Saleh says he overthought clock management in 4th quarter against Lions

A day after the 20-17 loss to the Lions and some questionable clock management, Jets coach Robert Saleh had a moment of clarity rewatching the game on film.

Following the Lions score to take the lead at the two-minute warning, the Jets got the ball back with 1:49 left in regulation. However, the Jets didn’t use a timeout until 19 seconds left in the game.

Saleh said he got about half an hour’s worth of sleep replaying the game in his mind.

“The thought process for us is to save those three timeouts up until a minute,” Saleh said. “You want to save them for a catastrophe whether you need them in whatever situation, you need to save those timeouts inside a minute.

“So, we took the sack on first down, we are good with letting it run, that one checks off from an analytical standpoint. 2nd and 19 goes incomplete. The 3rd and 19, there was 1:22 left on the clock when it got snapped, you can argue for a timeout in that situation.

“We felt really good when we looked up as there were about 1:15, 1:20 left on the clock. So analytically, we feel good about the decision to let that run and to continue playing.”

The problem is the Jets and Saleh could have potentially had more plays during the game if he decided to use his timeouts sooner. There was the 2nd and 10 play to Garrett Wilson with 53 seconds left that went for a first down, but the Jets didn’t burn a timeout at all. That allowed 20 seconds to go off the clock before the Jets snapped the ball again.

“This is the one where I definitely overthought this situation,” Saleh said. “That’s the one where I definitely overthought it.

“Felt like we got a better end of a spot and I was trying to beat New York [NFL review center] on a challenge and that’s the one where I overthought it. It didn’t matter, we are not playing for down in this situation, we are playing for time.

“When you look at it all, I definitely probably cost us one more snap. That’s something I definitely need to be better at, I definitely overthought it and I wish I could have that one back.”

[ Zach Wilson faces his moment of truth Sunday vs. Lions ]

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The next play, Jets quarterback Zach Wilson threw a deep pass on first down that was incomplete. Disaster struck on second down as Lions defensive end John Cominsky sacked Wilson as the Jets had to use a timeout with 19 seconds left. Wilson threw an incomplete pass to Elijah Moore on 3rd and 18 with 14 seconds left.

On 4th and 18, the Jets received a miracle, but it almost took every second left in the game to achieve it. Wilson scrambled out of the pocket and evaded a defender as he threw a pass to Moore at the Lions 37-yard line. Then Moore went backward, trying to get out of bounds before the clock expired, but he was tackled at the 41-yard line with one second left in the game.

“We were just trying to get a first down,” Moore said. “I know it was probably miscommunication between whoever, but we tried our best. We didn’t get the result we wanted, so we have to keep pushing.”

That set up Greg Zuerlein’s 58-yard field goal attempt, but it went wide left. Following the game, Saleh said he felt like having three timeouts gave the team a chance to be aggressive. But a day after he took accountability for not calling the timeouts when he should have, the Jets players believe that is huge for the locker room.

“I love Saleh,” Jets tight end C.J. Uzomah said. “He goes to bat for us, during the game, he tries to hype us up and get us going.

“As a player, you love to see that. As a player, I feel like it is my job to be able to do that and get the guys together and I think each individual player feels like that as well. Anytime you see your coach going out to bat and putting things on his shoulders, I love to see that.

“I love playing for him because of that and I want to put my best foot forward not only for the team but the coaches as well.”