In the iconic final scene from The Dark Knight, Jim Gordon explains to his son why Batman would take the fall for the death of Harvey Dent. Gordon said, “Because he’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.” For the New York Jets, Adam Gase is not a watchful protector nor a silent guardian. Despite his incompetence, Gase is the hero Gotham deserves and needs right now.
Make no mistake about it, Gase is an awful coach. The greatest trick Gase ever pulled was convincing a front office of his offensive prowess. Gase had one great year as a coordinator back in 2013 when Peyton Manning set the record for most touchdowns in a season as a member of the Denver Broncos. One could argue that most coaches with a brain could succeed with a healthy Peyton Manning.
When Gase doesn’t have Manning, it’s been a train wreck. Despite making the playoffs as the head coach of Dolphins in 2016, Gase’s team was towards the bottom half in total offense. In five seasons as a head coach, Gase’s offense has never been higher than 25th in total yards per game. Players like Ryan Tannehill, Devante Parker, Kenyan Drake, and Mike Gesicki broke out and improved once they left Gase’s system. Yet somehow, Manning convinced the Jets to hire a guy who constantly fought with ownership in Miami.
To quote Joe Beningo, “Oh, the pain, bro!” Poor Jets fans. I always love to make fun of Jets fans because they’re delusional and seem to think their team will make the playoffs every year. However, I wouldn’t wish Gase upon my worst enemy. Take a wild guess as to which team is currently last in total yards, yards per game, passing yards per game, total points, and points per game?
At least the coaching staff likes each other… never mind.
Sam Darnold has been given the right weapons to succeed and progress as a quarterback, right? You’re telling me that Breshad Perriman, Braxton Berrios, Jeff Smith, and Vyncint Smith don’t strike fear into opposing defenses? Jamison Crowder and Denzel Mims continue to battle injuries, Le’Veon Bell found a new team, and Robby Anderson looks like a stud. But who needs them?
In all seriousness, the Jets should be locked up for how they’ve treated Darnold. They’re killing the kid’s confidence every week. No quarterback could thrive with the Jets’ weapons. It’s an utter embarassment.
Jets fans, there is light at the end of the tunnel. This is going to be hard to understand, but in order to rise again, the Jets will need Gase to finish the season. The Jets need to hit rock bottom in order to get better and a season with zero to two wins will be as low as it can get. If the Jets finish the season with the worst record in the NFL, they’ll have an opportunity at the best quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck. His name is Trevor Lawrence.
I don’t believe the “Trevor Lawrence is returning to school” takes just yet. The same thing happened with Sam Darnold. Lawrence is focused on winning a National Championship. He’s not going to talk about the draft right now. If he ends up winning the title, I guarantee he will enter the draft. He would have nothing left to prove. Is it possible that Lawrence could pull an Eli Manning? Sure, but it’s highly unlikely.
It probably makes sense to fire Gase after this week’s game against the Chiefs, where the Jets are 21 point underdogs, but the Jets should let Gase coach the rest of the year. The worst thing that could happen is for the team to rally around the interim coach and win a few meaningless games. Both the Texans and Falcons fired their head coaches after a combined 0-9 start. Since then, the two teams have combined for a 3-3 record. Don’t risk winning a few games to disrupt their draft position. Fire Gase the minute the season ends. Imagine a coach like Eric Bieniemy or Joe Brady paired with Lawrence next year. That sounds like a great rebuild to me.
Losing sucks, but it’s a necessary evil for the Jets. The only way to ensure losing continues is to let Gase coach the team. The next time Gase marks down his chart on the sideline instead of watching the game, just remember that he won’t be coaching the team next year. It will get better, eventually.
Not a good tweet by me, but at least I’ve learned my lesson.
Should the Jets fire Adam Gase before the season ends? Leave your thoughts in the comments below or tweet us, @danny_giro.