Culture
Two years later, a former Jets play-caller gets the last laugh
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Mike LaFleur laughed coming off the field. He shook hands and hugged Jets employees he used to know, and dapped up media members who used to question his decisions and wonder whether he was the right man to be the Jets’ offensive coordinator. Now in the same position for the Los Angeles Rams, LaFleur got the last laugh on Sunday, his Rams leaving with a 19-9 victory over a hapless Jets team that already feels checked out on the 2024 season.
Nearly two year ago, LaFleur’s fate as the Jets’ play-caller was in the balance. In exit interviews after the 2022 season, some key players made it clear to their bosses that the offense, in their minds, had become predictable — Garrett Wilson said as much during his season-ending press conference. But that was only a microcosm of the problems the Jets had on offense. Many of them were rooted in quarterbacking incompetence, particularly from Zach Wilson. When Wilson wasn’t behind center the offense under LaFleur often thrived, especially with Mike White and Joe Flacco.
But outside pressure won out. Jets owner Woody Johnson pushed coach Robert Saleh to fire LaFleur. Saleh pitched alternate solutions, including one in which LaFleur would stick around but in a reduced role, working alongside Todd Downing and Keith Carter. But too many of the Jets’ key offensive players were frustrated, plus fans (and some media) were calling for LaFleur’s head — Johnson wasn’t swayed.
To many in the Jets locker room, that was a lifetime ago. On Sunday, the Rams offense didn’t exactly run circles around a Jets defense that’s fallen far over the last half of this season — L.A. had 110 passing yards. But LaFleur’s presence on Sunday, and his smiles, are part of a larger conversation about how many wrong turns the Jets have made since LaFleur was fired and replaced by Nathaniel Hackett.
“Love him, man,” Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson said of LaFleur. “My rookie year, looking back on it, it was a special time and I might’ve taken it for granted.”
The Jets were young whippersnappers in 2022, a team that wasn’t supposed to be any good but jumped out to a 6-3 record powered by a remarkable rookie class. They fell apart and finished 7-10, and that collapse led to a decision the Jets probably regret in retrospect. Saleh had a hard time convincing any offensive coordinators to take the job if it was only going to be for one year — the perception at the time, especially since Johnson forced LaFleur’s firing to begin with — and so he settled on Hackett with the idea that it could help the Jets land Rodgers. But the Jets were basically starting over on offense, with a coach (Hackett) whose track record was spotty when he wasn’t working with Rodgers. Then, when Rodgers tore his Achilles in Week 1 last year, the offense unraveled.
Now it’s the end of 2024. Hackett was demoted earlier this season and Downing — hired as the passing game coordinator after LaFleur was fired — has taken over play-calling. Really, it’s still Rodgers’ show, though the offense has improved both in terms of production and creativity since Downing took over. But many of the same problems persist.
Wilson was targeted only three times on Sunday before the Jets’ final offensive drive as Rodgers instead funneled targets to Davante Adams, seemingly determined to have his 500th touchdown pass land in the arms of his closest friend on the team. Wilson was targeted four more times toward the end of the game, but it was too late to matter at that point. Rodgers said he didn’t target Wilson because of the way the Rams were covering him. Wilson was less sure of the reason.
“I don’t know, to be honest with you man,” Wilson said. “I don’t know. I just gotta go out and put my best foot forward and hope that things fall my way. I would love to be involved, love to make an impact on the game, but if people see it differently that’s out of my control. Just trying to do what I can do.”
The Jets started their opening drive at their own 1-yard line. Rodgers authored an impressive 14-play, 99-yard scoring drive, capped by an 11-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to Adams (followed by a missed extra point from Anders Carlson). After that, their decision-making at large left plenty to be desired.
On their next drive — which started after Tony Adams intercepted Matthew Stafford — interim coach Jeff Ulbrich made the confounding decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Jets’ 33-yard-line. Running back Breece Hall was stuffed at the line of scrimmage, and the Rams scored a touchdown three plays later.
