Williams’ defense deserves credit for Jets’ turnaround
Dave Gettleman finally admitted Thursday on 98.7 ESPN New York’s The Michael Kay Show that he initially tried to win and rebuild the Giants simultaneously.
And that’s why the franchise is still in shambles.
“This is where I’m culpable, OK?” Gettleman said. “I came into it, and I thought that we could do both at the same time. And I was wrong … I made a miscalculation. I’m being very upfront about it. I thought we could do on the day his contract expires, Jan. 14.
But right now the only true candidates are those coming in for interviews. And McCarthy, the former Super Bowl champion with a 125-77-2 (.618) career regular season record, is next.
‘I’LL BUY YOU DINNER, DAVE’
Two important Gettleman exchanges from his Thursday radio tour:
1. Gettleman told WFAN host Joe Benigno, a wellknown Jets fan, that he wanted to know how Benigno felt both at the same time. And it didn’t work out that way.”
Gettleman also admitted his belief that Eli Manning had years of good football left was “part” of why he tied to do both at once beginning in 2018.
Fortunately for Gettleman, he is getting a mulligan, while the fired Pat Shurmur and at least a good portion of his coaching staff take the fall for the club’s 9-23 record during that time.
Great job security if you can get it. when the Giants acquired Leonard Williams. He was clearly expecting Benigno to be disappointed the Jets traded Williams. He was wrong.
“Dave. I’ll buy you dinner, Dave,” the WFAN host said, adding he was tired of Williams almost getting to the quarterback.
Gettleman laughed and responded: “Ya know what? He who laughs last.”
2. On ESPN, Gettleman said that he was not responsible for Shurmur’s firing as coach. Gettleman said that decision came “from above,” a.k.a. ownership.
Adam Gase’s offense was an unmitigated disaster by every metric this season, prompting folks to wonder exactly why anyone should believe that this head coach will reverse course in 2020.
Although the Jets brain trust has publicly leaned on the team’s 6-2 finish as Exhibit A for hope, a closer look reveals that Gang Green’s defense – the segment of the team that Gase has little or no input on – was the driving force behind the second-half success.
“I have to go back and look through to see how we were during the final (eight) games where those offensive ranks were,” general manager Joe Douglas said this week. “Because I’ve got to imagine they dramatically improved from the first half of the year.”
The reality is that the Jets made significant improvement on only one side of the ball. Gregg Williams deserves virtually all the credit for the Jets’ second-half turnaround after a 1-7 start.
Consider the leaps for his unit from the first half of the season. Williams’ group improved from 17th in total defense at the midpoint of the season to finish seventh. His run defense was sixth in the league through eight games. Gang Green finished second.
The Jets managed to improve from the 24th pass defense through eight games to 17th despite a hodge-podge of cornerbacks.
It gets better.
The Jets defense remarkably jumped from 20th in first downs allowed at the halfway point to finish seventh. Gang Green’s defense also improved in third-down efficiency (26th to 17th) and points allowed (25th to 16th). They led the NFL in rushing yards per attempt after eight games before finishing tied for the league lead. So, Williams’ defense improved in the league rankings in six key categories and remained No. 1 in another.
That’s great coaching. Meanwhile, Gase’s offense made marginal improvement or went backward in league rankings in eight key categories.
The Jets were dead last in yards per game and yards per play through eight games. They finished the season dead last in both categories.
Gase’s group got worse in rushing yards per game (30th to 31st) and rushing yards per attempt (29th to tied for 32nd ) rankings from the midpoint of the season to the end of it.
Gase saw slight improvement in some areas. Consider: Gang Green was 32nd in first downs per game through eight games. They improved to 31st in the rankings by season’s end. Not exactly something to write home to mom about.
The Jets were 32nd in third-down efficiency at the halfway point of the season. They finished 31st.
Gang Green was tied for last in scoring after eight games. They finished 31st.
The largest jump in the rankings came through the air. The Jets were 32nd in passing through eight games. They finished 29th.
Gase apologists, who refuse to use data for games that didn’t include Sam Darnold, should accept reality. The Jets finished 29th in total yards and 26th in scoring in 13 games with Darnold.
Gase’s offense finished 31st in Football Outsiders’ DVOA efficiency metric. Only the Bengals had fewer offensive touchdowns than the Jets.
It’s troubling that Gase’s offense couldn’t make significant strides given the weak schedule in the second half of the season. The Jets faced teams that were 68-60 (.531 winning percentage) in the first half of the season. Opponents had a 53-75 record (.414 winning percentage) in the second half of the season.
Gase has been the architect of the 24th, 25th, 31st and 32nd ranked offenses in his four seasons as a head coach. That emits a malodorous air.
The 2019 Jets were worse than the 2018 Jets in virtually every offensive category, while overachieving on defense. Williams dealt with more impactful injuries even if he never whined about it.
“The plan is to create the best culture in sports,” Douglas said. “It’s a self-sustaining entity where professionalism, leadership… is transferred from one generation of players to the next. You see that in every great team. Every great team has that culture. That’s what we’re going to try to create here. What’s it going to take? It’s going to take people with the right level of commitment, character and competence.”
It’s also going to take great play-calling. The defense is in good hands.
The same can’t be said about the other side of the ball.