Tag: Joe Douglas

Adam Gase called an awful game against the NFL’s worst run defense

Adam Gase should have featured Le’Veon Bell way more against the Bengals and their league-worst run defense.

Adam Gase invalidated all of his progress from the past three weeks with a horrendous gameplan against the worst defense in the league on Sunday.

Facing a team that allowed an average of 34 rushing attempts for 166.3 yards, the Jets mustered a measly 62 yards on 17 carries in their 22-6 loss to the Bengals. Le’Veon Bell only ran the ball 10 times while Gase opted to let Sam Darnold air out a career-high 48 passing attempts, a plan that netted the Jets only six points and zero trips inside the Bengals red zone.

It’s impossible to see inside the mind of Gase, but one has to wonder what he was thinking as he watched a Jets offense that put up 34 points in three consecutive games fail to score even one touchdown this week. It almost defies logic considering teams averaged 25.6 points against the Bengals. But there the Jets were, failing to establish the run and just chucking balls around the field. Drops proved deadly for multiple Jets drives but weren’t the reason they couldn’t score.

The Jets’ inability to run the ball is well documented. They entered the game ranked 26th in rushing attempts (251), 31st in yards per game (73.5) and 31st in yards per attempt (3.2). The offensive line has made it nearly impossible for Bell and other running backs to find any space or lanes to run this season, but that shouldn’t have precluded Gase from exploiting the opposing defense’s biggest weakness.

The Jets’ 62 rushing yards we the fewest against the Bengals have allowed since Week 4, and Bell was arguably the best running back the Bengals faced all season. This was the perfect opportunity for the Jets to feature Bell more than they have this year. Yet, Gase decided against it, something Bell said he was “not surprised” by after seeing the Jets run the ball only nine times out of 37 first-half plays.

“That ain’t what happened today,” Bell said when asked about why the Jets didn’t run more. “We gotta deal with what happened and move forward.”

Bell publically admitted weeks ago that he wasn’t happy with Gase’s decision to not feature him more often. Well, after a game when Bell absolutely should have been fed, he should be even more unhappy with his coach.

Gase tried to explain after the game why he kept calling passing plays by saying “that’s just how the game was going.” But by saying that, Gase is implying the Jets needed to gain yards fast to keep up with the Bengals because of a big deficit when in reality the Jets were within 11 points of the lead until late in the third quarter.

Everyone on the Jets roster backed Gase after the Jets’ offensive explosion over the past few weeks. No one questioned the gameplan Sunday, even after falling to a second winless team this season. They’ll claim the team just didn’t execute or penalties negated big runs – both of which are true statements. The Jets had a few big running plays – including a 23-yarder by Bell – taken away by careless penalties. But that shouldn’t excuse a gameplan that inexplicably leaned on bad passes instead of smart runs.

“We did a good job running the ball,” left tackle Kelvin Beachum told the New York Daily News. “I felt that we had a good plan coming into the game. At the end of the day, we have to go and execute what’s called. But looking back at it, we just got to find a way to have a couple more explosive runs.”

The way to have more explosive runs? Create blocking schemes that allow for that instead of running up the middle with a mediocre offensive line. Bell isn’t the problem – we know his skillset. The offensive line definitely is an issue, but even teams with bad lines find ways to get good runs.

It’s on Gase to find a way to run well. If he can’t figure it out against the worst run defense in the league with one of the best running backs in football, there’s no reason to believe he can do it at all.

Jets in danger of falling out of top 10 in 2020 NFL draft

the Jets are in danger of falling out of the top 10 in the 2020 NFL draft after picking up three straight wins.

While it’s great to see that the Jets are stringing together a few wins, it’s also hurting their position in the 2020 NFL draft.

According to Tankathon, the 4-7 Jets currently own the tenth pick in the 2020 draft. The Jets are one of four teams who are 4-7, but only one of them is ahead of them and that’s the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars are ahead of the Jets because they beat the Jets earlier this season.

The Jets have plenty of holes to fill, including offensive line, wide receiver and cornerback. The draft is where you tend to fix these holes. So while the winning is nice, more likely than not they’re not going to make the playoffs and their primary focus will be on the draft.

Christopher Johnson has already said that Adam Gase will be back next season, so losing won’t put his job in jeopardy. Meanwhile, Joe Douglas was just brought in this year, so he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

Obviously, the players on the field want to win, so they aren’t going to tank just for a draft pick. The next couple of the games should work in the Jets’ favor too, which again will hurt their draft stock.

But this team needs some sort of confidence heading into 2020. Ending the season on a sour note won’t be good for next season. More likely than not the Jets won’t fall too far down in the draft even with a couple of more wins.

What could a Jamal Adams extension look like?

