Not that he was long for the job anyway, but defensive coordinator Gregg Williams certainly accelerated his firing by inexplicably dialing up zero blitz with 13 seconds to go in Sunday’s loss to Las Vegas, a call so reckless many suspected the Jets lost on purpose to preserve their winless, 0-12 record (not the worst idea when the payoff is Trevor Lawrence). There wasn’t a safety in sight as Henry Ruggs waltzed into the end zone for the easiest six points of his career, taking Derek Carr’s pass the distance for a dramatic, 46-yard touchdown in the waning moments of the Raiders’ improbable, come-from-behind victory at MetLife Stadium.
That was the moment Adam Gase who, in all likelihood, is four games away from joining his former coordinator in unemployment, decided enough was enough, delivering an early Christmas gift to Williams by allowing him to get a head start on finding his next coaching assignment. In case there was any lingering uncertainty as to who broke the bad news, Gase claimed credit for canning Williams, explaining to reporters Monday how he arrived at that choice.
“I did,” said Gase bluntly when asked who made the decision to send Williams packing. After an uncomfortable silence followed, the surly head coach was tasked with deconstructing the game’s final sequence. Turns out, Gase was just as dumbfounded as the rest of us, watching in abject horror as Williams squashed any hope the Jets had of winning with his ill-advised blitz on third-and-10 (even Carr couldn't believe what he was seeing).
“I obviously wasn’t happy about that call. That was a heartbreaking way for our guys to lose a game,” said Gase, reopening the wound once more. “We can’t have that happen.”
Gase was more than happy to throw Williams under the bus for sending the house when a more conservative “prevent” alignment was what New York needed. And while Williams was off his rocker to think such a ludicrous scheme would work under those circumstances, Gase, as head coach, could have—and probably should have—overruled him. Instead, he sat back and let it happen.
“I wish I would have called timeout,” said Gase, lamenting the cataclysmic final play that may have cost New York its best chance of winning a game this season. Williams took the bullet this time, but Gase knows he’s running out of scapegoats as the Jets near the finish line of what has been a disastrous 2020.
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