Robert Saleh’s oldest friends have a choice to make Sunday.
Root for the Jets or slip on the Lions jerseys like always?
Growing up about 40 minutes away from where the Lions played their home games during his childhood in Dearborn, Mich., Saleh admitted Wednesday that he was a fan of the Lions and Barry Sanders. So, it’s a bit surreal that he will coach the Jets against the Lions in a rare meeting in which both teams have playoff aspirations in December.
“Still have all my high school buddies, they’re all still Lions fans, everybody is,” Saleh said.
As is the case for the majority of Lions fans from that era, the fan in Saleh counted Sanders as his favorite player.
“Oh yeah, whose guy wasn’t he?” Saleh asked rhetorically. “Best of all-time running back.”
Jets rookie cornerback Sauce Gardner, who grew up in Detroit, never shared that allegiance to the hometown team.
Gardner, who played receiver in high school, grew up a fan of Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson and met Darius Slay when the Pro Bowl cornerback trained at his high school, but affording Lions tickets and gear was a luxury not in the cards for his hard-working single mom.
“I had to see how I was going to make it out, you know?” Gardner told The Post. “I didn’t grow up in a position to be able to go to Lions games. Never had a jersey.”
Some of Gardner’s family members are Lions fans, including his grandmother, but would they root for the team over the person?
“I hope not,” he said. “It would be different if this game was in Detroit.”
WR Corey Davis (concussion), CB Brandin Echols (quad), DE John Franklin-Myers (illness), DT Quinnen Williams (calf) and S Will Parks (not injury-related) did not practice Wednesday. QB Mike White (ribs), LT Duane Brown (shoulder), RT George Fant (knee) and DE Mike Clemons (knee) were limited participants.
Davis is “making all the progress that he’s supposed to be making, so he’s on target” to play, according to Saleh. Williams’ availability is “50/50.” Fant and Brown are on maintenance programs that call for weekly Wednesday limitations.
Same faces, new places.
This will be the eighth time that Lions quarterback Jared Goff has started against a Saleh-influenced defense. Goff started for the Rams when Saleh was the 49ers defensive coordinator (2017-20). Saleh, who holds a 4-3 head-to-head edge, praised Goff’s accuracy, quick decision-making and ball security.
“When he’s back there and he’s comfortable, he’s as good as anybody in this game, and he’s playing at a very high level … with tremendous confidence,” Saleh said. “He’s only been sacked 19 times, so if you let it be seven-on-seven, he’s going to kill you. Credit to their O-line … and he’s doing a great job delivering the football.”
Online fan voting for the Pro Bowl ends Thursday. Selections will be announced next week.
In the latest update released Wednesday, Williams is the No. 1 defensive tackle, Gardner is the No. 1 cornerback, Justin Hardee is the No. 2 special teamer and D.J. Reed is the No. 3 cornerback among AFC vote-getters.
OT Eric Smith was signed to the practice squad for his third tour with the Jets. He was originally signed to the 53-man roster in December 2018 and cut in September 2019, and he was part of the practice squad earlier this season.