Jets on Pats: We’ve got a long road
By all accounts, Adam Gase rarely chooses the path of least resistance even if it would be better for his mental health. So, it’s not entirely surprising that his message to Jets players at the start of offseason workouts was that he took the job because he wanted to beat the best team in the past two decades.
Gase’s desire to topple the Patriots dynasty once and for all is admirable. How many people would choose to take on Bill Belichick and Tom Brady twice a year?
“I like being in this division,” Gase said Tuesday at the start of the team’s voluntary minicamp. “I always have felt like you want to compete against the best… They’ve done this for a long time. And you know where you stand when you play those guys, and you compete against them twice a year, and you have to go head-tohead with them within the division against the same teams they’re playing. You find out where you are really fast.”
Gase, frankly, isn’t one to mince words. Sure, he’d like nothing better than to stick a fork in The Evil Empire, but it’s much easier said than done.
“My point to the whole thing is: We’re behind,” Gase said. “They got a big head start — multiple years, a decade-plus, almost two. So, we have to work. When we’re in the building, we have to do everything we can to keep getting better, because we’re playing catch-up.”
The reality, of course, is that it’s April. Words rarely matter, especially in April.
“We’re just getting started,” new left guard Kelechi Osemele said. “I don’t think we’re close at all (to) what they’re doing up there in New England. It’s going to take a lot of work. We’re just putting down the first brick. We’re just laying that foundation. It’s good to be together and work on that. And take it one play at a time, one step at a time and install it. But we’re kidding ourselves if we’re saying we’re caught up with New England. That’s why we’re getting these extra camp days in and reporting early. So we can lay that foundation down and catch up.”
The Patriots have ruled the NFL landscape for the better part of 21-year-old Sam Darnold’s life, which is ridiculous when you think about it.
“Tom and coach Belichick up there, they’ve been doing it for a while,” Darnold said. “It’s no secret that they’ve kind of got it wired down. They’ve been doing it for 19 or so years…. So, it’s always kind of chasing them, especially in this division… That’s the goal, but at the same time, it’s about us. What can we do to get better every single day?”