“For one, their offense was being very efficient at that point,” Ulbrich said. “Our offense was being very efficient as well. We were maintaining drives. We were moving the ball. We were converting third and fourths there for a while, so I wanted to stay aggressive and keep the ball in the hands of our offense.”
Next, the Jets ended a 15-play, 67-yard drive with a 21-yard Carlson field goal. Outside of those two scoring drives (of 99 and 67 yards) the Jets gained only 155 total yards. On a cold afternoon — the coldest of the season so far at MetLife Stadium — they only ran the ball 20 times versus 44 dropbacks. The Jets have run the ball less than any team in the NFL this season despite the presence of Hall, who expressed some frustration with his lack of carries earlier in the week: “I don’t really have too much to say, you know, just with how the season’s going, how the games are going, you know, that’s just like just how it worked out,” Hall said on Friday. “So, you know, obviously I want the ball as many times as I can, but if I’m not getting the ball out, all I can do is just my job.”
In the third quarter, the Jets got to the Rams’ 13-yard-line and went for it on fourth down again — rather than taking the points with a field goal. Rodgers threw for Adams in the end zone, but the ball was batted out of the receiver’s hands for another turnover on downs.
Early in the fourth quarter, Rodgers held on to the ball too long, got strip-sacked and the Rams recovered in Jets territory. L.A. scored again a few plays later to go up 16-9.
“Probably should have dealt the ball,” Rodgers said. “Looked like we were pretty gloved to all the spots, but I think I should have gotten out of the pocket and just dumped it somewhere.”
The Jets went for it on fourth down again on the next drive — and failed again. On another fourth-quarter possession, Carlson missed a 49-yard field goal wide right. The game ended when Xavier Gipson muffed a punt and the Rams recovered. Though none of that even scratches the surface of all the Jets’ confounding mental errors on Sunday.
The Jets, one of the NFL’s most penalized teams, had eight more penalties on Sunday — including at least one from each of the six offensive linemen who played. (Rookie left tackle Olu Fashanu left in the fourth quarter with a foot injury that appeared to be serious, though Ulbrich didn’t have an update after the game.)
“It’s been all year,” said Rodgers, who finished 28 of 42 for 256 yards. “I think that’s what needs to clean up moving forward for some of these guys to reach their full potential is to just lock in on the details. And that’s not just this offense. Whatever comes next after this, there’s going to be important details in every offense. And that’s just the little tweaks that are the difference between explosive gains or conversions and turnover on downs.”
Maybe the Jets would still have many of the same problems even if they had stuck with LaFleur. They had some of these issues when he was around — same for Saleh, before he was fired. But it was never this bad, this undisciplined, this confounding. Good teams find ways to win. Week after week, the Jets find ways to lose. Sunday was only the second time since 1940 that an NFL team didn’t punt in a game yet failed to score at least 10 points, according to ESPN.
It’s clear that neither Hackett nor Rodgers was the remedy to what ailed the offense — and it’s fair to wonder how things would have looked if LaFleur was able to stick around and build the unit the way he envisioned, the way Saleh envisioned. Hall told the New York Post on Sunday that he, Garrett Wilson and LaFleur are still in regular contact, a sign that their relationship perhaps has grown stronger since LaFleur was forced out.
LaFleur appears to be happy in Los Angeles. The Jets, on the other hand, will start from scratch again in 2025 — coach, play-caller and, probably, quarterback.
So what did Wilson mean when he said he might have taken his time with LaFleur for granted?
“Just some of the relationships,” Wilson said. “I look around and there’s not too many familiar faces from that time. That’s kind of how it goes when you don’t win games.”
