Wild Joe Douglas firing story proves NY Jets are one big soap opera
By Mike Luciano
The NY Jets are the league's most dramatic soap opera, as their Super Bowl push crashing and burning to a 3-8 record has cost both head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas their jobs. Amid Aaron Rodgers' continued average play, the Jets are destined for a 14th consecutive season without making the playoffs.
While it made sense to swap out both Saleh and Douglas, as both of them failed to produce a winning season in four tries, the noisy way in which both of them were booted out of town is a level of Jets ineptitude that even the Rich Kotite years haven't come close to equalling.
According to a report from Jay Glazer of FOX Sports, Jets owner Woody Johnson arrived at Jets practice in his personal helicopter. Douglas, who was hanging around interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich, joked to the former DC about it being "an honor to serve" alongside him during his Jets tenure.
Douglas, clearly joking about a firing, was then relieved of his duties by Johnson. The rich, arrogant owner of a struggling team firing the GM via helicopter descent onto the practice field is stuff that is only supposed to happen in the movies, not in the actual NFL.
NY Jets become a huge soap opera after Joe Douglas firing story leaked
Douglas made a ton of good moves as GM of the Jets, including drafting Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson, and Breece Hall. However, he never had a winning season in six campaigns with the team. Though better than Mike Maccagnan and John Idzik, the numbers aren't favorable.
To give Douglas some credit, he was undermined by a team that had to be run through Rodgers and an organization that could, at any time, have decisions ranging from personnel moves to firings hinge on the actions of an incredibly impulsive owner in Johnson, who has overseen a decade of futility.
The Jets are in such dire straits that they are hoping for the man who hired Adam Gase to save them. Christopher Johnson, who will likely take over ownership duties if Woody ends up returning to an ambassador role, is at least regarded as less meddling and more hands-off than his petulant older brother.
The Jets not only lose, but they lose in a way that is so loud and chaotic that they always find themselves as an NFL laughingstock irrespective of the overall record.