Jamal Adams will want to be the highest-paid safety in NFL history, and the Jets can’t afford to wait to sign him if they want to keep him.

If Christopher Johnson really wants Jamal Adams to be a Jet for life, he’s going to have to pony up a lot of cash to keep Adams in New York.

Though the Jets control Adams through the 2021 season if they pick up his fifth-year option, they’d be apt to offer him an extension sooner rather than later, both as a show of good faith after a chaotic year and because of the potential price tag he could command in two years.

Adams is currently the 18th highest-paid safety with the $22.2 million rookie deal he signed in 2017 after the Jets took him sixth overall, but he will soon earn a much bigger salary. The Jets have three options with Adams: They can sign him to a contract extension at any point after this season, pick up his fifth-year option by May 3, 2020, or do nothing and let him play out the final year of his contract and let him hit free agency at the end of the 2020 season.

The Jets should take the first option if they truly believe Adams is the face of their franchise and the future of their defense. 

What would it take to sign Adams to a long-term deal? Well, you’d have to look at the two record-setting contracts signed by safeties Landon Collins and Kevin Byard last offseason. Collins signed a six-year, $84 million contract with the Redskins in March that included $44.5 million in guaranteed money. With an average annual salary of $14 million, he became the highest-paid safety in the NFL until Byard signed a five-year, $70.5 million extension with the Titans in July that included $31 million guaranteed and will pay him an average of $14.1 million annually.

Byard’s yearly salary is the starting point for Adams’ contract extension. In all likelihood, Adams would want somewhere close a $15 million annual salary, which isn’t completely unthinkable given Adams’ play of late.

The Jets also can’t afford to wait longer than this offseason to extend Adams because of the other safeties in line for massive deals.

If the Jets exercised Adams’ fifth-year option today, it would cost around $11.81 for the 2021 season. Since Adams was a top-10 pick, his option is calculated by taking the average of the top 10 safety salaries. That $11.81 million number could increase if another safety signs a deal that vaults him into the top 10.

That’s below anything Adams would ask for in a contract extension this winter, but by pushing the Jets’ deadline to sign Adams long-term by another season it could potentially raise the floor well for Adams if other safeties sign bigger deals.

The three names Joe Douglas will have to watch if he plays the waiting game are the Vikings’ Harrison Smith, the Bears’ Eddie Jackson and the Chargers’ Derwin James. Smith is up for an extension after the 2021 season when he’ll turn 32, so the odds of him setting the market price are low. James is already one of the best safeties in the league but also isn’t eligible for a new deal until after the 2021 season unless the Chargers exercise his fifth-year option where he’ll have to wait until after 2022. 

The price could go up for Adams if the Jets wait for Jackson’s impending deal.

Jackson is two years older than Adams and much more of a ballhawk, but he’s also one of the best safeties in the league and could easily sign a bigger deal than Byard and Collins as early as this offseason. If the Bears choose to extend Jackson before the Jets extend Adams, it could massively affect Adams’ asking price down the road.

The Jets shouldn’t wait for any of these dominos to fall. Getting Adams locked up before the market resets will be crucial to Joe Douglas’ ability to remake the roster and keep Adams at the same time. He’ll have at minimum $46.4 million to spend in 2020, and that’s before he inevitably cuts other contracts for overpaid players like Trumaine Johnson.

Yes, spending upward of $15 million per year on a safety is a massive risk for the Jets given the holes in various other positions on the roster. But for someone like Adams, it’s worth it given his performance this year. The Jets won’t just be paying for an incredible defensive back, but they’ll be paying for a top-flight pass rusher as well.

Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams has been able to unlock Adams’ versatility both in coverage and as a pass rusher. He’s blitzed Adams at multiple positions on the field – edge, safety, cornerback – which helped Adams notch five sacks the past two weeks (six on the season) and put him on pace to break the NFL record for most sacks by a defensive back (eight).

According to Next Gen Stats, Adams blitzed an average of 5.2 times per game over the first eight games of the season. Adams lined up as an edge rusher 14 times against the Redskins, rushed 13 times and finished with a 26.4 pass-rush win percentage, per Pro Football Focus. On the season, he ranks first among defensive backs in blitzes (55) and quarterback pressures (12). Though he only has one interception on the season, Adams has broken up six passes and allowed a completion percentage of 53.8 percent and a passer rating of 78.7 when targeted.

Retaining Adams will come at a hefty price, but it will be worth it to preserve the closest thing the Jets have to a superstar. Generational defensive talents don’t come around often and the Jets would be wise to lock theirs up for the foreseeable future.

Adam Gase mum when asked why Ryan Kalil landed on injured reserve

Adam Gase doesn’t say much when asked why Ryan Kalil was placed on injured reserve.

