Robert Saleh has the action star look
When it comes to unique compliments from Mina Kimes, Robert Saleh already has a leg up on Bill Belichick.
The ESPN analyst bestowed a special label unto Saleh during Thursday’s edition of “Highly Questionable.” Appearing alongside Katie Nolan and Pablo Torre, Kimes praised Saleh’s philosophies when it came to on-field training camp discipline. Saleh was asked about that area of camp in the wake of a fight during team drills at the New York Giants’ proceedings.
Robert Saleh is my favorite NFL coach who also looks like the exact midpoint of Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel pic.twitter.com/BAKUBQj2ZX
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) August 5, 2021
Though Giants head coach Joe Judge punished his brawling players through arduous conditioning drills, Saleh promised a different approach, opting to “to create accountability with self rather than (force) accountability,” per notes from the New York Jets.
One of the debates featured on Thursday’s episode was pondering whether Saleh was “throwing shade” at the Giants. Kimes and Nolan concurred that Saleh meant no harm toward the Jets’ Garden State compatriots, while the former bestowed further praise to Gang Green’s new boss, complete with a very distinctive accolade.
“I love this dude because I find him incredibly charming,” Kimes said. “He also just engenders respect amongst players because of who he is: a brilliant coach, brilliant listener, and also looks like the NFL coach, most likely to be cast in a ‘Fast and Furious’ movie.”
Kimes further claims that Saleh looks like a cross between Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel, the primary stars of the long-running action franchise. The conversation around Saleh, however, is quickly dropped after Kimes forgets to properly label Diesel, much to the shock of her co-hosts.
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In her defense, Kimes declares, the only “Fast and Furious” film she has seen is “The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift,” the third film released chronologically. While Diesel has appeared in all but one of the “Fast” films (2 Fast 2 Furious), he makes only a cameo appearance at the end of “Tokyo Drift.”
Kimes reiterates her stance on Twitter, this time properly labeling Diesel. Those who comment, including former Jets linebacker and current NFL Network analyst Leger Douzable, are playfully offended by the fact that Kimes’ “Fast” experience is limited exclusively to “Tokyo Drift,” which is often seen as one of the series’ weaker entries.
Should Universal Pictures take Kimes’ casting advice, Saleh wouldn’t be the first Jet to get involved with the “Fast and the Furious” series. Former New York linebacker Josh Mauga made his acting debut as a brother of Johnson’s character and performed his own stunts in 2019’s “Hobbs & Shaw,” the franchise’s first feature-length spin-off film.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
