There’s a part of every Jets fan that wants to see, hear and feel anger from Robert Saleh and his players right now, isn’t there?
There’s a part of you that craves the kind of fed-up moment the late actor Peter Finch played so brilliantly as the fictional TV anchor Howard Beale in the movie “Network’’ when he becomes unhinged by it all.
“I want you to get mad,’’ Finch ranted. “I want you all to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to your window, open it and stick your head out and yell, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.’ ’’
Is there an emotional moment that more encapsulates the psyche of every Jets fan more than that famous fictional diatribe?
It’s old news that the Jets haven’t sniffed a postseason berth since 2010 and the frustration has built to excruciating levels for their faithful fans.
But this past month — a defense yielding 175 points in four games — has been testing for even the most patient.
Granted, a tirade from the head coach or a chair hurled across a locker room or a fist through a wall isn’t going to prevent the Jets’ next opponent, the Dolphins, from carving up their defense on Sunday the way the Patriots (54 points), Colts (45 points) and Bills (45 points) have done recently, overtly showing no respect for that unit.
But the show of a pulse would be nice.
In the face of this terrible stretch of football, which has been historically bad, the Jets (at least publicly) appear to be too nice — from the coaching staff on through the locker room.
Saleh’s public image as the 49ers defensive coordinator before he was hired by the Jets bordered on maniacal. Not in a bad way. But he was omnipresent racing up and down the sideline exhorting his players.
But, until Monday afternoon’s “The Michael Kay Show” on ESPN Radio when responding to some self-serving criticism from former Jets coach Rex Ryan (now an ESPN analyst), we haven’t seen that fiery version of Saleh since he came to the Jets.
“He knows where to find me,’’ Saleh said of Ryan, the last coach to lead the Jets to the playoffs. “I’m not surprised by him. He’s always got something to say.”
Maybe the Jets locker room could use a little bit of that fire from Saleh right now.
Can someone — anyone — from the Jets just show the fans they’re pissed off?
“Those are definitely modes of getting people’s attention, for sure,’’ linebacker Jarrad Davis said Monday. “I understand.’’
Are the players pissed off?
“That definitely goes without saying; it’s something that totally should be understood,’’ Davis said. “It’s one thing to be pissed off, to be mad, but it’s another thing to go do something about that. We have to make sure that we’re not just doing what we think [others think] we should be doing, but we’re doing what’s actually going to help us win.’’
What about some fire behind closed doors from Saleh?
“Coach Saleh is a very meek person, but that doesn’t take away from the passion and the drive and determination that he has,’’ Davis said, not being critical of his coach with the use of that word but trying to illustrate how low-key Saleh is with the players.
“He doesn’t need to be angry to let us know that it’s important to him.”
“I’m as frustrated as everybody else and my promise to Jets fans is this is going to flip,’’ Saleh said. “I know we can be better. It is frustrating and it is trying. Just like all Jets fans, I’m frustrated, but I am not lost in the big picture in that this thing is going to turn. And when it does, it’s going to be freakin’ awesome.
“When you lose in this league, everyone wants to hit the panic button, everybody wants to fire everybody, everybody wants to cut everybody, everybody’s got an opinion. It’s deserved, but at the same time, when you win, everyone thinks ‘Oh they got it turned around.’ Like Bill Parcells said, ‘There’s euphoria in disaster.’ You take the good with the bad, the bad with the good and you just roll, and you try to find ways to get better.’’
Then Saleh added this: “If we don’t start getting better on defense, it’ll be ugly.’’
Too late. It’s already ugly.
But that doesn’t mean it can’t be turned around.