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Florham Park – As you know by now, Christopher Johnson told . . .
. . . reporters today that Adam Gase will not be fired now or after season.
“There will be no changes in coaches,” Johnson said Wednesday. “Adam has the trust of this team.”
This really is no surprise.
Gase being in trouble was a creation of some media and fans. That last sentence should not be perceived as a shot at those calling for his ouster. I am not judging them. All I’m saying is that the coach was never in trouble, and the angle that he was on the “hot seat” was created outside One Jets Drive.
While Gase clearly hasn’t done the best job this year, Johnson does make a salient point about the coach having the “trust of the team.”
Through this brutal Jets season, I have not heard one player, on or off-the-record, say a bad word about this coach.
Also, there have been no unnamed players ripping the coach to media outlets, even in media outlets where you see that stuff a lot.
That doesn’t necessarily make Gase a great coach. I’m just saying that his relationship with the team seems to be okay. I watch a lot of practices, and see his interaction with players all the time, and he seems to be doing well in the player relations department.
It remains to be seen if he’s the long-time answer for the Jets as their head coach, but you get the sense that the owners feels myriad injuries have contributed a great deal to the awful season.
You can chose to agree or disagree with that. My feeling is there are a lot teams in the league with tons of injuries. That is the nature of football.
I think the biggest problem with the 2019 Jets is dysfunction caused by firing a GM in mid-May after he ran the draft and free agency, and now having a GM and coach who aren’t enamored with the roster the old GM mainly put together. And honestly, there isn’t a lot to be enamored of.
It’s not a great roster. In fact, I didn’t consider the recent Miami Dolphins win over the Jets a big upset. You could make the argument the Dolphins gutted roster the Jets faced in South Florida two weeks ago really isn’t must worse than the current Jets’ roster.
That is how bad the Jets roster is, and that is why the recent decision by Joe Douglas, which was okay’d by Johnson, to proactively put players on IR, and start bringing in some new blood, makes sense.
The Jets are severely lacking at cornerback. It’s hard to mask that in a pass-happy league. Their pass rush is anemic. Don’t get too caught up in them beating backup Giants LT Eric Smith and reserve center Spencer Pulley. The Jets’ pass rushers rarely beat front-line starting offensive linemen.
It’s well-documented their offensive line isn’t great, and the quarterback, who has great potential, is still learning, which is understandable, since he’s only 22.
So this non-story has gone away, the story that Gase was in danger of losing his job.
It’s unclear if he’s the long-term answer, but he will get another year to show his wares.
While many Jets fans might not like this news, the thing they should be excited about is Douglas.
He’s a legit talent evaluator. Not a cap guy playing the part of a GM like the two recent GMs, or the last guy, who is a super-nice guy, but might’ve been over his head.
Douglas is a world-class talent evaluator.
What kind of coach can Gase be. Who knows? But he will get more than one year with the Jets to show what he can do, which wasn’t in question internally anyway.
November 13, 2019
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