AFC Notes: Bill Belichick, Aaron Rodgers, Robert Saleh, Bailey Zappe, Jets, Patriots

Jets

Jets owner Woody Johnson‘s public vote of confidence in HC Robert Saleh and GM Joe Douglas made official what has been trending for weeks. The Jets will run things back in 2024 and chalk up the brunt of their woes this season to losing QB Aaron Rodgers four plays into the season. But the Jets had other problems besides losing their starting quarterback, and Saleh indicated he’s aware they can’t keep everything the same. 

“There’s a lot of things that opened our eyes,” Saleh said via Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. “I’ll start with myself: There’s a lot of things where I could be better. It’s funny, I’ll be going on my fourth year as a head coach, and, to be honest with you, you learn every day. There’s going to be things that I’ve got to change. There’s things that [DC Jeff] Ulbrich is going to change. There’s things that [OC Nathaniel] Hackett’s got to change. There’s things that all our individual players have to change, things we do in the building.

“Before we ever expect our players to take that next step, we’ve got to take that next step as a coaching staff. It’s a challenge that we’re going to be prepared to attack. … There’s going to be a lot of things. I don’t want to get too detailed into what we’ve seen, but there’s a lot of areas in which we’ll be better for sure.”

• The status of OC Nathaniel Hackett has been in some question, even though he and Rodgers have a strong relationship. When asked if his coaching staff will return fully intact, Saleh responded: “Fully expecting it to be, yeah.”
• Sportskeeda’s Tony Pauline reports a number of his sources believe Jets OL coach Keith Carter will be axed at the end of the season, as the team will need to make some changes on offense even if they’re retaining Saleh and Douglas. 

Jets

Jets QB Aaron Rodgers said he did not want to come off of injured reserve given it meant New York would have to cut someone from their 53-man roster. 

“I assumed I was going to go on IR,” Rodgers said, via ProFootballTalk. “I asked to be put on IR, but then there was a conversation, ‘Do you want to practice?’ I said not at the expense of somebody getting cut. I know how this works.”

Rodgers didn’t think he had to practice with the team to continue his rehab and was “overruled” by their staff. 

“I didn’t feel like I needed to practice to continue my rehab,” Rodgers said. “I could do on-the-field stuff on the side, but, obviously, I got overruled there. It is what it is. This was an interesting situation.”

• Jets HC Robert Saleh said he was “overruled” on not wanting to activate Rodgers by GM Joe Douglas: “We had roster flexibility. We had the ability to do it, so we did.” (Rosenblatt)
• Browns QB Joe Flacco on not getting a call from the Jets who have struggled at quarterback this season: “Is what it is. Happy to be where I am for sure. Lots of guys in that locker room I respect.” (Zac Jackson)
• Saleh on the team not calling Flacco: “It’s just the decision we made…Every decision we make comes with deep thought and logic. There’s no regret there.” (Rosenblatt)
• On Flacco, Saleh continued: “We love Joe, first and foremost. We spent a couple of years with him, love him, love the way he prepares, really pumped for him and the success he’s having. It’s just the decision we made in terms of the quarterback room and the way we developed it over the course of OTAs and training camp. It was just a decision we made.” (PFT)
• Saleh on why it didn’t work out with WR Elijah Moore, whom they traded to the Browns: “Probably a conversation for another day.” (Rosenblatt)

Patriots

Patriots HC Bill Belichick had high praise for QB Bailey Zappe after the team was able to get another win with Zappe under center.

“The quarterback position, the most important thing is ball security and protecting the team and not turning the ball over,” Belichick said, via Doug Kyed. “That’s definitely gotten better for him. He’s made some key plays on third down and made a couple explosive plays on balls down the field to different receivers — to Parker, to Pharaoh on the seam route, to Reagor. And then he had a couple plays like the throws to Zeke, the one we missed out in the flat, and the other one that he got out there to him on time where he was able to break a few tackles and score a touchdown, a big third down extended play scramble that he hit Mike on for a touchdown. Continue to improve and again I thought he did a good job in Pittsburgh and Denver handling the crowd noise and the operation at the line of scrimmage pretty cleanly. We didn’t have very many mental problems there. I mean, there were a couple times when we got beat and that kind of thing. But as far as getting the plays called right, run right, blocked right, he did a good job on that. Denver had several different looks that we had to deal with. They had a couple different nickel looks and then their base defense and a couple of different dime looks. A team that we saw multiple different defensive looks out of, more than what most teams run. That was challenging, but I thought he did a good job of that. Moving in the right direction.”

• Mike Giardi reports that Belichick has expressed doubt about his future to staff members throughout the season but has yet to sit down with ownership regarding the issue.