The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Jets take positive step, but there’s plenty more to do
NEW YORK — Sam Darnold is well aware of all the frustrated fans out there, unhappy with the New York Jets’ disappointing start and calling for Adam Gase’s job.
A victory over the lowly Giants on Sunday might have tempered all the venom — for now.
But the Jets quarterback made it clear he supports his coach, and he’s not alone.
“He’s great. There’s no flinch in him,” Darnold said of Gase after the 3427 win. “I think that kind of ripples throughout the team. When you’ve got a head coach that’s just going to continue to work no matter what the circumstances are, no matter what people are saying about him, that’s a really good thing.”
Gase is 27 in his first season as coach of the Jets, and the team hit rock bottom last week after a loss to previously winless Miami — the team that fired him
after last season.
Many Jets fans have taken to social media and sports radio to express their disgust, urging team chairman and CEO Christopher Johnson to make a coaching change just eight games in. One group even received enough donations to finance a banner that flew behind a plane over Manhattan earlier in the week with the simple message: “Fire Adam Gase Now.”
For whatever Gase’s shortcomings are perceived to be with his coaching — game planning, clock management, helping Darnold improve — there also has been a massive amount of injuries to key players and a lack of roster depth from the previous regime. It has all contributed to the struggles, and the Jets insist they can rise above it.
“We block it out,” safety Jamal Adams said. “We go to work each day, we come out here and have fun. We practice and we came out here and showed it.”
Darnold declared after the game that if the Jets win the rest of their games, they will be squarely in the playoff picture.
It might seem like a silly statement, and a pipe dream, at best. But only one of the Jets’ next four opponents —
Washington (18), Oakland (54), Cincinnati (09) and Miami (27) — has a winning record.
The bottom line is this: It took just one win for the optimism to return from the abyss where it headed in a hurry.
WHAT’S WORKING
Run defense. The Jets held the Giants to just 23 yards rushing on 17 carries, highlighted by Saquon Barkley gaining a careerlow 1 yard on 13 attempts.
WHAT NEEDS HELP
The cornerbacks. Against the Giants, the Jets started Nate Hairston and Arthur Maulet and they also had problems, so much so that rookie Bless Austin — making his NFL debut — ended up playing for the benched Hairston in the second half.
STOCK UP
Jordan Jenkins. The outside linebacker had two sacks against the Giants, giving him a teamleading five in seven games this season.
STOCK DOWN
Le’Veon Bell. After gaining just 34 yards on 18 carries — a 1.9 average — Bell has just 449 yards on the season with a 3.1 average, which would rank as the lowest of his career.
INJURED
Gase delivered the news Monday that tight end Chris Herndon has a broken rib and right guard Brian Winters has a dislocated shoulder, and both could miss the rest of the season.
NEXT STEPS
The Jets will look to make it two in a row Sunday at Washington.