Jets Jeff Ulbrich leaves door open to giving up defense playcalling duties as unit struggles
Jeff Ulbrich certainly left the door open.He led one of the best units in the league as defensive coordinator, but it has fallen off a cliff since he was promoted to interim head coach.For the past six weeks, Ulbrich has continued his duties organizing the defense throughout the week and calling plays during games while also taking on much larger head-coaching responsibilities.It has failed dramatically, sinking the only area of team strength as the Jets have become more poorly coached as a whole.As the team enters its bye with a 3-8 record, would he consider giving up defensive play-calling to reignite the unit and help him focus on his larger role?“Not as of today,” Ulbrich said Monday.
“But the next couple of days, we’ll definitely assess everything.”With Robert Saleh at head coach and Ulbrich just running the defense, the Jets allowed 17 points per game through the first five weeks — tied for fifth-best in the NFL.But since the firing of Saleh and Ulbrich’s promotion six weeks ago, the Jets have given up 26.2 points per game — 24th in the league.Instead of sparking the whole team, the change of Ulbrich to head coach has stretched him too thin and weakened what was the Jets’ identity.“It’s extremely hard to see the unit not perform as well as they’re capable of performing,” Ulbrich said.
“That’s on me and our staff, and on every defensive player in there to regain the standard that we’ve created here in the last couple of years because we’re not playing as well as we need to play and we’re not playing as well as we’re capable of playing.Part of that will be this week and getting back on track.”If Ulbrich does decide to give up defensive play-calling, two options the Jets could turn to are senior defensive assistant and cornerbacks coach Tony Oden and defensive backs and safeties coach Marquand Manuel.
Both are in their fourth year with the team after being hired as part of Saleh’s original staff.“I have noticed [the ...