Jets HC Robert Saleh: ‘This Is Not an Off Week’

With a 6-3 record after 9 games (2 more wins than in Saleh’s first season at the Jets helm), the Green & White trail first-place Buffalo by a half-game in the AFC East (tied with Miami). For Jets Nation, thoughts have turned to a possible berth in the postseason tournament. But as Saleh likes to say, it’s important for his players to keep “the main thing the main thing.”

“It’s been fun,” he said. “Obviously, the first half of the year, even the most optimistic Jets fan wouldn’t have had us at 6-3, but at the same time, we have a great opportunity coming up in the second half of the season, but that’s going to require a mindset of just resetting every single day and treating every moment like a championship moment and staying true to what we’ve been able to do.

“It’s attacking this bye week and coming back next week and attacking the week heading up to New England. So, while what’s happened in the past, which is the first nine games of the season, and it’s been awesome and it’s fun and it’s cool to get all of those affirmations, it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t attack the second half in the same exact manner.”

He said he’s aware of the buzz around 1 Jets Drive and throughout the New York/New Jersey area, with the two local NFL teams playing beyond early expectations.

“It’s fun, but at the same time, just as quickly as we’ve been able to create buzz, we can easily create negative buzz,” Saleh said. “I’ve said it a million times, reading old Bill Parcells’ books and euphoria and disaster is New York is the best definition of New York, and it’s really every market in the country now with social media. When you win, you’re a winner. When you lose, you’re a loser, but at the same time, you got to focus on the moment. It’s exciting, but you know how quickly it can change if we can’t keep and sustain what we’re doing.”