Stop me, if you’ve heard this one before—Adam Gase and Le’Veon Bell aren’t getting along.
Bell, who has been at odds with his head coach seemingly since the day he first stepped foot in East Rutherford, went the passive aggressive route this time, liking multiple tweets that alluded to his scarce usage (just 13 carries) in Sunday’s loss to Arizona. The Jets bell-cow had spent the previous three weeks on short-term IR with a nagging calf injury.
When asked of Bell’s activity on social media, Gase seemed disappointed the 28-year-old didn’t come to him first. “I hate that’s the route we go with all this instead of just talking to me about it,” said Gase as transcribed by Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. “But it seems that’s way guys want to do it nowadays.”
This certainly isn’t the first and probably won’t be the last time Bell and Gase have come into conflict. Unhappy with his workload at Jets training camp this summer, the outspoken running back took to Twitter to contradict earlier remarks made by Gase, who told reporters Bell was battling an injury.
Tension and pettiness have been constants throughout Gase’s Jets tenure, sparking feuds with Bell and fellow malcontent Jamal Adams, who demanded a trade and eventually got one this summer. The famously high-maintenance Bell and Gase, who quickly wore out his welcome in Miami and seems poised to do the same in New York, have struggled to coexist, repeatedly throwing each other under the bus with comments ranging from vaguely passive aggressive to outright hostile.
Social media, especially of late, has become an indispensable tool for athletes to voice their frustrations. Just in the past month, we’ve seen disgruntled receiver Allen Robinson remove any mention of the Bears from his Twitter page, Dwayne Haskins unfollow the Washington Football Team in response to his recent benching and now Bell stirring up controversy with his liberal use of the like button.
The winless Jets will take a league-worst -86-point differential into Sunday’s game against the Dolphins, who are coming off a stunning upset of San Francisco in Week 5. With a bye on tap for Week 7, Gase could very well be coaching for his job on Sunday.
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