After criticizing Gregg Williams' play call in Jets' loss to Raiders, Marcus Maye moving on

Marcus Maye stepped a little outside of his comfort zone immediately after Sunday’s game and was extremely critical of the play call by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams that cost the Jets their first victory of the season. But the safety said he and his teammates have moved on.

Maye didn’t voice his displeasure to Williams after the game. Then he learned Monday that Adam Gase had fired Williams for his all-out blitz call that set the stage for the Raiders’ game-winning 46-yard touchdown pass with five seconds remaining.

"I was surprised," Maye said. "It hit my phone just like it hit everybody’s phone. Out of my control. I just showed up for work on Monday like I normally do."

Gase said Maye’s decision to express himself the way he did — repeatedly saying the Jets needed to be in a better call after the crushing 31-28 loss to the Raiders — had no bearing on his decision. But Maye, a team captain, earned the respect of his teammates for doing that.

Maye was the spokesman for the Jets’ locker room that day, particularly the defense. He stood up for rookie cornerback Lamar Jackson, who was beaten on the play by Henry Ruggs III, and the team as a whole.

"It was just the timing of it," Maye said. "It is what it is. That was last week. Can’t keep harping on it. We’ve been talking about it since it happened. It’s a new week. We got a new opponent this week. We got to continue to move forward. We ca n’t keep harping on last week and the weeks prior. We got to show up this week and come to play."

This week the Jets (0-12) are in Seattle for a meeting with Maye’s old running mate, safety Jamal Adams, and the Seahawks. It will be new defensive coordinator Frank Bush’s first time calling plays in nearly 10 years.

Gase named Bush the interim coordinator on Monday. He had served as the Jets’ assistant head coach/linebackers coach in both seasons under Gase.

Bush called this week "a whirlwind" because of how his role changed and everything that comes with it.

"I’m excited to have the opportunity to do what I’m going to do for this particular game," he said. "That part has been good. But it’s been a whirlwind. It’s been a lot of different parts moving, trying to massage players and coaches and get things kind of moving in the same direction."

The last time Bush was a coordinator was 2010, when he ran the Houston Texans’ defense. Houston finished seventh and 13th in total defense in the two seasons in which Bush was in charge.

Twelve games into the season, Bush doesn’t expect to change much of what Williams did. He said it might take him some time to get used to calling plays again.

"You got to get a feel for it again," he said. "The responsibility lies in your hands. You make the call; once it comes out of your mouth, all 11 kids are trying to do what you ask them to do. Everyone is depending on you to make the correct call. At the end of the day, the responsibility is yours."

Williams was reminded of that Sunday, but Bush said he won’t second-guess or play Monday morning quarterback. He said that wouldn’t be fair to Williams.

Bush played for Seattle coach Pete Carroll at North Carolina State and said he’s excited about facing one of his mentors in his first game back as a defensive coordinator. He believes he’s better equipped for the job now.

"My first time out, there was some apprehension," Bush said. "This time, the apprehension’s not there. I’ve done it before. I’ve gone through the butterfly stages of calling an initial game and really owning each call and just going on whether you make a mistake or not.

"I’ve learned a lot of football over that time. I’ve learned some of the things that I thought I knew that I didn’t know at all. Now going back into it, I can better make decisions or help put guys in position to do things better than I did before."