Jeff Ulbrich has hit the ground running as the Jets' interim head coach.
In some ways, he has no choice. The Jets have to move on, in the normal fast pace of NFL life, to their next game.
In some ways, that's just who Brick is.
"We've got to be assertive," Ulbrich said in his "whole-team mission statement" media availability today, his second news conference as the Jets' new leader after Wednesday's first remarks when he and the team first learned he would be taking the reins from Robert Saleh. "We've got to play with confidence, we've got to run off the ball. ... We can't be afraid of mistakes and half-stepping. We've got to play this game on our terms, and I'm very confident we're going to see that Monday night."
"We're moving on to the Bills. It is time. It is time we get this thing going, start playing the brand of football we know we're capable of, so the entirety of our focus is now on the Buffalo Bills."
But besides beating the Bills, Ulbrich had any number of other projects he wanted and needed to accomplish in his rapid but purposeful "deep dive" of the past 24 hours. One of those agenda items was addressing changes he was mulling over about the coaching staff. And the headline move: The new coach has elevated passing game coordinator Todd Downing to his offensive playcaller, replacing offensive coordinator replacing Nathaniel Hackett in that role.
"I've always had a ton of respect for Todd," said Ulbrich, who coordinated the Jets' defense while Downing coordinated the Titans' offense when the teams met early in the '22 season, a 27-24 Jets overtime win. "Schematically I'm always looking at a guy like that. ... There's not going to be this wholesale change schematically. How the game is called will be different."
Ulbrich also praised Hackett, who will retain the Jets' OC title but will yield game-planning and playcalling to Downing.
"It's just a testament to the human being that Nathaniel is. I feel so fortunate he's staying with us, the fact that he's going to give us everything in his body and heart and soul," the interim coach said. "I can't speak enough good things about him."
Ulbrich also packed into his schedule talks with a number of players on both sides of the ball, in particular about the offensive coaching changes. One of those he spoke with was QB Aaron Rodgers.
"We all are familiar with the relationship Aaron has with Nathaniel. They're very good friends who go back a long ways," he said, adding that Rodgers "understood the decision and he supported the decision."
Defensively, Ulbrich said he will continue as the defensive coordinator and playcaller. The short version of his staff decisions, Ulbrich said, is that "no titles will change, just duties."
The new coach's fast-moving approach to this week was also evident in his response to a question about the Jets' trouble starting fast in games. They fell behind the Vikings, 17-0, until late in the second quarter, they've had only one game with first-half leads larger than six points, in the win over New England, and their average time ahead in each game is 21:11, 22nd in the league.
"In everything that we do. It starts with the way we meet, make sure you're seated, you're ready to rock and roll. The way we do walkthroughs, the volume in our voices, the body language — we've got to do everything with a different sense of urgency, a heightened sense of urgency. And then it just becomes who you are, it becomes part of your DNA."
Another area Ulbrich and his staff and the players will address on the urgent fly is their penalty issues. The 39 penalties accepted against the Jets are seventh-most in the league, and 17 of those flags, plus six more declined or offset, came on presnap penalties.
"The aggressive penalties that occur within a game, we can live with those. We're going to teach and encourage a violent brand of football," he said. "The presnap stuff, the focus stuff, the offsides, false starts, illegal shifts, illegal formations — that's unacceptable. It's got to go away. It's not good enough."
Ulbrich's view of his team is the same as his view of his defense. The Jets are good enough, and they've got to demonstrate it now with an interim head coach establishing some new rules and roles and making changes for the days, weeks and months ahead. And there's no time like the present for that. In fact, there's almost no time at all to get that done, so it has to get done now.
But amid all of the big-picture considerations and small details he now has on his coaching plate, Ulbrich said he had one overarching consideration in his new role, and it's toward his players.
"My connection with this locker room, I hope to have really deep and strong relationships with the entire locker room more so than I have to this point," he said. "And ultimately I want the best for this group of men. It's just rare that you find the character of this locker room and the human beings that we have in there. They deserve to have success. That is my singular focus right now, helping them have the most success, both individually and collectively."
