When the New York Jets lost a heartbreaker of a game to the Las Vegas Raiders 31-28 on Sunday December 6th, the focus was not on the fact that the Jets played their most competitive game of the 2020 season thus far. The focus was not on the fact that the Jets running game (after losing RB Frank Gore to a concussion early in the game) took a major step forward with RB’s Ty Johnson and Josh Adams and, even produced its FIRST 100-yard rusher of the season. The focus was not on the fact that the Jets showed some personal pride and rallied from a 24-13 deficit to take the lead 28-24 with 5:34 left in the game and the Jets Defense coming up huge on the ensuing Las Vegas drive stopping the Raiders on a 4th and 3 in the red zone.
What the focus was on was a terrible play call by Jets Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams on the final play of the game- a play which ultimately cost the Jets the football game and Williams his job as DC the very next day.
To paint the picture for those who may have not watched the game, The Raiders had a 3rd and 10 with 5 seconds left to go in the game so, the obvious play that would have to be defended would be a “Hail Mary” pass to the endzone. Simple, right? Well, not for the 2020 New York Jets! Coach Williams made the decision to stack the box and send a “Zero Blitz” after Raiders QB Derek Carr instead of playing a “Prevent” defense- the scheme that usually designed to defend against plays like the “Hail Mary”. Now, a “Zero Blitz” is when you are pretty much sending “The House” to attack the QB. In doing this, you take away any extra deep coverage for your DB’s on either side of the field so, they would be lined up in what is called ‘man to man’ coverage. So, if your opponent has a fast receiver, like the Raiders have in Las Vegas WR Henry Ruggs III, they can typically beat the coverage and provide their QB with a wide-open target. Carr was able to escape the blitz and pass to Ruggs who beat rookie CB Lamar Jackson for the game winning TD. Raiders 31, Jets 28. And, let the media firestorm begin!
To be fair, it was a very crappy play call by Williams in that situation but what the focus should have been on was the series before the Raiders final drive of the game. The Jets had the ball with 1:37 left to go in the game with their offense on the field. The Raiders had 2 timeouts left at that point so only 2 more chances to stop the clock in the hopes of maybe getting one more possession. Jets HC Adam Gase calls 3 straight running plays which gain a total of 5 yards. By the time the Jets had to punt the ball, there was only 42 seconds left in the game- a game that had the Jets gained a first down, all it would have taken to secure the Jets first victory of the season was a Sam Darnold kneel-down to run out the clock.
So, my question is where is all the outrage for HC Adam Gase’s conservative play calling during that drive when the Jets could have ended the game right there? Why is the media outrage only directed at Gregg Williams for his crappy play call? If you really think about it, the Raiders game-winning drive was more a product of Gase’s incompetence than Williams’s in my opinion. Now I don’t want to make this sound like I am defending the actions of Gregg Williams because in a situation like that, he should know better but, should the game have ever gotten to that point at all? This is just one of a myriad of reasons why Adam Gase is not the right coach for the New York Jets- not now, nor in the future. And, HE is the man who should have lost his job this week, not Williams. How much more embarrassment do the Johnson’s need to experience before they realize that they have made a huge mistake? And how much more will the Jets fan base continue to tolerate before they say “Enough is Enough”?
Welcome to the 2020 New York Jets season- the gift that keeps on giving!
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