Theres nowhere left for Aaron Rodgers to hide

Woody Johnson needed a convenient scapegoat and didn’t have to look far to find one in Robert Saleh, the 20-36 former head coach of the Jets.The owner reached the conclusion after five games that there was so much dysfunction on offense that not even his designated Savior of the franchise, Mr.Aaron Rodgers, could overcome it.When Josh Allen and the Bills marched into MetLife Stadium on Monday night, interim Jets head coach Jeff Ulbrich needed Aaron Rodgers to be the Aaron Rodgers that Johnson and GM Joe Douglas and Saleh had been certain they were getting when they asked him to be their Joe Namath and overcome.Ulbrich needed Rodgers to figure out a way to make it all work with new play-caller Todd Downing replacing Nathaniel Hackett.Ulbrich needed better protection for Rodgers and he needed Breece Hall to emerge from the football Witness Protection Program.Most of all, he needed Rodgers to stare down Allen and never blink and finish the night tied for first place in the AFC East.The way Johnson was talking about his roster on the day he whacked Saleh, you would have thought that Adam Gase could coach the Jets to their first playoff berth since the 2010 season.The reality is that Saleh was only one of the many Underachievers.Jets players have waxed poetic about accountability and locking arms in the wake of Johnson’s impulsive franchise-quaking decision.“I think it puts the spotlight on us,” Rodgers said.Mostly on him.Especially on him.Rodgers was among a good group of Jets who felt a sense of guilt for costing Saleh his job, and while the owner went out of his way to tell everyone that it was his decision and his decision alone, you’d have to be pretty naive to believe that Rodgers was blindsided by it.

You don’t pull the rug out from beneath the head coach Rodgers locked arms with to create a New York legacy and chase a Super Bowl together and keep him in — wait for it — the dark.Ulbrich’s defensive players are fond of him, and have always played...