Jets Country

Bill Belichick Doesn’t Hold Back in Brutal Criticism of New York Jets Owner

The legendary NFL coach did not mince words in his criticism of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson after the firing of Robert Saleh.

Dylan Sanders

After 24 seasons as the New England Patriots' head coach, Bill Belichick is trying his hand as a TV analyst.
After 24 seasons as the New England Patriots' head coach, Bill Belichick is trying his hand as a TV analyst. / Bob Breidenbach / USA TODAY NETWORK
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The New York Jets became the first team to fire their head coach this season when they let Robert Saleh go after a slow start to the season.

While making an appearance on the ESPN2 "Manningcast" brodcast of the Jets-Buffalo Bills game on Monday night, legendary former NFL coach Bill Belichick did not mince words when talking about the decision.

"Look, that's kind of what it's been there with the Jets. [They have] barely won over 30% [of their games] in the last 10 yeats," bluntly stated Belichick. "The owner being the owner, just ready, fire, aim."

The future Hall of Fame coach did not shy away from taking a clear shot at Woody Johnson for his role in the firing.

It was not the first time that the coach had made a statement on the firing on the day. On an earlier segment of Let's Go! from Sirius XM, he had this to say:

"Just seemed like a little early to pull the trigger on that one to me. But not out of character for the owner. [Johnson] has always been kind of hard to predict what he's gonna do. Some of it just is hard to make sense out of, but I think Saleh did a good job there. He brought a strong culture to the defense and obviously not quite there yet, but a long way to go in the season, seemed like a premature move.”

Belichick also clarified that Saleh's contributions to the defense were understated and that he's helped build a solid team despite not being able to find results.

Johnson seemingly stepped over Joe Douglas to make the decision to fire Saleh, which has already been speculated as the source of some potential drama if the issues on the field continue.

Belichick has plenty of history with Johnson, having spent over two decades dominating the division since the same year that New York was sold to the now owner.

It was the same year that the coach had shocked the world by resigning from the Jets coaching position before ever taking the field with the team.

He was traded to the New England Patriots and went on to win six Super Bowls with Tom Brady.

Since purchasing the team, Johnson has only had five playoff wins, with the last one coming back in 2011.

If the Aaron Rodgers experiment doesn't end up working out, and things are not trending in the right direction, the team will have a lot of issues to solve.

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Dylan Sanders
DYLAN SANDERS

Dylan Sanders graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree from the Manship School of Mass Communication in 2023. He was born in raised in Baton Rouge, LA but has also lived in Buffalo, NY. Though he is a recent graduate, he has been writing about sports since he was in high school, covering different sports from baseball to football. While in college, he wrote for the school paper The Reveille and for 247Sports. He was able cover championships in football, baseball and women's basketball during his time at LSU. He has also spent a few years covering the NFL draft and every day activities of the New Orleans Saints. He is a Senior Writer at Inside the Marlins and will also be found across Sports Illustrated's baseball sites as a contributing writer. You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram @dillysanders

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