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This is such a foolish narrative
Talking about people saying the Jets lost the Raiders game on purpose, by calling zero coverage on the game-winning TD pass to Henry Ruggs, to help them get Trevor Lawrence in the draft.
“This had nothing to do with Trevor Lawrence, they were trying to win the game,” said former NFL GM Mike Lombardi on VSIN. “It’s really coaching malpractice to the highest level.”
The Jets played their butts off. They definitely weren’t trying to loose the game. Some people were trying to sell that ridiculous narrative.
Lombardi wants to know why Gase didn’t intervene when he saw Gregg Williams call on the Ruggs’ TD.
“And nobody stops him – he’s narcissistic – seriously – your not bigger than the game,” said Lombardi.
Lombardi feels Williams calling that coverage, and then Gase not stopping him, was unfair to the Jets’ player.
“You owe it to the your players to help him them win,” Lombardi said. “That is your job as a coach and when your running zero coverage at that time of the game, you are not paying attention to the game. You can’t do that. There’s not a coach in America who would do that coverage, leave the middle of the field empty, and let a guy cover a speedster like Henry Ruggs with no help over the top. How dumb is that?”
Over the last couple of days, as this story had a chance to marinate, Gase is now getting almost as much blame, as Williams, for this dubious play call. Why didn’t he call a timeout when he saw they weren’t playing the right coverage for this situation?
Because he’s basically hands-off with defense. Clearly he needs to spend more time coaching the entire team, and not be so focused mainly on the offense.
“Adam Gase lets Gregg Williams make a call at the end of the game that effects 53 players on his team,” said Lombardi. “It’s his team and he lets Gregg Williams control it.”
If the Jets make a coaching change, it’s quite obvious they need to hire, not just an alpha dog, but a guy who will focus on the entire team, and not be so obsessed with one side of the ball.
“I’m looking for a guy whose going to walk into the room and say, ‘Here is what I want on offense, here is what I want on defense, here is what I want in the kicking game, and here are the kind of players I need to execute this plan.’ That’s called a head coach,” Lombardi said . . .
One other thing about “The Play.” While obviously it was a terrible play call, you also have to wonder why cornerback Lamar Jackson bit on on a double-move in the middle of the route, when the Raiders needed a deep touchdown to win.
“He takes the cheese on a double-move, which is unbelievable,” said one former NFL scout.
Once again, like I wrote the other day, Jackson should not be playing during his rookie year. He’s not an “instant coffee” prospect. He needed a red-shirt year on the practice squad. For him to be starting for the Jets is unfair to the kid. He’s not ready, and I’m not sure he’s a cornerback. I’d move him to safety. But the Jets missing on the “Indianapolis 3” forced them into a precarious situation at corner.
But with that being said, Jackson showed poor awareness, biting on that double-move in the middle of that route, when the only way the Raiders could win is to get in the end zone. That is bad situational football.
December 9, 2020
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