Robert Saleh isn’t worried about Jets’ defense after Week 1 loss | Pro Football Talk | NFL on NBC

let's talk about a team that did not win with a great defense on Monday night because the defense was not great the New York Jets completely and totally dismantled by the San Francisco 49ers rushing attack 70 plays 180 rushing yards the 49ers had the ball nearly 39 minutes it really was when you consider the things we didn't expect for week one the strength of the Jets the front seven the defense entirely we did not expect them to get gashed especially if we would have had time to ponder the unavailability of Christian mcaffrey it would have been even less expected that the 49ers without mcaffrey would have embarrassed the Jets defense miles the way they did I mean I I guess on the one hand yeah that's true but on the other I mean Kyle Shanahan had Robert Saul in his building for years so if anybody understands what the Robert solid defense is would be Kyle Shanahan and I mean I think we know that when you have a play designer who and a play caller who understands things as Kyle Shanahan does you give him the amount of time that he had to prepare for the Jets like those are the kinds of results you're gonna get and I don't know Mike I mean I was in my group chat with my friends on Monday night and we're going back and forth like how many yards rushing do you think you could get with Kyle Shanahan game planning for you and call on the plays I said I could get at least 10 all of our buddies just tore his ACL so he said he's got to recover first but I mean the rest of it we could get at least 10 yards based on the way he's doing things I mean the way that Kyle Shanahan finds running backs and accentuates what they do well and understands what their skill sets are and utilizes a guy like Trent Williams out there who basically just came in off the street I mean this is just what he does so is it surprising in some ways yes in other ways no based on Kyle shanahans history that's what makes the decision to trade for and give so much money to Christian mcaffrey even more ironic if I'm using the word properly and I never know whether I am you don't need to pay Christian mcaffrey you don't need to Jordan Mason is making $985,000 this year you real I mean it's almost it crosses over into when you've got so many high- pric players on your team that's the area where you can save money because you have confidence in the fact you can draft someone who can come in and you can plug him into the offense behind that rushing attack and get it done let me flip your point around though okay for as well as Kyle shs robt go ahead go ahead go ahead go ahead go ahead I'll give you I'll give you I'll give you a minute to respond thank you very much but because I would say that when you have somebody like a Christian mcaffrey right that's an elite guy so he's a separator all right so it's not like Mason is going out and doing this in the playoffs where you have a Seasons worth of film right Christian mcaffrey is an elite player so when you have an elite guy who's proven to be an elite guy and Christian mcaffrey led the league in touchdowns last year right I mean he led the league in allpurpose excuse me yards from scrimmage so this is different you know when it's week one and you're basically premiering a guy versus a guy who's done it and done it and done it at an elite level for years and years and years that that's where I think that they understand how you can utilize Christian mcaffrey in a way that accentuates him and have makes him have the best season that he's had and he's a separator so I I just I get it like yeah you know you can insert a guy in there for a game and have him have a spot start but I think if you're talking about over the course of a 17-week season and then also 17 Game season then you get into the playoffs and you want to go to the Super Bowl and try to win the Super Bowl that's where mcaffrey does does make a difference because he gives you an edge because he's Elite right Mason you know had a great game but I don't know that he's Elite time is up time is up you exhausted your minute I I still say dollar for dollar it's a conversation to have dollar for dollar those money it's a conversation that money those monies those monies many monies those monies can be allocated elsewhere because you can get somebody you can have a whole like they used to do they had three guys and you never knew who it was going to be in San Francisco so the point that you made earlier that that caused something to flash in my brain yes Kyle Shanahan knows Robert solah very well but Sol knows Shanahan very well that was one of the arguments that hey maybe this is going to line up great for the Jets maybe the best guy for Aaron Rogers to finally beat the 49ers with is a guy who was in the house in San Francisco and knows the Shanahan offense and can do enough defensively to augment what Aaron Rogers can do offensively and it just it didn't work Shanah got the edge there and Shanahan hung a loss on Robert Salah that might greas the skids towards Salah returning to the 49ers as soon as next year I mean that's the popular thought there was this whole who do you hire as defensive coordinator and they wanted Brandon Staley but they didn't want to get away from their defense so Nick senson becomes the coordinator but Staley is there stop asking and and now uh it could be Salah by next year if salah's available and he's and one now he needs to win more games he and and it's just one week but if he doesn't make the playoffs he's going to be available and he may be with the 49ers this time next year yeah he certainly could I mean I I certainly had that thought during the game as well so I mean yeah I just I think based on history right Robert solid doesn't necessarily know how to implement the Kyle Shan head offense because if he did and he had Mike LEF Flur running that thing then maybe we wouldn't be in the situation where you have Nathaniel hackin get calling the offense right so that's you know I think part of the difference too there's a clip and I don't know how misleading it is because it's not very long but it's hacket sitting next to Aaron Rogers on the bench on Monday night and hackett's trying to show him the Microsoft Surface tablet get it right not that they sponsor us but still it's not an iPad it's a tablet and Rogers is just ignoring him just not and now and who knows maybe he was talking to somebody else but it's just it's a weird look it's like hack is like hey Rogers are looking the other way true but but that's Rogers guy hack is Roger guy that's what makes it odd that hacket and Rogers wouldn't be on the same page so yeah and they make no bones