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Jets' Robert Saleh Isn't Worried About Another Flacco Fiasco Against Dolphins

New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh explains why he isn't worried about quarterback Joe Flacco struggling against the Miami Dolphins like he did last year.

Max Goodman

Over the course of Joe Flacco's illustrious NFL career, the veteran quarterback has faced the Dolphins seven times. 

In fact, he's had quite a bit of success against Miami. In a Ravens uniform, Flacco was 6-0 against the Dolphins in the regular season.

So, as Flacco prepares to start under center against Miami's defense on Sunday, looking to lead the 2-7 Jets to their first victory in November, New York's backup quarterback should be in a good spot, right?

Not so fast. Flacco's one loss against the Dolphins came last year in a Jets uniform and boy was it ugly.

The veteran signal-caller completed just 21 of his 44 pass attempts for a total of 186 yards. Mix in one interception, no touchdowns and three sacks and the Jets had one of their worst losses in the 2020 season, falling 24-0 on the road. 

Jets head coach Robert Saleh isn't concerned about what happened last October, though. He picked Flacco to start this week because of his experience and ability to counter Miami's unique defensive scheme. Besides, teams change every year and this matchup looks completely different 13 months later. 

"Last year is irrelevant," Saleh told reporters this week. "Completely different o-line, different receivers, different coach, different coordinator, different everything. Joe’s proven in this league, he’s played in the AFC North and he knows exactly what he’s looking at. He’s trained for this his whole life. Again, he’s a very steadying force, player, in terms of just his experience and knowledge and being able to get the ball to his playmakers."

Flacco spoke eloquently earlier in the week about how he's balancing his desire to make plays, showing he still has production left in the tank while sticking to New York's game plan and executing the offense.

Even if he wanted to camp out in the pocket and launch deep ball after deep ball, he wouldn't be able to against this Dolphins defense.

"They’re not afraid to go put everybody at the line of scrimmage and leave what I’m sure they feel like is the strength of their defense, their secondary, out on islands and know that they’re going to get some pressure on the quarterbacks and the guy’s going to have to get the ball out of his hands quickly," Flacco explained. "So, it limits your offense to a certain extent, and it forces you to kind of make a guy miss or get the ball out of your hands quick and make sure you’re on top of everything, all the little details in your offense."

READ: Jets' Joe Flacco Is Relishing Opportunity to Start This Week

The good news is that New York has had some success in recent weeks sticking to checkdowns and moving the chains while taking what the defense gives you. That's exactly how backup Mike White made magic during his first two starts. Considering the fact that Miami loves to send pressure and trust in their defensive backs to hold it down in the secondary, short routes to slot receivers and running backs in the flat will more than likely be Flacco's best friend on Sunday. 

That's another reason why Saleh has faith in Flacco, believing wholeheartedly that this showdown will have a different result than last year's massacre in Miami. 

"Joe has got the ability to process and get the ball in-and-out of his hands as quickly as possible," Saleh said. "I have a lot of faith in Mike LaFleur and his ability to game plan with his staff and put players in position where there’s space to be had. But, again, it goes back to Joe’s experience and recognizing coverages pre-snap and knowing exactly where the ball needs to get as quickly as possible to, one, avoid hits, but, two, get the ball where it needs to go in space."

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Max Goodman
MAX GOODMAN

Max Goodman covers the New York Jets for Sports Illustrated and FanNation. He also covers the New York Yankees, publisher  of Sports Illustrated and FanNation's Yankees site, Inside The Pinstripes. Before starting out with SI, Goodman attended Northwestern University and the Medill School of Journalism. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism and Master’s Degree in Sports Media, graduating in 2019. While at school, Goodman gathered valuable experience as an anchor and reporter on NNN SportsNight and played on the club baseball team. Goodman previously interned at MLB.com as an associate reporter covering the Miami Marlins. He also interned with ESPN, working as an associate reporter on Mike Greenberg's Get Up. Goodman is from New York City. He grew up in Hell's Kitchen. Follow Goodman on Twitter @MaxTGoodman and connect with him via email by reaching out at maxgoodmansports@gmail.com.

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