Remember when the Jets’ goal, as stated by coach Adam Gase, was to play meaningful games in December? Well, forget about the final quarter of this season; Gang Green has yet to be competitive in the final quarter in any of their first three GAMES, with host Indianapolis becoming the latest Jets opponent to run it up with a 36-7 throttling on Sunday.
Gase isn’t even guaranteed to see this December’s games from New York’s sideline, if you believe the report from ESPN’s Chris Mortensen that the Jets’ brass is “monitoring this week closely” before making any decision on their coach.
Given the team’s current depths of despair, with a plethora of injuries preventing any hope for a rejuvenation by further depleting an already talent-deficient roster, I have to believe Gase’s days are numbered. The only question is timing: in-season or offseason.
New York will be working on a short week with a home tilt on Thursday versus similarly winless Denver, so the extra days before Week 5 would ease any transition needed should another disgraceful effort prove fatal for a coach who has already lost 10 times by double digits in 19 games at the helm. And, as opening lines go, Vegas has so much anti-confidence in the Jets that Gang Green is a three-point underdog – at home, on a short week, against an 0-3 team coming East, starting a backup QB.
Oddly enough, among the three no-shows this season, Gase may have been least culpable for Sunday’s defeat, as far as pinpointing particular actions that cost New York dearly. However, Gase’s communication skills, or lack thereof, again doomed a team that has clearly become fragile on his watch. Once Colts cornerback Xavier Rhodes, who already had a pick-six on the opening drive, snuffed a rare Jets trip into the red zone by picking off quarterback Sam Darnold for a second time, you could feel all the air empty out of Gang Green’s balloon.
Gase rarely talks to anyone in a Jets uniform during a game, mentioning in his postgame press conference that he needs to find out from Darnold tomorrow about what he saw on a second pick-six that put the Colts up 31-7 after three quarters. I mean, why bother coaching your supposed franchise quarterback during a game?
Darnold’s regression in his third season has been the most alarming trend of this disheartening campaign. None of Sunday’s interceptions could be pinned on a porous offensive line that lost budding rookie tackle Mekhi Becton (shoulder) near the end of the first half, replacement-level receivers not coming back to the ball, or unjustifiable Gase play calls. No, they were all on Darnold, who is looking more and more like a lost cause each week under this regime.
Sure, Darnold makes “wow” plays every so often, like his magical 8.4-second escape from pressure, per ESPN, before delivering a 16-yard strike to slot receiver Braxton Berrios that tied the game at 7-7. However, he has to be much more consistent in his reads, vision, and accuracy than what he shows on film.
That he isn’t, well, that’s Gase’s greatest failing, since he arrived with an undeserved reputation as a quarterback guru. When Gase was Denver’s offensive coordinator, he could give Peyton Manning carte blanche; in New York, he doesn’t trust Darnold enough to let him audible to a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-one.
Is Darnold salvageable? Maybe, but it’s doubtful that even an in-season coaching change will elevate his play enough to prevent the organization from exploring alternative quarterback options in the offseason, especially in the 2021 NFL Draft.
That’s why even though Gase’s demise can’t come soon enough for the majority of Jets fans, it’s not that simple if you’re on board with a tanking strategy to select Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, the consensus top QB prospect.
Play it out: Christopher Johnson finally sees the error in his Gase hire and sends him packing, along with offensive coordinator/challenge flag holder Dowell Loggains. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams takes over with running backs coach Jim Bob Cooter promoted to offensive coordinator, a position he held for three seasons in Detroit to varying degrees of success, and the Jets, galvanized by the changes, win a few meaningless games in a softer part of their schedule.
Congratulations, you just blew up the tank. We have seen this story play out before, meaningless late-season victories costing the Jets shots at better players at the tops of recent drafts.
So maybe keeping Gase on as a lame duck will better ensure a worse record, even though Williams hasn’t exactly inspired confidence through his work with this season’s defense, which has been just as dreadful as the offense and therefore much more disappointing. Still, Williams did go 5-3 down the stretch with a nearly-as-awful Browns club as the interim coach two years ago.
Jets fans I know come in two categories: those who have given up, and those who are fed up. So, where are you? Have you altered your routine to spend nice autumn Sundays outdoors, or are you like me, still sitting with clenched teeth each week, watching a product that has been gnawing at me for most of the last 50 years, especially the last decade that has transpired without any Jets playoff berths?
Is rooting for the Jets to do the bare minimum – i.e., not embarrass themselves every game – too much to ask? And is that the right question a fan should be asking at this stage?
Your answers will determine where you stand on the timing of Gase’s inevitable firing.
For a FAN’s perspective of the Nets, Devils and Jets, follow Steve Lichtenstein on Twitter: @SteveLichtenst1
