Good morning Jets fans! And what a day it is! The last day we have to watch Adam Gase on our beloved Jets sidelines. Many Jets fans hated the hire from day one, myself included. However, as a delusional fan who believes that every Jets squad is 12-4 caliber each August, I was willing to give him a chance. Unfortunately, he showed his true colors almost immediately. Let’s revisit what was written on these pages in Week 3 of Gase’s first season in NY.
“However, lamenting the 0-2 start is not the point of this column; it is to demand the immediate firing of Adam Gase as head coach of the NY Jets. If he had any decency he would resign on a cocktail napkin like Belichick did back in 2000. Belichick resigned because he knew the new ownership group led by Woody Johnson would be wholly incompetent. He was correct. The ownership group is now led by Woody’s brother, Christopher Johnson, and it has made another monumental mistake in choosing Adam Gase as head coach. I didn’t like the hire in January and I hate it even more now. The guy is a born loser. He is still dining out on a reputation as a “quarterback guru” that was “earned” in his two seasons as OC in Denver when Peyton Manning was QB. I could coach Peyton Manning to a top five offense. It’s pretty simple – just say, “hey Peyton go out there and do your thing,” and you’ll win 12 games. Not surprisingly, once he stopped suckling Peyton’s teet his offenses have been abysmal. His highest ranking in PPG is 17 in the five years since. Not even top half of the league! Many pundits thought he was hamstrung by poor quarterback play in Miami. But, after two games for the Jets with 11 total offensive points, as we now know, the guy is a born loser and should no longer be allowed the benefit of the doubt. His system stinks no matter who the QB operating it. Unless its Peyton Manning checking out of plays at the line of scrimmage, Gase is limited to grinding Le’Veon Bell into dust and blaming his receivers for not getting open. Chris Johnson, we beg of you – do the right thing and fire him during the Week 4 bye week.”
We know that this advice was not heeded, and we suffered through 29 additional games for no good reason. Gase will go down as the worst HC of the Jets in the last 25 years by a wide margin. Once again, like he did in Miami, he will be departing an organization that is bereft of talent and will require a complete overhaul from the new coach. It is frankly astonishing to me that Gase is already getting buzz as a potential QB coach for the Patriots or landing on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama. You have to admit that he has great PR. Gase is offensive poison without Peyton Manning there to carry his sorry scheme. It would bring me great joy to see him go and infest Foxborough with black mold like he did in Miami and New York.
On the bright side for the Jets, Justin Fields of Ohio State looked like a dynamo on Friday evening. With the Jets locked into the second pick that performance saved the offseason. The value of the number 2 pick increased tenfold with each successive TD that Fields dropped on the head of what is considered to be a Clemson defense coached by the best DC in all of college football. The performance of Fields made the Jets head coaching vacancy much more appealing. The offseason plan is pretty simple – give a blank check to Matt Campbell and let him fill in a number he thinks is fair, dump Darnold for whatever draft pick you can get, draft Fields or Lawrence, whichever QB prospect is there at 2, and sign either Chris Godwin or Allen Robinson in free agency. Let’s not overthink this, Joey D.
There is one game remaining, and the point here is indeed to pick a side. We have locked in a winning season, but let’s go into the offseason with a winner. The Jets are a +3-point underdog on the road against the Patriots. Will the Jets play hard for Gase in his final game as a head coach in the NFL? Shockingly, it seems he has not lost the locker room. Surely, all the players on the team are aware that Gase and most of the staff is a goner. Two bad teams playing out the string. The Patriots are on a three-game losing streak and have an offense that is fundamentally broken and incapable of generating chunk plays. During that three-game losing streak, the Patriots are averaging 8 points per contest. The Jets are trending in the opposite direction. They have reeled off two wins in a row after a classic 13-game losing streak to begin the season. The Jets have scored 23 points in each of those games. It seems to me that the Patriots players have more or less given up on the season while the Jets are inexplicably still fighting. I think you have to take the team that is trending in the positive direction in this game that is totally meaningless to both sides. Take the Jets and the 3 points.
Pick: Jets +3
Big Hank’s long-shot of the week: Most receiving yards: Berrios > Meyers, +300
Big Dogs Betting 