Score one for the tight ends coach, as Ron Middleton stepped in to replace Jets head coach Robert Saleh on Sunday and led Gang Green to a 26-21 victory over Jacksonville in his ever game as a head coach at the NFL level.
“I thought it was truly a team effort. Everybody stepped up,” Middleton said. “A culmination of the week of everyone being professional and doing their job through all the adversity. An awesome win.”
It wasn’t easy, as his old team – Middleton was a tight ends and assistant special teams coach in Jacksonville from 2012-20 – had one last gasp down 26-21 late in the fourth, but the Jets were able to hold on fourth down and cement the victory.
“It got real tense. I can’t imagine what my facial expressions were,” Middleton said. “But I thought it was a great game – good for TV ratings anyway – but it was exciting, and I’m just glad it worked out for us.”
Not to mention the fact that the Jets had 20 players, including 12 on the active roster, lost to the COVID/reserve list this week – the latest coming Sunday morning when Quinnen Williams tested positive – forcing them to play without five defensive starters and scramble for some bodies off the street to be in uniform on MetLife on Sunday.
“The professionalism of all these guys; not just COVID, but all these guys who just got here, being away from your family on holidays…I’ve been in their shoes,” Middleton said. “Just coming out to work, I’m glad for those guys to take advantage of their opportunity. Ad it’s a testament to the players we have that were here, bound and determined to make this thing work and come out with a win. It showed play after play, and I really appreciate that.”
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Part of the Jets’ success was aggressiveness on fourth down, as the Jets didn’t kick on five usual kicking situations during the game, with a 60 percent success rate.
“We were going to be aggressive but we weren’t going to be foolish,” Middleton said. “Every time we went for it on fourth down it was discussed; our game analysis person, Matt Burke, was given info, and all the decisions were based on that info.”
Three of those five tries came on their final drive of the first half – where they converted twice before falling short on 4th-and-goal from the two yard line with less than 20 seconds left – and the team later tried a fake field goal inside the 10 (punter Braden Mann was stopped short of the line to gain) and scored an unconventional touchdown to lineman Conor McDermott on 4th-and-goal from the 1 with just over nine minutes left.
“We call that play Wally Cross. It’s been in the game plan for a few weeks, and McDermott has been saying all along that he’s an ex-tight end,” Middleton smiled. “We ran that play twice in practice this week and Zach has gotten him the ball both times, and he looked natural getting the ball. He made a hell of a catch today, I was so happy for him.”
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They did take a field goal on 4th-and-goal at the one with under two minutes left, but that was more a function of the game situation and the play of the Jets’ defense all day long.
“The defense had been playing really well, and I didn’t think they would score a touchdown on us, so we wanted to at least get it to where they had to,” Middleton said. “We decided that was the time to get the points. Had our defense not been playing as well, it might have been different, but we wanted to put it in their hands and make the Jaguars score a TD to beat us.”
And, of course, Zach Wilson had a strong game, throwing for only 102 yards but adding 91 on the ground, including a Jets QB record 52-yard touchdown scamper.
“I’m not surprised, and glad that showed up today,” Middleton said of Wilson’s running game. “I know the OC (Mike LaFleur) OC had challenged him on some of his efforts the last couple weeks. He wasn’t playing free and OC got on him pretty good, and it paid off today. I think he played free, with confidence, and showed his athletic ability.”
It all added up to a big win, and Middleton even got some virtual love from the actual head coach, Robert Saleh.
“He zoomed in as we were breaking down the team, and he was excited. It was pretty cool. I wish he could’ve been in the locker room with us,” Middleton smiled.
The Jets hope to have Saleh back next Sunday, but if not, well, Middleton, who is in his 25th season as a coach at the college or NFL level with most of those as a tight ends or special teams coach, will be back in the saddle most likely. So, what did he gain from his first crack at the helm?
“I’ve done seminars and symposiums getting ready to be a head coach, and the biggest thing I’ve taken from this is appreciating the people around me,” he said. “The PR guys prepping me for these interviews, Scar (Steve Scarnecchia, Saleh’s chief of staff) with notes and having you in the right place at the right time…it’s like a duck on water – everything looks smooth on the surface but underneath it’s a lot of pedaling. Just appreciation for those behind the scenes to make things look as smooth as they do.”
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