(Photo: Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)
“Window seat with garden view / A perfect nook to read a book / I’m lost in my Jane Austen…” sings Kristin Chenoweth in “The Girl in 14G” — what could be more ideal? Well, perhaps showing off your literary knowledge and getting a perfect score on this week’s super-size Book Review Quiz Bowl honoring the life, work and global influence of Jane Austen, who turns 250 today. In the 12 questions below, tap or click your answers to the questions. And no matter how you do, scroll on to the end, where you’ll find links to free e-book versions of her novels — and more.
On Dec. 16, 1775, a girl was born in Steventon, England — the seventh of eight children — to a clergyman and his wife. She was an avid reader, never married and died in 1817, at the age of 41. But in just those few decades, Jane Austen changed the world.
Her novels have had an outsize influence in the centuries since her death. Not only are the books themselves beloved — as sharply observed portraits of British society, revolutionary narrative projects and deliciously satisfying romances — but the stories she created have so permeated culture that people around the world care deeply about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, even if they’ve never actually read “Pride and Prejudice.”
With her 250th birthday this year, the Austen Industrial Complex has kicked into high gear with festivals, parades, museum exhibits, concerts and all manner of merch, ranging from the classily apt to the flamboyantly absurd. The words “Jane mania” have been used; so has “exh-Aust-ion.”
How to capture this brief life, and the blazing impact that has spread across the globe in her wake? Without further ado: a mere sampling of the wealth, wonder and weirdness Austen has brought to our lives. After all, your semiquincentennial doesn’t come around every day.
By ‘A Lady’
Austen published just four novels in her lifetime: “Sense and Sensibility” (1811), “Pride and Prejudice” (1813), “Mansfield Park” (1814) and “Emma” (1815). All of them were published anonymously, with the author credited simply as “A Lady.” (If you’re in New York, you can see this first edition for yourself at the Grolier Club through Feb. 14.)
Where the Magic Happened
Placed near a window for light, this diminutive walnut table was, according to family lore, where the author did much of her writing. It is now in the possession of the Jane Austen Society.
An Iconic Accessory
Few of Austen’s personal artifacts remain, contributing to the author’s mystique. One of them is this turquoise ring, which passed to her sister-in-law and then her niece after her death. In 2012, the ring was put up for auction and bought by the “American Idol” champion Kelly Clarkson. This caused quite a stir in England; British officials were loath to let such an important cultural artifact leave the country’s borders. Jane Austen’s House, the museum now based in the writer’s Hampshire home, launched a crowdfunding campaign to Bring the Ring Home and bought the piece from Clarkson. The real ring now lives at the museum; the singer has a replica.
Austen Onscreen
Since 1940, when Austen had a bit of a moment and Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier starred in MGM’s rather liberally reinterpreted “Pride and Prejudice,” there have been more than 20 international adaptations of Austen’s work made for film and TV (to say nothing of radio). From the sublime (Emma Thompson’s Oscar-winning “Sense and Sensibility”) to the ridiculous (the wholly gratuitous 2022 remake of “Persuasion”), the high waists, flickering firelight and double weddings continue to provide an endless stream of debate fodder — and work for a queen’s regiment of British stars.
Jane Goes X-Rated
The rumors are true: XXX Austen is a thing. “Jane Austen Kama Sutra,” “Pride and Promiscuity: The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen” and enough slash fic and amateur porn to fill Bath’s Assembly Rooms are just the start. Purists may never recover.
A Lady Unmasked
Austen’s final two completed novels, “Northanger Abbey” and “Persuasion,” were published after her death. Her brother Henry, who oversaw their publication, took the opportunity to give his sister the recognition he felt she deserved, revealing the true identity of the “Lady” behind “Pride and Prejudice,” “Emma,” etc. in a biographical note. “The following pages are the production of a pen which has already contributed in no small degree to the entertainment of the public,” he wrote, extolling his sister’s imagination, good humor and love of dancing. Still, “no accumulation of fame would have induced her, had she lived, to affix her name to any productions of her pen.”
