seem to have a lot of confidence they can get this fixed. The locker room was full of bewilderment.

“I don’t know what I could tell y’all, I don’t know what to tell the fans, I don’t know what they want to hear. I’m out of words. I’m out,” Wilson said. “I can’t think of anything. I can’t think of anything. We’re going to keep grinding, we’re going to keep rolling. But as far as giving a sound bite or something to keep the faith, I’m not even going to try this week.”

Conklin was asked if he felt like the Jets offense was any closer this week after all the struggles this season.

His answer: “Is that a trick question?”

(Top photo: Adam Hunger / Associated Press)

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