about it they tried to hire somebody who would oversee the offense ahead of and instead of the offensive coordinator which is just odd the defensive performance though was the most odd thing for the Jets here's Robert solah from yesterday he doesn't seem to be very worried about the strength of his roster it wasn't for a lack of effort as much as it was from uh for guys just trying to do too much um when you play a team like San Francisco they've been together eight years they're very precise in what they do um it's it's as simple as just do your job do your job and we would have been in much better shape like I said in the second half I felt like we got to it um we played better in the Run game uh they had had the one explosive but um but it's going to get fixed it's definitely going to get fixed I'm not I'm not discouraged in any way um obviously it uh they executed a hell of a lot better than we did and we'll be better for it fact or fiction I sense a I sense a trend Factor fiction there's no need to worry about the New York Jets defense I I would say fact you know if it looks like this after four games you know the first you know quote unquote quarter of the season because of course now that you can't split the season into quarters because there's 17 games which still annoys me but I I think if it looks like this further down the line then yes but it's not like they were playing sorry the Carolina Panthers on Sunday or Monday night right they they were playing the San Francisco 49ers and we know that there are elite players on that offense and yeah Mason's not one of them you know that we would consider but it's an elite Run game it's Elite pass game and so I I'm not worried about the Jets fundamentally as a defense yet are you no I and I agree with you and you know one of the things that I'll say every year in the aftermath of week one you never know how bad that team might have been that you beat you never know how good that team is that beat you this isn't like college where it's an alarm if Northern Illinois comes in and beats you and it's a point of Pride if Dame Catchings oh well I mean it's true but that's the one that happened most recently where if you have one of those big spot kickoff games and you beat a Powerhouse you know you secured a significant win at the NFL level we don't know and won't know who's really good and who isn't but we can come to a somewhat reasonable conclusion that as the jet schedule goes even though it's very nutty in its configuration of games three games between the 9th and the 19th they've got another Sunday to Thursday turnaround before thereby a lot of movement but not a lot of team teams that we would look at and say oh they're going to have their hands full and the Jets are the one I thought they would the 49ers excuse me I thought they would lose to the 49ers but they would play well enough that it would propel them into this go home regroup go to Tennessee play the Titans come home on a short week and play the Patriots and maybe get to two- one I'm a little less optimistic they're going to get to two- one especially because the Patriots look like maybe they got something but uh I yeah I didn't expect them to win and this is probably the toughest opponent they're going to face in the first half of their schedule yeah it probably is I mean I think that this could be the kind of thing that you get right with going going to Tennessee right I mean based on will Lev's performance he was all right in the first half but he really peed down his leg in the second half and I think that the Jets are the kind of unit that can make a Young quarterback do that so will Levis is a lot of work to do over the course of this week to make sure he stays playing within himself and doesn't try to do crazy things because because if he does then the Jets are going to do to him what the Bears defense did to him and I I think that the Jets defense probably wants to do that you know as after the the performance that they put out on the field on Monday night so this could be a good getright game for them um and I think that the you know the Titans defense is going to be a solid unit I I I like what dard Wilson is doing over there I think he's a really good coach so that's part of the equation as well um but from a defensive standpoint I think the Jets should look more like we expect them to look going against the Young quarterback in Lis this week this first 11 game stretch for the Jets and I'm reminded of when the schedule came out in May Mike North the guy who's basically the scheduling Guru now for the NFL made the somewhat joking but in every joke there's at least a kernel of Truth the Jets ow us one from last year like the Jets I didn't detect much sarcasm when he said that selfishly selfishly the Jets tore the Achilles tendon of Aaron roders to suit their own nefarious purposes so now the Jets owest W like they wanted the outcome but right when you look at this it Bears repeating because it's been a while after they go to Tennessee Thursday night against New England then they have the Broncos then they go to London to play the Vikings then they come back and play the bills on a Monday night at the Steelers on a Sunday night short week two Prime Time games in a row then and they have the Patriots short week again short week again week eight to week nine they go uh home from New England to face the Texans then they're at the Cardinals who didn't look awful in week one and then they wrap up their pre-bi schedule with a Sunday night game against the Colts they should win at least of the next 10 games I think they should win at least six they should be six and five minimum going into their buy and if there're anything worse than six and five going into their buy I think they got a problem at especially in the AFC and there's gonna be a lot of change yeah yes yeah look I mean it's it we know it's going to be competitive in the AFC I mean I think it would be a real shock if it's not based on the quarterbacks that play in in that conference and and honestly the defenses that are also in that conference some of them are very very good and maybe a little bit underrated so it's not going to be an easy task for the Jets to be a come to become a great team um but if you get the Aaron Rogers is he looked on that touchdown drive you know where he's in control you know he's firing passes you get guys like Garrett Wilson making really good catches that's where the Jets can have something um I don't know if they can do that consistently yet but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility hi it's Mike Florio thanks for watching PFT on YouTube hit subscribe for the latest news and Analysis from pro football talk