Wearable Tributes
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Jane Austen fan wants to find other Jane Austen fans, and what better way to advertise your membership in that all-inclusive club than with a bit of merch — from the subtle and classy to the gloriously obscene.
The Austen Literary Universe
On the page, there is no end to the adventures Austen and her characters have been on. There are Jane Austen mysteries, Jane Austen vampire series, Jane Austen fantasy adventures, Jane Austen Y.A. novels and, of course, Jane Austen romances, which transpose her plots to a remote Maine inn, a Greenwich Village penthouse and the Bay Area Indian American community, to name just a few. You can read about Austen-inspired zombie hunters, time-traveling hockey players, Long Island matchmakers and reality TV stars, or imagine further adventures for some of your favorite characters. (Even the obsequious Mr. Collins gets his day in the sun.)
A Botanical Homage
Created in 2017 to mark the 200th anniversary of Austen’s death, the “Jane Austen” rose is characterized by its intense orange color and light, sweet perfume. It is bushy, healthy and easy to grow.
Aunt Jane
Hoping to cement his beloved aunt’s legacy, Austen’s nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh published this biography — a rather rosy portrait based on interviews with family members — five decades after her death. The book is notable not only as the source (biased though it may be) of many of the scant facts we know about her life, but also for the watercolor portrait by James Andrews that serves as its frontispiece. Based on a sketch by Cassandra, this depiction of Jane is softer and far more winsome than the original: Whether that is due to a lack of skill on her sister’s part or overly enthusiastic artistic license on Andrews’s, this is the version of Austen most familiar to people today.
Cultural Currency
In 2017, the Bank of England released a new 10-pound note featuring Andrews’s portrait of Austen, as well as a line from “Pride and Prejudice”: “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!” Austen is the third woman — other than the queen — to be featured on British currency, and the only one currently in circulation.
In the Trenches
During World War I and World War II, British soldiers were given copies of Austen’s works. In his 1924 story “The Janeites,” Rudyard Kipling invoked the grotesque contrasts — and the strange comfort — to be found in escaping to Austen’s well-ordered world amid the horrors of trench warfare. As one character observes, “There’s no one to touch Jane when you’re in a tight place.”
Baby Janes
You’re never too young to learn to love Austen — or that one’s good opinion, once lost, may be lost forever.
The Austen Industrial Complex
Maybe you’ve not so much as seen a Jane Austen meme, let alone read one of her novels. No matter! Need a Jane Austen finger puppet? Lego? Magnetic poetry set? Lingerie? Nameplate necklace? Plush book pillow? License plate frame? Bath bomb? Socks? Dog sweater? Whiskey glass? Tarot deck? Of course you do! And you’re in luck: What a time to be alive.
Around the Globe
Austen’s novels have been translated into more than 40 languages, including Polish, Finnish, Chinese and Farsi. There are active chapters of the Jane Austen Society, her 21st-century fan club, throughout the world.
Playable Persuasions
In Austen’s era, no afternoon tea was complete without a rousing round of whist, a trick-taking card game played in two teams of two. But should you not be up on your Regency amusements, you can find plenty of contemporary puzzles and games with which to fill a few pleasant hours, whether you’re piecing together her most beloved characters or using your cunning and wiles to land your very own Mr. Darcy.
#SoJaneAusten
The wild power of the internet means that many Austen moments have taken on lives of their own, from Colin Firth’s sopping wet shirt and Matthew Macfadyen’s flexing hand to Mr. Collins’s ode to superlative spuds and Mr. Knightley’s dramatic floor flop. The memes are fun, yes, but they also speak to the universality of Austen’s writing: More than two centuries after her books were published, the characters and stories she created are as relatable as ever.
Bonnets Fit for a Bennett
For this summer’s Grand Regency Costumed Promenade in Bath, England — as well as the myriad picnics, balls, house parties, dinners, luncheons, teas and fetes that marked the anniversary — seamstresses, milliners, mantua makers and costume warehouses did a brisk business, attiring the faithful in authentic Regency finery. And that’s a commitment: A bespoke, historically accurate bonnet can easily run to hundreds of dollars.
