Jets can earn first win of season by firing Adam Gase
Jets head coach Adam Gase looks at copies of plays during the first half of an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2020, in Miami Gardens, Fla. Credit: AP/Lynne Sladky
It is time to put Adam Gase out of his misery – and ours.
That would be the humane move for Jets CEO Christopher Johnson this week, because no purpose is being served by having Gase remain as coach of the NFL’s biggest embarrassment.
His team is an affront to its fans, and an affront to those of us who merely are fans of good football.
And his situation only is becoming increasingly counterproductive, as witnessed by the team’s latest flop, a 24-0 loss to the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday that dropped them to 0-6.
As the only winless team in the NFL, the good news is they now "lead" the race to draft Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence next spring. The bad news is they might not be able to beat Lawrence and Clemson right now.
The vote here is not to replace Gase with defensive coordinator Gregg Williams as interim head coach, even though the defense was considerably less bad than the offense on Sunday.
Williams’ public tiff with Gase this past week only illustrates his volatile tendencies.
After Williams on Friday seemed to shift blame from his unit to Gase’s offense, Gase told CBS’ crew during a production meeting on Saturday, "That’s not what we need . . . Everyone needs to shut up and play."
Gase confirmed after the game he was not happy with Williams but said the two have spoken and moved on.
Regardless, Williams is not what the Jets need now. Just hire another of Gase’s veteran assistants as a bridge to 2021. Or Rich Kotite. Or Rex Ryan, who before the game on ESPN called the Jets "a mess."
Gase acknowledged the obvious, saying, "We haven’t done anything well this year at all," but he pointed more to technical matters this time. "This game was way less mental issues; it was physical," he said.
As usual, the Jets’ incompetence was ghoulishly creative at times. Take the end of the first quarter – please.
With the Jets trailing 7-0 and threatening at the Miami 15-yard line, they had an offensive pass interference call on Ryan Griffin erase a first down.
Then Connor McGovern snapped the ball to Joe Flacco, who at the time was giving instructions to his teammates and not expecting said ball. The flubbed snap moved the Jets out of field goal range.
On the ensuing punt, Vyncint Smith whiffed on trying to down the ball inside the 10, and Harvey Langi was called for a face mask penalty, allowing Miami to start at its 35.
There were other indignities.
Jordan Jenkins hit Ryan Fitzpatrick in the head when the Miami quarterback was sliding to give himself up, resulting in a personal foul.
Late in the third quarter, the Jets had a third-and-1 at the Miami 24, at which time Flacco threw the ball away and was called for intentional grounding, creating a fourth-and-14. Gase ordered a 55-yard field goal try by Sam Ficken, who missed wide left.
In the fourth, with the Jets in field goal range, Flacco was sacked for a 28-yard loss on third down.
Flacco, starting his second game in place of the injured Sam Darnold, was under constant pressure and was 21-for-44 for 186 yards. He played worse than that sounds.
Before the game, Ryan said on ESPN the matchup would be interesting, given that both the Dolphins and Jets players do not like Gase, who used to coach Miami.
It was not all that interesting, as it turned out. Nor is this entire Jets season. It is a debacle.
Late in the game CBS noted that the Dolphins’ last shutout of the Jets came on Jan. 23, 1983, in the famed "Mud Bowl" AFC Championship Game at the Orange Bowl.
On that occasion, the Jets had a good excuse for not scoring in a 14-0 loss: lots and lots of mud. This time it rained only lightly.
Afterward, Gase was asked whether he is concerned that Johnson might be inclined to make a change. "No," he said, "I mean, I’m not even thinking about it."
That makes one of us.
GARBAGE TIME
Getting outscored 114-29 in the first half of their first six games won’t help Adam Gase’s job security. The Jets’ halftime scores this season:
Week 1 Buffalo 21 Jets 3
Week 2 San Francisco 21, Jets 3
Week 3 Indianapolis 17, Jets 7
Week 4 Denver 17, Jets 13
Week 5 Arizona 17, Jets 3
Week 6 Miami 21, Jets 0
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
