To be certain, the Jets' national primetime exposure at San Francisco was not what the team or its fans had envisioned. But woe is us? Throw in the towel? Wait till next year? That's not the NFL after the first week of the season. And that's not Robert Saleh before or after any week of any season.
"We're only going to get better," the head coach said between Wednesday walk-throughs at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center. "I know the first game didn't go the way we wanted, but it's going to get a lot better."
Training his eye on his units on either side of the ball, Saleh was aware of the offense's struggles in amassing 266 yards, turning the ball over twice, and running three plays or fewer in their first seven series. But he had some up takes about Aaron Rodgers, Garrett Wilson, Breece Hall and company as well.
"The 12-play drive was awesome," he said of the Jets' first TD march to take their brief 7-3 lead. "Even the first drive, it was a 3-and-out, you want explosive runs, but we got to a third-and-3, which we struggled to get to last year. It felt like every single drive was third-and-11-plus. But we got to third-and-manageable, we had an easy completion, it didn't work out, but that's OK, that happens. We had a fumble on the second drive, but that was going to be a positive play.
"Obviously, the consistency from drive to drive wasn't there because we had that lull, and I attribute that to the defense not getting off the field and then them lapping us from the end of the first half to the beginning of the second half [scoring 10 points in a 12½-minute span surrounding halftime]. But there were a lot of promising things, a lot of positive yardage, scoring drives, third-down conversions — we were 6-of-10, which I thought was really good. So there's a lot of things we can build off of, and there's a lot of things we can learn from, too."
Saleh also was optimistic about his defense, which yielded 401 yards, eight consecutive scoring drives (two TDs, six FGs) and 38:40 of possession time by the 49ers.
"It's not that I was bothered, but it was a little surprising," he said about the D in general and the rush defense in particular. "We pride ourselves on discipline, doing our jobs, and we felt we got a little out of whack in that regard. ... I just know we were capable of much more and that it wasn't a physical thing. It was more just guys trying to do a little bit too much.
"It's not the first time we've gotten punched in the mouth here on defense, and I feel like we've always responded, so they'll respond."
The response time is truncated, as it will be in several short weeks the Jets face through the first two months of the season. After their redeye flight from San Francisco to Newark and some short-sleep days, the Jets are preparing for Game 2 and a second road trip to start the season, this one a mere short hop to Nashville to play the Titans in their home opener.
"They have a talented group, a new staff, a lot of guys that have produced a lot in all three phases," he said. "They have a well-respected O-line coach in Bill Callahan. From a defensive perspective, dealing with their scheme and the things they do also presents a lot of different challenges that we haven't seen, more five-down front and stuff like that.
Then back to the offense and second-year QB, whom Saleh lauds for his toughness, competitiveness, arm talent and mobility: "He's a young kid getting better with every passing day. He's another one that the sky's the limit for him."
What it comes down to for the Jets is more NFL cliches that have become truisms because, of course, they're true. You can't get too low when you lose, you've got to put the last game in the rearview, and you have to keep stacking that wood every day until your next opportunity for victory comes around. For the Jets, that's Sunday afternoon at Nissan Stadium.
As Saleh said about his vaunted pass defense's coverage against the Niners, so he can say for the Jets as they set out to reset the record to their still young season.
"It wasn't our standard of ball. I think our guys can agree to that," he said. "We could've done a much better job coaching it and a better job executing it."