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It was originally thought that Ryan Kalil would be back this season. Then the team placed him on injured reserve.

Kalil was placed on IR with a knee injury ahead of the Jets’ game with the Redskins on Sunday. However, on Friday, Adam Gase sounded pretty confident that Kalil would return this season and ensured reporters that he didn’t suffer any setbacks.

When asked about the change of plans and IR decision on Monday, Gase didn’t have much to say.

“That was just a decision that was made,” he said. “I don’t really have any further details on that.”

It seems like the Jets had seen enough of Kalil. He clearly wasn’t what the Jets expected when they signed him back in July. With a late start in training camp and him missing every preseason game, Kalil was never able to gel with his fellow linemen.

All in all, the Jets paid him $6.7 million for seven games.

As for his replacement, Jonotthan Harrison has slid back into the starting role quite nicely. The offensive line play has picked up over the last couple games and Gase is liking what he sees from Harrison.

“Jonotthan’s done well the last couple of games,” Gase said. “Really it’s just picking up where he left off. His knowledge of the offense is greater than what it was when we first started in the spring. He’s done a good job of playing fast and his communication has been outstanding.”

For Harrison, this is his chance to prove that he can be the starting center going forward. He’s under contract for one more season but has no guaranteed money left. Joe Douglas has already tried to move on from him once by bringing in Kalil, so it will interesting to see what Douglas will do with Harrison in the offseason.

Jets place C Ryan Kalil on season-ending injured reserve

Joe Douglas’ gamble on Ryan Kalil did not pay off as the veteran center’s Jets career will end after only making seven starts.

Former Pro Bowl center Ryan Kalil came out of retirement to help galvanize the Jets offensive line and serve as a mentor to Sam Darnold. None of that really played out the way anyone hoped, though.

Kalil’s season ended Saturday when the Jets placed the veteran offensive lineman on season-ending injured reserve.

Kalil attempted to return to practice this week after injuring his knee in the Jets’ 29-15 loss to the Jaguars in Week 8. Jonotthan Harrison will take over as the starter, as he has for the past two weeks.

GM Joe Douglas made Kalil his first big-ticket free agency signing, hoping that Kalil would provide some leadership to the Jets offensive line. That didn’t sit well with the rest of the Jets offensive linemen, who had grown accustomed to working with Harrison.

Kalil was never able to return to his Carolina form and struggled to build chemistry with the rest of the room. Rather than serve as a stabilizing force on the line, Kalil had clearly lost a step and only hurt New York’s efforts in the trenches.

Douglas’ first gamble was costly, as the Jets will end up paying Kalil $6.7 million.

To take Kalil’s roster spot, the team signed OL Leo Koloamatangi off the practice squad.

Quincy Enunwa upset with Jets after being fined for missing treatment

The Jets have another angry player mad for how the team is handling his injury. This time it’s wide receiver Quincy Enunwa.

Add Quincy Enunwa to the list of injured Jets angry with the organization.

Enunwa, who’s been on injured reserve with a neck injury since mid-September, posted a series of angry tweets directed at the Jets for fining him $27,900 for missing two injury treatments.

Enunwa later specified that he only missed those treatments because he was taking his wife, Deanna, out for Veteran’s Day lunch and because he had a family emergency. Deanna Enunwa served in the U.S. Army from 2007-2010, according to her LinkedIn account.

“The biggest reason it hurts is that I’m on IR for the second time in my career and the doctor told me I have a 50/50 chance of coming back to play,” Enunwa later tweeted. “I shouldn’t even HAVE to be in that building being reminded every day of what I can’t do.

“This s—- feels like punishment already and then they FINE me the max. And then want me to continue to do my rehab there and IF I get healthy they want me to then play for them after.”

Enunwa says he only posted the tweets because multiple teammates told him it’s “f—-ed up” that the Jets are fining him for missing treatments.

This isn’t the first time the Jets have been less than hospitable to their injured players. Lest we forgot the Kelechi Osemele injury debacle in which the Jets denied the guard surgery for a torn labrum, fined him for missing practice and ultimately cut Osemele for getting surgery on his own. Osemele filed a grievance against the Jets before they cut him. Shortly after that, quarterback Luke Falk also filed a grievance against the team for cutting him after he suffered a hip injury that required surgery.

Joe Douglas is less than six months into his tenure as the Jets general manager and he already has three bad injury situations on his ledger. Not only are all three a terrible look for the Jets organization, but the pattern means there is definitely something wrong with the front office’s ability to deal with injuries.

Enunwa signed a four-year, $36 million contract extension with the Jets last offseason, and the Jets need to do right by a player who has battled multiple injuries since being drafted in the sixth round of 2014 draft.

