Woody Johnson was beaming.
As the Jets owner stood in the bowels of MetLife Stadium outside the team’s locker room, shortly after his players and coaches stunned the heavily favored Bills 20-17 on Sunday, he wore the look of a proud father.
“Top five,” Johnson said breathlessly. “That was top five of all time for me.”
In the 22 years since Johnson bought the team, there haven’t been a whole lot of “top” anything moments.
Woody and his brother Christopher, both of whom have endured their fair share of criticism, are deserving of the moments that have been unfolding in this unlikely 6-3 season, which is in a bye-week breather.
For owners who’ve gotten so many things wrong over the years — their swing-and-miss choices for head coaches (Todd Bowles and Adam Gase) and general managers (John Idzik and Mike Maccagnan) being at the top of that list — there’s mounting evidence that the Johnsons have gotten it quite right with head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas.
There is, of course, a lot more work to be done before this Jets team breaks its 12-year drought without a playoff berth. No one is more cognizant of that than Saleh.
But Saleh is steadily proving himself to be made of the right stuff as a head coach who possesses the right combination as a players-first coach who’s humble enough to know he doesn’t have all the answers and yet tough enough to have a conviction with his plan.
Saleh is not a credit monger. He’s quick to dole out praise to those around him when things are going well, deflecting it from himself. After the win Sunday, for example, he spoke of being happy about the team’s start and sudden burst into relevance for the people in the organization who’ve endured so much losing before his arrival.
Saleh praised his coaching staff — particularly defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, whose unit did to Josh Allen and the prolific Buffalo offense what no other team had done this season. He, too, recognized offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, who did a masterful job of reining in second-year quarterback Zach Wilson a week after he’d carelessly thrown three game-turning interceptions to the New England defense.
Saleh combines an innate ability of bonding with people and making them believe even in the trying times, with not immersing himself too deeply into one area of the team while shortchanging other areas.
Former Jets head coach Rex Ryan used to be all about his defense and he often thumped his chest telling you how good his defenses were.
Gase, the head coach who preceded Saleh, was so consumed with his offense that he had little idea what his defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams, was calling on the other side of the ball (see: cover-zero blitz against the Raiders in 2020).
Bowles, who coached the Jets before Gase, was someone whom the players in the locker room walked all over, taking advantage of his passive nature (see Mo Wilkerson’s and Sheldon Richardson’s repeated insubordination).
Saleh is a proper CEO of the entire operation, a good delegator, but one who’s involved in all facets. He, too, is a good front man for the organization, handling himself professionally in front of the media and fans, an area that was not a strong suit for Bowles or Gase.
Veteran linebacker C.J. Mosley said that what sets Saleh apart from other coaches he has played for is “the way he’s able to keep everybody together, keep everybody on the same page.’’
“He really comes to work every day with the mindset to get better,’’ Mosley said.
Mosley referenced Saleh’s “all gas, no brake’’ saying and his “60 percent’’ Navy SEAL mantra and said: “That’s the way he lives, that’s what he preaches every day, and we’re buying into it, we believe it. All that adds up on the football field.’’
It adds up to Woody and Christopher Johnson finally getting the recipe right and reaping the deserved benefits of a satisfying meal.
“When you talk to Woody and Christopher, they’re very supportive, first of all … and you just feel how much every win and loss [is] and how important it is to them,’’ Saleh said. “It’s awesome when we win because they’re happier than anyone. This is their baby. This is their team. You can see it in their faces. And when we lose, you can feel that also.
“So, winning obviously for them and knowing what this organization has been through, there’s nothing more than any of us want to do is to bring a winner to this organization for our fans, for them, our families.’’
