Content available exclusively for subscribers
The hiring of Adam Gase. What it means? . . .
One thing that impressed me right out of the gate about this Gase hiring.
The Jets didn’t govern by public opinion polls.
This isn’t going to go over well with a lot of fans, but honestly, that is irrelevent, and I will tell you why.
A fan just asked me on twitter, “How are they going to sell this?”
My response was one word: “Winning.”
Now that wasn’t a prediction that Gase was going to definitely win. I have no idea.
My point was, you don’t worry about selling a head coach to the fans when you hire them.
You hire a coach because you think he’s going to turn your program into a winner, and you don’t worry about how it sells up front.
I honestly believe that Gase is one of those guys will do better his second time around.
He’s very, very bright and I think he will learn from his mistakes in Miami.
And frankly, some of Miami’s biggest problems weren’t his fault.
He inherited Ryan Tannehill, a very mediocre QB, and the man running the Dolphins’ personnel department made the same mistake he made with the Jets and Mark Sanchez; he gave an average QB a big second contract.
Throwing a big second contract at a pedestrian QB isn’t going to make him better.
That personnel guy made a lot of mistakes down there, like trading for Rams DE Robert Quinn who has a back problem.
Also, giving WR Kenny Stills big money in 2017. Stills was big distraction in Miami, a major headache for Gase.
Look, I’m not saying that Gase is without blame, but Tannehill was like a ball-and-chain around his ankle he couldn’t cut off. Also, his personnel department didn’t do a great job for him, like picking head cases like Jordan Phillips (2015 second round) who is no longer with the team.
I was in a scrum interviewing Dolphins receiver Albert Wilson after Miami beat the Jets 20-12 in September, and he was gushing about his head coach as an offensive mind, calling him “an offensive genius.”
Gase is a really creative play-caller, and I think his innovation is what gave him the edge over Mike McCarthy.
The perception around the league is that McCarthy’s offense is a little old-fashioned.
Chris Simms recently described it as “a 1997 Brett Favre offense.”
Gase, who is 15 years younger than McCarthy, is a little more new-wave and cutting edge.
Another issue that hurt McCarthy was Packers tight end Marcedes Lewis telling Yahoo Sports last week that Aaron Rodgers was ignoring play calls sent in and calling his own plays in the huddle. While Rodgers can be a pain in the butt, this didn’t make McCarthy look very good.
Only time will tell how this turns out, but up front, I have no issue with his hire.
And I respect the fact that the Jets decision-makers didn’t concern themselves with how this would sell.
Because if you win, selling it up means nothing.
January 9, 2019
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Thursday.