Jeff Ulbrich is having one hell of a September. The New York Jets defensive coordinator oversees a unit that has had its share of embarrassing moments on and off the field this month. And on Thursday, he found a way to seemingly diss stud lineman Quinnen Williams.

Meeting with reporters, Ulbrich was asked about the Jets’ heavy rotation on the defensive line. Williams, for example, has played 63 percent of the defensive snaps (120 in three games) this season.

“There are these critical moments in games and why’s Quinnen not out there? And, you know, you look to the side and he’s gasping for air,” Ulbrich explained.

Ouch!

That explanation sure sounded like the coordinator was throwing his best player under the bus for being out of shape.

While impossible to get inside Ulbrich’s head, the rest of what he had to say about Williams was complimentary. So, Ulbrich could have been using the above example to explain that the Jets need to rotate Williams out because he gives max effort on every snap.

https://twitter.com/Connor_J_Hughes/status/1575589479435632641

“You have to absolutely use him as much as we can and as much as we can in critical moments,” Ulbrich stated. “He plays at such a high clip and he goes so hard that sometimes more is less or more is not necessarily as good.”

The fourth-year pro said he reported to training camp in the best shape of his career because he was not rehabbing any injury during the offseason. It’s showed in his play. Williams leads the Jets with 1.5 sacks, is second with eight QB pressures and has an overall grade of 82.7 per Pro Football Focus, second-best among all Jets defensive players and tops among linemen.

The soft-spoken Williams screamed at line coach Aaron Whitecotton on the sideline during a 27-12 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals last week. The incident went viral and Williams later explained he was angry that the Jets were blitzing too much. The Jets had just been burned for a long touchdown pass on a failed blitz leading to the heated exchange.

So, when Ulbrich made his questionable comment about Williams on Thursday, it seemed the coordinator was perhaps trying to get back publicly at the player for challenging in-game decisions.

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But Ulbrich absolved Williams. He said that nothing “was rooted in selfishness … I have seen that fire before (from Williams).”

There are other issues for Ulbrich to fix. The Jets, who had the worst-ranked defense in the NFL last season, are 26th this season. They’ve surrendered numerous big plays, including two touchdown passes of 50+ yards already. Their tackling has been abysmal. And they’ve had a string of ill-timed penalties and miscommunication that has cost them time and again.

Corner D.J. Reed, who has been among the Jets top defensive players so far, said after the Bengals loss that there needs to be better communication between players and coaches.

That, of course, begins with Ulbrich. And his somewhat unclear comment of Williams certainly did not help Thursday.