NOWHERE TO RUN
Former Steelers star Bell is being wasted under Adam Gase
Shame on us for believing Adam Gase might maximize Le’Veon Bell’s prodigious skills. The lost Jets head coach has succeeded in turning this dynamic player into just another mediocre piece to his losing puzzle.
Give Gase credit where it’s due: Marginalizing Bell is quite a feat.
His game plan in Gang Green’s embarrassing 22-6 loss to the Bengals Sunday should be FedExed to Canton. A portrait of such ineptitude must be under glass for generations to lampoon.
Gase spent the day after his latest of many embarrassing losses making more excuses to justify why he chose not to feature Bell against the NFL’s worst run defense even though he looked good in the few chances (five carries for 22 yards) that he actually had before halftime.
It’s no secret anymore that Gase never wanted Bell this offseason.
He privately pleaded with influencers through back-channels to state a case that the Jets didn’t need Bell with the desperate hope that ownership would be swayed. When that tack failed, Gase pulled a Gase by twisting the truth to create a personal escape hatch.
It’s not that I don’t want
Bell. I just don’t want to pay him a lot of money.
It was typical Gase, a fickle used car salesman with an ever-changing re- ality designed to insulate himself from future blame and/or responsibility.
Hey, I wouldn’t sign Bell, but if we do, I’ll coach the hell out of him.
If Bell flourished, Gase would gladly take the credit. If Bell flopped, the I-told-you-so police would be blaring on the coach’s behalf.
Listening to Gase discuss Bell’s struggles is equal parts nauseating and laughable. The coach hasn’t steered clear of featuring Bell out of spite. It’s just not in this guy’s DNA to lean on one player. Remember, his utopian offense would resemble a basketball team with five legitimate options to threaten defenses.
I thought Gase would have learned from mentor Mike Martz, who ran his entire Greatest Show on Turf offense through Marshall Faulk. Alas, I was duped.
Gase’s unyielding preference to spread the wealth has turned one of the game’s best dual threats into just another guy fighting for his slice of this Gotham Green pie.
It’s sad on many levels.
Bell, who has topped 20 carries in just one game this season, is wasting his final few years of elite play with this stubborn coach.
He’s averaging 82.7 total yards per game, a 36% reduction from his first five seasons (129 total yards). He’s averaging a career-low 3.2 yards per carry and hasn’t rushed for more than 70 yards in a game. He’s topped 50 rushing yards just five times and averaged more than four yards per carry in two games. The Jets will be amenable to trading Bell again this offseason, according to sources. (They’ll have to absorb part of the money owed to the player to have any realistic chance of moving him).
Gase insisted that “if we had more plays, there’s more runs” on Sunday. He also claimed that the 65-75 playcount mark each game would give Bell more chances to run. However, that’s not true.
Bell is averaging 20 touches per game – or 20% less than he did in his first five seasons with the Steelers. He actually has averaged fewer touches (19) in the three games that the Jets had at least 65 plays.
Gase’s offense has been every bit as slow as it was in Miami. He privately blamed Ryan Tannehill and other quarterbacks for finishing dead last in offensive plays per game in two of his three seasons with the Dolphins. So, what’s his excuse for the Jets ranking 31st in offensive plays per game (58.8)?
Give him time. He’ll eventually point fingers at everyone except the person attached to those fingers.
In the meantime, Gase insulted Bell Monday likely without even realizing it when asked about the veteran’s running style.
“On certain runs, he’s changed his style and hit it more downhill,” Gase said. “Especially in the last four or five games, he’s really done a good job of trying to make sure that we’re staying ahead of the sticks… For the most part, I feel like he has adjusted his running style to really benefit us to really keep us ahead of the sticks.”
Bell’s running style is rooted in finding the best — not always the first — available hole. It’s part of his greatness. To intimate that Bell was somehow hurting the team with that approach is ludicrous and unfair to a player who has accomplished much more in his career than Gase has ever done as a head coach.
“For us, it’s always about just doing what’s best for that game and the situation we’re in,” Gase said.
Great coaches create schemes to accentuate their players’ skillsets. It’s clear now that Bell has to conform to Gase, who spent all offseason telling us that his plan was “in pencil” when it was really etched in his blood.
He also privately whined about Bell skipping the voluntary offseason program, while publicly waxing poetic about him. Gase doesn’t have any real desire to feature Bell. Shame on us for thinking he might evolve and change.