NINER JV JUST TOO MUCH Gase’s crew falls flat against SF subs
Abillion words raced through every Jet diehard’s mind during Adam Gase’s latest performance Sunday.y Brilliant was not one of them.
A few days after acting owner Christopher Johnson hurled more verbal bouquets at his losing hand-picked coach, reality stared back with an incredulous chuckle.
Gase looked lost yet again in an embarrassing 31-13 rout to the injury-ravaged 49ers, prompting fair concerns about whether
Sam Darnold will suffer irreparable harm with extended exposure to this guy.
Gase followed an inept Week 1 offensive performance with a headscratching strategy that predictably failed. Dinking-and-dunking and leaning on a 37-year-old running back isn’t going to beat a Pee Wee squad let alone an NFL opponent.
Gase fell to 30-36 as an NFL head coach with his 29th double-digit loss.
He’s lost by at least two touchdowns a staggering 24 times — or 36% of his games coached.
“I’m (ticked) off rightg now,” Gase said after the latest debacle. “That s— is no fun, going out there and getting your ass beat.”
Imagine how the green-and-white faithful who have endured this steady stream of unwatchable slop must feel. Gase dialed up a distinctly Gase-ian plan that emitted a malodorous air, while his counterparts on the other sideline ran circles around his club. Kyle Shanahan, who’s actually a brilliant offensive mind, ran circles around the Jets with his de facto JV unit.
The 49ers, beset by injuries before kickoff, had a litany of new ailments pop up during the game. San Francisco managed to dominated Gase’s team despite losing its quarterback, top running back and two stud defensive linemen. Shanahan already rolled into MetLife Stadium without his All-Pro tight end, two starting wide receivers, future Hall of Fame cornerback and starting cornerback.
It’s a wonder Shanahan and defensive coordinator Robert Salah didn’t suit up themselves to make up for all the significant losses. Instead, they outcoached the home team from the start. They played to win. It’s unclear what Gase’s motivation was given that he was unimaginative and conservative against the reigning NFC champs.
Gase might have fooled the people that he needed to land his second bite at the head coaching apple, but objective observers know a charlatan when he stares them in the face week after painful week. Although it’s unfair to pin the Jets’ second consecutive loss solely on Gase, let’s not pretend that he was absolutely terrible again.
Gase’s penchant for passes one or two yards beyond the line of scrimmage on third and long must stop. His
insistence not to play to Darnold’s strengths must stop. He laughable awful production must stop.
“We need to get better fast,” Gase said. How many more times do we need to hear that before we summarily dismiss it as white noise?
Gase is a master at talking a good game.
But he fails to deliver over and over and over again.
His play-calling was simply not good enough.
His decision-making was maddening. Why on God’s Green Earth would you kick a field goal when trailing 24-3 with less than three minutes left in the third quarter on 4th and goal from the 7?
“There’s not a ton of great plays on 4th and 7 when you’re playing that defense,” insisted Gase, evidently without realizing that San Francisco was without five defensive starters at that point.
“Just trying to get points,” Gase continued. “Just try to get something going. Get some kind of… a little bit of positive juices flowing with our guys. If we would have come away there with no points… It’s frustrating to get down there and not get any points. Just try to get three. Get something going. Get our guys rolling a little bit.”
Gase’s response was nonsensical by every objective measure. Sam Ficken’s 25-yard field goal still kept it a threepossession game. You didn’t need an abacus to figure that out.
One week after Gase’s offense averaged 4.8 yards per play, it dropped to 4.5 yards per play. Jets running backs averaged 3.3 yards per carry for a second consecutive week.
Darnold threw for 103 yards in the first 10 drives before picking up 76 yards and his only touchdown when the game was long over.
“There were just little details here and there that cost us,” Darnold said.
But it was more than simply that. Much more.
The Jets have a massive problem that isn’t going away. The coach isn’t getting any better. And everyone is suffering because of it. Brilliant? Stop insulting people’s intelligence.