5 reasons why Jets won’t fire Adam Gase after 2019

Jets Wire breaks down four reasons New York has for keeping Adam Gase in 2020.

Adam Gase is going to get another chance to get things right at One Jets Drive in 2020.

Christopher Johnson reaffirmed his faith in Gase on Wednesday, stating that there would be no head coaching change at season’s end. Gase will return.

Between Sam Darnold’s regression and numerous embarrassing losses in winnable games, Jets fans have been calling for Gase’s head for a while now. It seems like there is an endless list of reasons why New York should part ways with its embattled first-year head coach. However, there are still a few reasons why Gase returning in 2020 makes sense.

Let’s take a look at what those reasons could be.

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6 takeaways from Christopher Johnson’s Wednesday comments

What did Jets acting CEO Christopher Johnson say on Wednesday? Here are the Jets Wire’s six takeaways.

Christopher Johnson ended his media hiatus Wednesday to deliver an unsurprising bit of news.

Johnson announced that Adam Gase will return as the team’s head coach in 2020 despite his failings thus far. Gase has gone 2-7 and Sam Darnold has struggled under his direction. Instead of listening to reactionary fans, though, Johnson will stick with Gase next season — for better or worse.

Gase, however, was not the only subject Johnson spoke about when he met with reporters. With that said, here are six takeaways from his Wednesday press conference.

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Christopher Johnson makes it official: Adam Gase will return in 2020

Christopher Johnson confirmed with reporters on Wednesday that Adam Gase would return as head coach for the 2020 season.

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After months of absence, Christopher Johnson finally addressed the media on Wednesday.

In doing so, he made major headlines. The Jets CEO made it clear that Adam Gase will return as the team’s head coach in 2020. Gase is not in jeopardy of being fired; instead, he has Johnson’s confidence.

Johnson said he told the team last week that Gase would return despite outside noise of there being a potential coaching change. He also spoke with some players about the decision one on one. Gase is 2-7 in his first season as the Jets head coach. Johnson, however, has not wavered in his support for his first head coaching hire despite some frustrations.

“I want to assure you there will be no changes in coaches here,” Johnson told reporters. “Adam has the trust of this team. He has the trust of Sam. He has Joe’s trust. He has my trust. He’s a good man. He’s a good coach.”

Johnson is understandably frustrated with the team’s progress or lack thereof through nine games but has shown the utmost support for his new regime. He still believes the future is bright.

“There’s a lot of work to do,” he said. “There’s a great deal of work to do. Everyone understands that and we’re just getting started. But I feel really good about this team moving forward.”

The relationships that Gase has built in the building with Sam Darnold and Joe Douglas have not gone unnoticed and played a big part in the decision to bring Gase back next season. He is not solely keeping Gase for Darnold’s sake, but it was a major component in his decision making.

“It’s absolutely important, but that’s not why I’m keeping Adam,” Johnson said of Darnold. “That’s certainly a component. Changing systems year after year is a disaster for a young quarterback, especially.”

As for Gase and Douglas, Johnson said, “Seeing him work with Joe, it’s a whole new dynamic in this building. It’s a really positive dynamic. They have the same vision for this team going forward.”

Jamal Adams is Jets Wire’s Player of the Game vs. Giants

Jamal Adams was a man on a mission in the Jets’ second win of the season, a 34-27 victory over the Giants Sunday.

Jamal Adams was a man on a mission in the Jets’ second win of the season, a 34-27 victory over the Giants Sunday.

Adams was flying around the football field all day. He had nine total tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, one pass defense and a defensive score. For his performance, Adams is Jets Wire’s Player of the Game for Week 10 of the regular season.

The Pro Bowl safety said earlier in the week that this game had a little extra meaning to it given it was the battle of New York. But he was on a completely different level in this game. It seemed everywhere the football went, he was there, too.

One of those plays came on a strip-sack of Giants quarterback Daniel Jones. Adams was coming in hot on a blitz and obliterated Saquon Barkley before getting to Jones and ripping the ball out his hands to take it to the house for a touchdown. Right before that drive, Adams told Adam Gase that he was going to create a turnover on that drive, Turns out he was right.

You don’t see many safeties with Adams’ playing style. He’s brilliant around the line of scrimmage and is solid in pass coverage, too. Most safeties only have one of those qualities, but Adams is a one of a kind player.

It definitely felt like a weight was lifted off of Adams’ shoulder after the dispute he had with the front office over the last couple of weeks. Adams finally spoke to both Joe Douglas and Gase about his name being brought up in trade rumors and cleared the air with both parties. The noise finally calmed down around him and he went out and balled.

He’s clearly the leader of this defense and there’s no way to envision him not on it. His play on Sunday continued to show why he is in the elite category at his position.