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.
