In the battle between the flaming incompetence of #JetsTank and the late-game energy drains that have defined the previously 2-7 Chargers this season, something had to give on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles.
In the end, Jets coach Adam Gase’s clock management issues ensured his club came away on the short end of a 34-28 decision that dropped Gang Green to a franchise-worst 0-10 and officially eliminated them from the postseason for the 10th consecutive year.
Whether or not you’re a proponent of the Jets tanking to finish 0-16 and secure the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, it’s painful to watch Gase coach this team, even if it’s just for six more games before he’s mercifully given a pink slip.
Whereas counterpart Anthony Lynn played another fourth quarter not to lose with a series of questionable play-calling decisions, Gase said, “Hold my beer.”
Trailing 34-26 with 1:51 remaining, Gase burned a timeout to set up a fourth-and-9 play from the Chargers 32-yard line. The problem: The clock was already stopped following an incompletion and the decision left New York with only one timeout.
To paraphrase a tweet I once saw: Whereas other NFL coaches are playing chess, Gase is playing Connect Four.
At that stage of the game, the timeout was much more important than whatever was discussed on the sideline with quarterback Joe Flacco, who must have been told to just chuck the ball deep down the right sideline to impressive rookie receiver Denzel Mims. That message couldn’t have been delivered from offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains to Gase to Flacco over the headsets?
Oh, isn’t it normal NFL practice to have a middle man relay play calls, you know, just to add a layer of confusion to the degree of difficulty? Keeps the boys sharp, right?
Gase asserted in his postgame press conference that he DID NOT take back play-calling responsibilities in the second half on Sunday, despite suddenly emerging from the locker room with the call sheet in his hand after having outsourced the duty to Loggains three games ago. No, Gase said Loggains was always calling the plays, with Gase communicating them to Flacco and using his veto power sparingly.
You’d think Gase would want to take credit there, as New York looked much sharper offensively than in a first half that saw the starting wide receivers, all of whom were active for just the second time this season, see just two targets, none of which were caught. Well, not including the one Chargers cornerback Tevaughn Campbell, who was cut by the Jets during training camp last season, took back six yards for a Chargers touchdown on Flacco’s first pass attempt of the day. The Jets went on to net a paltry 82 yards of total offense in falling behind, 24-6, at intermission.
Of course, the Jets script the first few series of plays in advance with Gase at least involved in the selection process. It’s not like he’d be blameless for a strategy based on L.A.’s expected coverages, of which Flacco said, “We felt like we could take some underneath guaranteed completions early in the game, and that didn’t happen.”
So, Flacco intimated that the Jets came out unprepared? What else is new?
In the second half, though, Gase dialed up deep shots galore. Mims, Breshad Perriman and even tight end Chris Herndon, who had yet another egregious drop in the second quarter, all caught balls with 20-plus yards of air distance. The Chargers, who had blown their last four games in which they held at least a 16-point lead, were in danger of another meltdown after the Jets took over with 2:48 remaining.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view towards The Tank), on Flacco’s final toss the ref looked hard at the hand-fighting between Mims and Campbell and saw nothing, ruling the pass incomplete.
With the lost timeout, the Jets were then powerless to stop Los Angeles from winding down the game clock to one second after punter Ty Long took off to the back of the Chargers’ end zone for a safety. Jets returner Braxton Berrios was tackled before he could even initiate a pitch on the ensuing free kick, keeping the Jets first in the race to the bottom.
The irony here is that Gase and Lynn are both trying their best to win these games. On Sunday, Gase just happened to be worse at his job, as he will be in the Jets’ last six games of a nightmare season.
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