The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Time to change play-calling duties?
Gase should take over for OC Loggains after loss to Bills
JETS at CHIEFS
He relinquished his professional identity in a final act of desperation.
It predictably didn’t work.
Adam Gase had patrolled sidelines coast to coast for 124 consecutive regularseason and playoff games, proving his worth and feeding his ego.
Consistent and repeated failures prompted him to reach for a lifeline Sunday, ask for help and keep his fingers crossed that maybe, just maybe, his trusted old pal might save him. Alas, Adam Gase went home a loser again after the Jets fell 18-10 to the Bills at MetLife Stadium.
The Jets head coach gaveup play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, but it didn’t matter. The 0-7 Jets remain the only winless team in the NFL.
Where do you turn when your final desperate act crashes and burns? What can you possibly do for an encore?
“It’s different,” Gase said of giving up play-calling duties for the first time since the Broncos handed him the keys as offensive coordinator in 2013. “It’s definitely different.”
Gase deserves some credit to try to jump-start a broken offense by trying something new. But it surely stung.
Gase was hired specifically because of his offensive acumen. He got a second bite at the head coaching apple to turn Sam Darnold into a star.
Sunday, 1 p.m. (CBS)
He identifies himself as an offensive play-caller.
Truth be told, he does little else well as a coach. He doesn’t inspire, galvanize or motivate players. He’ll never led by example unless that example is how not to inspire, galvanize or motivate.
Play-calling is all he has in the NFL. That’s who he is.
So, it was a surprise that Gase transferred play-calling power to attempt to lift an offense that was circling the drain in virtual every category. Six days after Gase claimed that he wasn’t close to giving up play-calling duties, he did just that, furthering the notion that what he says and what he does have always been two very different things.
“I got a couple of other things I got to really sort through offensively before we make any kind of decisions whatsoever on stuff like that,” Gase said on October 19 about whether he would consider give up play-calling. “That’s like Step 10 right now and we’re on Step 2.”
Well, Gase must have gone into hyperdrive. He opted to let Loggains, who has prior play-calling experience, give it a try.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while,” Gase said Sunday after supposedly being eight steps away just six days earlier. “Just trying to figure out what’s going on and how come we’re not consistent (and) productive. All the situations you’re looking through every week. Just felt like it was the time to do it and see how our guys would respond. And see what our offense staff could put together.”
Loggains did a solid job on the first three drives that reached the red zone before going into a deep freeze. The Jets had more plays on the first two drives (23) than on the final six (22). Gang Green racked up 15 first-half first downs before picking up just two after intermission. Loggains’ offense had a grand total of four yards on 16 plays in the second half.
“They made some good adjustments,” said Sam Darnold, who went 12 for 23 for 120 yards, two interceptions and a 31.1 passer rating in his first game back after missing two games with a shoulder injury. “We’ve just got to adjust to their adjustments. We got to beat man coverage and protect. I got to throw accurate footballs. And that’s it.”
Darnold completed 11 for his first 13 passes for 116 yards before going 1-for-10 for four yards and two interceptions the rest of the game. Darnold was sacked six times and hit 10 behind a new offensive line that is producing a lot like the old one
Meanwhile, Gase claimed not to be an overbearing presence to the play-caller. In other words, he wanted to make it clear that this latest mess was a Dowell Loggains Production.
“During the week, we talked through a lot of stuff,” Gase said. “It’s a fine line when you do this. I didn’t want them feeling like I was hovering over it like, ‘Run this and do this.’ I wanted him to feel comfortable to where he could call it the way that he felt like it needed to be called.”
“Obviously, I made suggestions on certain things both during the week, in practice and today,” Gase continued. “But I tried to put myself in his shoes as far as somebody chirping all the time. So, I wanted him to just be able to call the game without worrying about what I was going to say.”
Loggains helped the Jets take a 10-0 lead midway through the second quarter — their first double-digit advantage since they beat the Bills’ backups in Week 17 last year — but it didn’t last. The Bills’ chipped away one field goal at a time before Gase fell to 7-16 as the HC of the NYJ.
The Jets finished with a season-low 190 total yards and 3.7 yards per play en route to losing to an opponent that committed 11 penalties for 106 yards.