The New York Jets released All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell on Tuesday, the latest puzzling move for a franchise defined by ineptitude. The move comes after the Jets traded All-Pro safety Jamal Adams to Seattle and let wide receiver Robby Anderson walk in free agency.
“All these guys changing teams, all these guys have talent – even though Le’Veon Bell is not the same running back as he once was – and the guy that’s still standing is Adam Gase,” Zach Gelb said on The Zach Gelb Show. “[Gase] doesn’t have a victory this season, is an incompetent coach, is a failure as a head coach, and he’s a disaster. Why are the Jets still employing Adam Gase?”
Answer: he keeps losing – and that, this year, is what the Jets want.
“The only reason you’re still keeping him employed is because you don’t want to win a game and you want the No. 1 overall pick,” Gelb said. “Keeping Adam Gase, even though it will annoy your entire locker room – a few weeks ago players are going on WFAN and lambasting the practice styles of one Adam Gase – everyone is telling you, ‘This guy stinks, this guy’s a disaster,’ and they’re still keeping him. He’s going to get fired at the end of the year, but we’ve seen Dan Quinn lose his job. We’ve seen Bill O’Brien lose his job. Time to get rid of those guys, but those guys at least had some success in this league. What has Adam Gase done?”
Not a whole lot. He went 23-25 in three seasons in Miami and is 7-14 in New York. Nevertheless, Jets owner Christopher Johnson called Gase “a brilliant offensive mind” after the team’s Week 1 loss to Buffalo.
The Jets have since lost four straight games by an average of 19 points.
“What is Johnson? Trying to be a comedian?” Gelb asked. “Adam Gase got jobs in this league because Peyton Manning called him a quarterback whisperer, and everywhere he goes, there are contentious relationships that develop with his players. We saw it in Miami, and now we’ve seen it in New York. It just tells you everything the Jets are about, that they can’t ever make the right decision. Adam Gase should have never been hired. Never. And now it is so obvious that he should be fired, and the Jets are just sitting on their thumbs as you see talent continue to walk out the door when this bozo still has a job. And that’s what Adam Gase is as a head coach. He is a bozo.”
Granted, Bell has not handled the last few seasons well. From holding out in Pittsburgh to wanting out in New York, he is not faultless. But he’s far from the first Jets domino to fall.
Gase, meanwhile, has “ruined” quarterback Sam Darnold and set the franchise – which hasn’t made the playoffs in a decade – back even further.
“The only time we talk about the Jets now is because they are a clown show,” Gelb said. “Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus may have shut down, but the Jets are open 24/7 – and that’s what the Jets are. They’re a circus, and that circus is being led by Christopher Johnson, and the head clown in the circus is Adam Gase.”