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Perhaps somebody was tired of getting blamed for stuff they didn’t think was their fault:
ESPN’s Rich Cimini had a note in his Sunday column that went a little under the radar, but was very significant.
Adam Gase has been getting destroyed by fans and media for calling a wheel route to 37-year-old Frank Gore on a key third-and-four in the Jets’ loss to Denver. The play didn’t have a chance, due to Gore’s limited speed, and the airtight coverage of linebacker Josey Jewell.
Check out what Cimini wrote:
“Gase caught some flak for calling a wheel route to running back Frank Gore on a third-and-4 from the Denver 14 — incomplete. Actually, that wasn’t the call. (Sam) Darnold was supposed to look for wide receiver Chris Hogan, who was wide open over the middle at the 10. It would have been an easy first down. At times, Darnold still doesn’t see the field as well as he should.”
At the top of this article I wrote: “Perhaps somebody was tired of getting blamed for stuff they didn’t think was their fault.”
I’m sure many of you are assuming I’m blaming Gase for being the source of this information.
I’m not. How on earth would I know who gave this info to Cimini?
It’s reckless to guess who a writer’s source is.
It could be coach, personnel guy, a teammate, who knows?
But one thing I’m pretty sure about is that there are people getting tired of getting blamed for things that might be Sam Darnold’s fault.
There are so many people around Florham Park getting vilified by critics for their awful season.
And there is plenty of blame to go around.
The defense has been just as bad as the offense.
Something Troy Aikman said in the first half of the Jets’ loss to Denver put it perfectly.
“Right now, the Jets’ defense has been totally undisciplined,” Aikman said.
You can take out “right now” and apply this quote to the entire season.
It’s not just personnel fouls, but terrible gap control against the run, bad zone coverage in terms of passing guys off to other guys and so forth.
And on offense, while there have been line issues, receiver issues and play-calling issues at times this season, there have also been QB decision-making decisions, but due to Darnold’s popularity with so many fans and reporters, the latter has been mostly obscured.
So clearly somebody had enough, and let Cimini know that play wasn’t what it seemed.
Some people might call this “throwing Darnold under he bus,” but I don’t.
If you are a coach, a lineman, receiver, tight end, whatever, and you are getting trashed all the time for supposedly letting Sam down, at some point, might you reach your breaking point?
Remember, it’s possible to say that Gase isn’t doing the best job of play-calling, and also say that Darnold isn’t doing a good job of consistently going through his progressions and seeing the field well.
You can make both points.
The two concepts aren’t always interconnected.
October 5, 2020
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