The team improved in all aspects of the game as the season progressed. He faced huge challenges this season including many rookies starting, a culture that needed fixing, extremely high number of injuries, a tough division, 1st year head coaching staff. I think he did really well. When he speaks, you can tell he's very smart and understands people. I see why he's so respected by players.
The thing is he doesn't have to be some X's & O's savant to be a good HC. That's been the coach du jour lately, a young mastermind type, and I get it, but plenty of coaches have left that up to coordinators and been successful as a team leader & builder, the proverbial CEO type that simply inspires his team and demands accountability. And yet - Saleh doesn't appear to do that either. We saw flashes, like when Mike White lit up the Bengals, the team rallied around it and Saleh was asked about White's future and said "anything is possible", only to bury him on the bench!
There's a lot of negativity on this board. As poorly as the Jets played, they doubled their win total from last season. I know it's only an improvement from 2 to 4, but it's something. I'm confident the Jets will be a much better team next season.
I’m not sure how anyone can be confident when our defensive minded HC just led this defense to an all time low. The clock is now ticking on Saleh in year 2. If he can’t find a way to get this team to 8+ wins next year, he’s toast.
They had a lot of rookies and the defense really improved in the last 2 games and against tough opponents. That's a big positive in my book.
Well everyone here wanted a CEO type HC that just roams the sidelines and highfives all the players. We got that. I gave our new CEO a B-
Good growing season. Need a few more pieces in FA and the draft. Contend for a playoff spot next season and better after that. Saleh and his staff are the right guys in the right place. Love how the HC handles the media. Big part of the deal in NY.
This was an article asking for Saleh to be fired for being a mediocre DC at best. His scheme is obviously not good unless he has great players. SF 49ers: It’s time to fire defensive coordinator Robert Saleh by Timmy Gibson64w ago I would argue that for not only Week 5’s loss, but also the majority of Saleh’s time with the 49ers. The defense’s success has relied on individual great players more than Saleh’s coaching. For this reason, as Week 5 proved, it’s time for the 49ers to move on from Saleh and search for a defensive coordinator who can put his players in positions to succeed, not just rely on their talent. Last season, there was much speculation over whether or not Saleh would leave for an NFL head coaching job, leading to relief when he ultimately stayed with the team. At the time, I remember thinking, “this isn’t a very big deal, Saleh is a mediocre coordinator who succeeds when he has healthy, talented players, and fails to coach up his defense when the talent is less than stellar.” After all, there was significant pressure to fire Saleh after the Niners’ rough 2018 season. And with these players, as well as many other SF 49ers superstars, the defense thrived. According to Football Outsiders, the 49ers were the second-best defense in 2019. They boasted a dominant defense on the back of individual great players, most notably Bosa. But the season before, the Niners lacked Bosa, Ford, Greenlaw, Alexander, and other defensive studs. That season, they were the NFL’s 24th ranked defense, again according to Football Outsiders. So, Saleh’s defense performed a lot better in 2019 with a superior roster than in 2018 with an inferior one. Now, obviously, Saleh cannot fully be blamed for an inadequate roster. Good coaching can only overcome so much lack of talent. My argument is simply Saleh should have been able to coach that defense to perform better. Saleh’s defensive coaching did not make up for his roster’s inferiority. Instead, Saleh’s defense performed well after an infusion of superstar talent and was likely also bolstered by the hiring of defensive line coach Kris Kocurek. Now, the 49ers find themselves without some of that superstar talent, and Saleh’s poor coaching is showing itself again. Saleh has consistently called poor coverage this year, and as with Allen, put his players in situations to fail. At this point, the 49ers should look to move on from Saleh. Week 5 proved he is not capable of coaching this defense through its injuries. Perhaps the Niners should look to promote Kocurek, or they could wait until the end of the season and look to hire during the traditional offseason coaching carousel. Either way, if Saleh can only succeed when his defense is full of superstars, it’s time to bring in a coordinator who can coach his defense to success when those superstars are injured.
If you would have asked me at the half way mark I would have said F minus based upon the Mims thing earlier in the season, the backup QB F up, and most importantly, a supposed defensive guru hiring his buddy to coach arguably the worst defense I have ever seen in almost 50 years of watcing football. He was totally undressed by BB, Bills, and Phins twice each, the Colts, Saints, Broncos, even the $hitty Falcons made them look sad in London. The team looked woefully unprepared the entire first half of the season, into the second half giving up 54 to NE. This was a miserable season that had absolutely nothing good about it imho. It looked and felt like every season we have endured since Rex where we realistically had zero chance to win or be competitive in most of the games. All in all the best part of this crappy season to me, is the fact that it ended. Having said all of that, I give Saleh a C, only because the team did not quit and played hard right up until the end yesterday, and should have beaten the Bucs last week.
Giving him a B. Despite the team being garbage, Saleh was able to keep them playing hard the entire season.
I give him a low b. Kept the team together, kept the beat jackals in line, the rookies all seemed to be improving throughout the season. Still willing to give this current regime 2 more years