Most Ardently, Jane
Austen was prolific correspondent, believed to have written thousands of letters in her lifetime, many to her sister, Cassandra. But in an act that has frustrated biographers for centuries, upon Jane’s death, Cassandra protected her sister’s privacy — and reputation? — by burning almost all of them, leaving only about 160 intact, many heavily redacted. But what survives is filled with pithy one-liners. To wit: “I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.”
Stage and Sensibility
Austen’s works have been adapted numerous times for the stage. Some plays (and musicals) hew closely to the original text, while others — such as Emily Breeze’s comedic riff on “Pride and Prejudice,” “Are the Bennet Girls OK?”, which is running at New York City’s West End Theater through Dec. 21 — use creative license to explore ideas of gender, romance and rage through a contemporary lens.
Austen 101
Austen remains a reliable fount of academic scholarship; recent conference papers have focused on the author’s enduring global reach, the work’s relationship to modern intersectionality, digital humanities and “Jane Austen on the Cheap.” And as one professor told our colleague Sarah Lyall of the Austen amateur scholarship hive, “Woe betide the academic who doesn’t take them seriously.”
W.W.J.D.
When facing problems — of etiquette, romance, domestic or professional turmoil — sometimes the only thing to do is ask: What would Jane do?
A famous poet once observed that it is difficult to get the news from poems. The weather is a different story. April showers, summer sunshine and — maybe especially — the chill of winter provide an endless supply of moods and metaphors. Poets like to practice a double meteorology, looking out at the water and up at the sky for evidence of interior conditions of feeling.
The inner and outer forecasts don’t always match up. This short poem by Louise Glück starts out cold and stays that way for most of its 11 lines.
And then it bursts into flame.
“Early December in Croton-on-Hudson” comes from Glück’s debut collection, “Firstborn,” which was published in 1968. She wrote the poems in it between the ages of 18 and 23, but they bear many of the hallmarks of her mature style, including an approach to personal matters — sex, love, illness, family life — that is at once uncompromising and elusive. She doesn’t flinch. She also doesn’t explain.
Here, for example, Glück assembles fragments of experience that imply — but also obscure — a larger narrative. It’s almost as if a short story, or even a novel, had been smashed like a glass Christmas ornament, leaving the reader to infer the sphere from the shards.
We know there was a couple with a flat tire, and that a year later at least one of them still has feelings for the other. It’s hard not to wonder if they’re still together, or where they were going with those Christmas presents.
To some extent, those questions can be addressed with the help of biographical clues. The version of “Early December in Croton-on-Hudson” that appeared in The Atlantic in 1967 was dedicated to Charles Hertz, a Columbia University graduate student who was Glück’s first husband. They divorced a few years later. Glück, who died in 2023, was never shy about putting her life into her work.
But the poem we are reading now is not just the record of a passion that has long since cooled. More than 50 years after “Firstborn,” on the occasion of receiving the Nobel Prize for literature, Glück celebrated the “intimate, seductive, often furtive or clandestine” relations between poets and their readers. Recalling her childhood discovery of William Blake and Emily Dickinson, she declared her lifelong ardor for “poems to which the listener or reader makes an essential contribution, as recipient of a confidence or an outcry, sometimes as co-conspirator.”
That’s the kind of poem she wrote.
“Confidence” can have two meanings, both of which apply to “Early December in Croton-on-Hudson.” Reading it, you are privy to a secret, something meant for your ears only. You are also in the presence of an assertive, self-possessed voice.
Where there is power, there’s also risk. To give voice to desire — to whisper or cry “I want you” — is to issue a challenge and admit vulnerability. It’s a declaration of conquest and a promise of surrender.
What happens next? That’s up to you.
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