New York Jets HC Adam Gase deflects blame in press conference

New York Jets head coach Adam Gase struggled in his press conference Wednesday afternoon, deflecting blame onto his players.

The New York Jets have struggled to open up the season. They’ve gone 0-2, losing both games by double digits. It’s widely believed that they are the worst team in football. Under normal circumstances, the head coach would take some responsibility, but Adam Gase hasn’t.

He’s seemingly blamed everyone else for the team’s fault but himself. At halftime of the Buffalo Bills game, he blamed the defense, despite the offense only putting up three points. He’s also blamed the players for their inability to execute his plays.

The deflecting continued on Wednesday, when Adam Gase told the media, “If we execute the play called we’ll be fine.”

“If we execute the play called we’ll be fine” – #Jets HC Adam Gase

— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) September 23, 2020

To demonstrate the issue with that statement, let’s take a look at Mekhi Becton. Gase praised Becton’s play and confidence during the press conference, as he should. Becton is PFFs ninth-best OT through the first two weeks.

Adam Gase praises Mekhi Becton and said whenever Becton comes to the sideline he tells Gase to run to the left. #nyj

— Brian Costello (@BrianCoz) September 23, 2020

Despite that, Gase has seemingly avoided using Becton’s greatest strength, his run blocking. Through two games, The Jets have run the ball off tackle on just 3% of attempts, and to the left side just 18% of the time. Meanwhile, he’s run up the middle on an astonishing 78% of attempts.

This would be fine if Gase’s play-calling was working. However, the results paint an ugly picture. The Jets average just over two yards per carry up the middle, one of the worst marks in the NFL. However, they average just over six yards per carry when running to the left, the fourth-best mark in the NFL.

It’s clear that Gase’s play-calling is a major reason why the Jets are losing games. Yet, Gase insists if the team just follows his gameplan, they’ll win.

The war of words didn’t stop there. Two Jets players, Avery Williamson and Bradley McDougald, called out the team’s poor practice performance on Tuesday. Gase had to answer for it on Wednesday.

“It all goes back to practice. We’ve had some slow practices, and it correlates to the game,” McDougald told SNY. “We need to have a complete, full week of just great practices, and I don’t think we’ve had that yet.”

Williamson echoed those comments during his weekly appearance on WFAN. “Sometimes, in practice, guys are missing tackles or we’re not doing things right. We haven’t been as crisp as we should be at times. … We don’t start fast at practice.”

Both players have since come out and said their comments weren’t an indictment on the coaching. McDougald said his comments were meant for the players and Williamson clarified to say he didn’t mean the comment the way it’s being reported. Those excuses won’t fly.

#Jets S Bradley McDougald, on his practice comments, said he was directing them at the players. He was not talking about coaches.

— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) September 23, 2020

Adam Gase said Avery Williamson texted him and indicated what was reported about what he said wasn’t what he meant.

— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) September 23, 2020

It’s on the head coach to set the tempo at practice and get his guys prepared week-in and week-out. Gase clearly hasn’t done that and his players are making that known, even if it wasn’t intentional. When asked about the comments, Gase again deflected.

“Nobody said anything during the week. I felt like we had really good tempo to practice. Sometimes an individual guy, if he wants to change something, we talk about it every week. It’s not like it’s not an open forum. If somebody doesn’t like the way something is going, we can easily speak up,” Gase said via Rich Cimini of ESPN.

The lack of accountability coming for the head coach is shocking. It’s not easy to lead a football team, and the least Gase could do is acknowledge that. Most everyone realizes that he’s been left with little talent due to a plethora of injuries. By deflecting blame and making excuses he’s not doing anyone any favors.

For the sake of the team’s future, and potentially his future as a head coach in the NFL, Gase needs to accept responsibility for his role in the Jets struggles.