New York Jets: Adam Gase – How to lose friends and alienate people

New York Jets head coach Adam Gase is taking the tough guy route with his team. Will that direction work or will it turn the locker room against him?

The New York Jets are in the process of proving once again they are not an NFL team but a performance art installation. First, they lose in large part to a missed extra point. Then their obviously rock-solid coach shows the buck stops with him by blaming his receivers for the teams poor offensive game.

Now Le’Veon Bell needs an MRI and Sam Darnold is out indefinitely with a disease that strikes thousands of teenagers at sleepaway camp. Are we sure Belichick didn’t give Demariyous Thomas a vial of mono to drop in the Jets locker room?

Gase, who has not been an offensive genius since Peyton Manning left his life, already seems overmatched. Most coaches would call out their receivers in the meeting room, not at a press conference. The coaches who do publicly blast their players typically have years of success and the respect of those players. All Gase did was antagonize his players, and created an opportunity for grumbling and dissension.

The other bad decision he made was to publicly absolve Sam Darnold for the offensive woes Gang Green suffered. He essentially told the world that his golden boy couldn’t be successful because his New York Jets teammates didn’t perform. Whether or not it’s true, which is debatable, removing accountability from the franchise quarterback at the expense of his teammates in the press is never a good decision.

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Gase’s irritation with the press about the kicking situation was also pretty ridiculous. He chose to let All-Pro kicker Jason Myers go, and is now reaping what was sowed. Look at the impact kickers teams have had over the last few years, it’s the same stupid cycle.

Teams that had a missed kick blow their season, sign a good kicker, have success, decide said kicker is too expensive and bring in a bunch of guys to replace him. Repeat cycle. Guess what coach Gase should expect that when the New York Jets went through four kickers in the preseason then lost to Buffalo because of a missed extra point, reporters are going to ask about it.

If there’s a silver lining its that the Gang Green was probably going to lose the next six games anyway. Darnold’s illness and Gase being Gase wasn’t going to really change anything. What happens when they hit the easier part of the schedule will say more about the team’s progress under their new head coach.

New York Jets ownership gave Gase a ton of power to shape this team. If it underachieves that will be on him. It’s worth keeping an eye on how the locker room responds to their coach and his public pronouncements.