Things got so bad with the New York Jets recently that the team actually reportedly considered making former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Todd Downing, who is the team’s passing-game coordinator and quarterbacks coach, the play-caller.
According to SNY’s Connor Hughes, now-former head coach Robert Saleh, who was abruptly fired on Tuesday, was planning on demoting offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and giving Downing play-calling duties. However, just five minutes after he made that decision, Saleh was given the boot.
When asked about the possibility of a play-caller change in the wake of Saleh’s firing, interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich said he did not foresee any changes to the staff when addressing the media Tuesday.
“Everything will be assessed — the process, the responsibilities, etc., but I do not foresee any changes in the staff,” he said.
Judging from the timing the decision was made and when Saleh was fired, one could reason that the decision to go to Downing was the last straw for owner Woody Johnson.
That probably would have left quarterback Aaron Rodgers angry considering his relationship with Hackett, which would have been the biggest issue Saleh would have faced with such a decision.
The other issue would have been that Downing simply isn’t a good play-caller. He showed how bad he can be over two years at the helm of the Titans’ offense, when Tennessee sported the No. 15 scoring unit in 2021, and then the No. 28 offense in 2022.
Downing’s offenses lacked creativity and were about as predictable as you could get. Former Titans head coach Mike Vrabel foolishly stuck with Downing despite what everyone saw, and the team paid dearly for it.
He also had a terrible stint as the Raiders’ offensive coordinator during the 2017 campaign, when the team’s offense finished 23rd in scoring.
Downing also had off-the-field issues during his stint in Nashville. After the Titans finally had a good game on his watch in 2022 against the Rodgers-led Green Bay Packers, Downing was arrested for DUI in the hours after the game.
The fact that Downing landed another job anywhere near an NFL offense after what we saw with the Titans was shocking, to say the least, but this is the Jets we’re talking about.
What’s more laughable is New York hired Hackett and Downing in the same year after they were two of the worst play-callers in the NFL. Of course, Hackett was coming off his disastrous stint with the Denver Broncos, where his offense was even worse than Downing’s, ranking dead-last in the NFL in 2022.
