As the New York Jets prepare for their pivotal Week 6 clash against the Buffalo Bills, defensive back and safeties coach Marquand Manuel expressed strong support for interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich, who will lead the team for the first time on Monday night after the firing of Robert Saleh.
This isn’t the first time Ulbrich and Manuel have worked together on the same coaching staff. The two first connected in 2015 with the Atlanta Falcons, where Manuel served as the secondary coach and Ulbrich was the linebackers coach.
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“You can go back to when we first started working together in Atlanta when we started getting ready for the [2015] draft, the way he started preparing, the way he went through players, we were very similar in how we wanted to sit down and look at certain players,” Manuel told reporters on Friday. “Didn’t matter where they were from, just the energy that he took on the detail of each guy. And it was that small, like it was that small.”
“And the way that he came in, ‘you gotta see this guy.’ Like the energy, and it translated into his individual periods. When you watch that, like it was always him running around, and, you know, you guys know me, that’s what I do. So it was just a lot of energy that we brought, from the standpoint of this guy, who’s passionate about it and also smart. Played it. Played the game a long time, playing Mike [linebacker]. We always had to play Mike and playing safety; you have to know the entire defense. So he’s been really awesome, man, just from that standpoint, in my time getting to know him. Really excited for him. Like I said, it’s a sad moment for all of us, but a guy that we got leading us is in charge, and we all got his back.”
Manuel later added that the players will have a blast getting to know Ulbrich as he steps into an increased role.
“Everyone gets to hear it now in the team meeting,” Manuel said. “That’s the difference. We sit, laugh, and joke when we were in the team meeting room, like, ‘Yeah, this is what we hear every day.’ That’s what motivates us every day. So, it’s the same. We’re just hearing it now on the global scale of the team meeting room on a daily basis, which is awesome for the guys.
Ulbrich seeks his first victory as an NFL head coach in a crucial Monday Night matchup against the Bills.
