Jets CEO Christopher Johnson Making Huge Gamble Keeping Gase
So this is my first real opportunity to react to what has been yet another bizarre week for the New York Jets.
On Wednesday, Jets CEO Christopher Johnson came out and endorsed embattled Jets head coach Adam Gase, claiming Gase has "the trust of the team. The trust of Sam Darnold. The Trust of Joe Douglas" and his trust. Therefore instead of tinkering with another head coach, Gase will remain Jets head coach not only for the rest of this season, but for 2020 as well.
So many thoughts are prevailing through the heads of Jets fans over the last 50-plus hours since Johnson's declaration, including this by WFAN host Joe Benigno. I guess the Benigno scream probably best describes where Jets fans are right now.
The fans are not happy and understandably so. The Jets under Gase have been a total mess this season. A 2-7 record aside, Darnold has regressed under his watch; players are unhappy including Quincy Enunwa, who is upset at the team fined him $27,900 for missing treatment, and the team overall looks unprepared, and unmotivated week-in-and-week-out.
Yet, Johnson doesn't want to rock the boat for the sake of continuity.
Johnson's decision is not surprising; we got our first inkling this was coming when Johnson decried the consistent criticism Gase has received this year as "unfair." There was no way that Johnson was going to fire Gase, the guy he picked over Mike McCarthy to be the head coach of this team last January. Doing so would be an admission of making a mistake -- something Johnson doesn't want to do.
A big part of Johnson's reasoning, I believe, has to do with the pending return date of his brother Woody. The older Johnson brother is reportedly making preparations to leave his position as Ambassador to the United Kingdom and return to the United States next November, regardless of the 2020 Presidential election.
If Christopher Johnson fired Gase now and selected another head coach, Woody could always cast away that choice when he got back, creating even more instability. Instead Gase's future could now rest in the hands of Woody Johnson, not Christopher. Gase was not Woody's choice -- as far as we know -- and if the Jets are just as bad next year, Woody's return would make a good excuse to make a change.
Another major factor in Johnson's decision is the development of Darnold. Here is where Johnson has a great point. It would be detrimental to the development of the quarterback to have him learn a third offense in three seasons. If that were to happen, Darnold could become a lost cause, and worse for him, the next coach may not fully believe in him the way Gase does now.
That is why Darnold's endorsement of Gase rings very close to Johnson's thinking. This is a quarterback driven league, and one of the most important dynamics to the success of a football team is the head coach-quarterback dynamic.
Front office power: The final factor in Johnson's decision has to be the power he granted Gase during the summer. In May he took Gase's advice to heart and fired then General Manager Mike Maccagnan and brought in Gase's recommended choice of Joe Douglas to be the GM. Gase and Douglas are close, and unless that relationship has fractured in the last six months, having a coach and GM on the same page is so important to the stability of the franchise.
And, as we know the Jets have been the anthesis of stability for years.
As flawed as his reasoning is, in Johnson's mind, keeping Gase - no matter the record -- is about fostering a stable culture.
Unfortunately for the Jets and Jets' fans that culture is nothing more than more and more failure.
Will Johnson change his mind? We shall see. He's already flipped once -- just this year -- when extolled the praises of Maccagnan, only to fire him weeks later. Such is life of the New York Jets.
On Wednesday, Jets CEO Christopher Johnson came out and endorsed embattled Jets head coach Adam Gase, claiming Gase has "the trust of the team. The trust of Sam Darnold. The Trust of Joe Douglas" and his trust. Therefore instead of tinkering with another head coach, Gase will remain Jets head coach not only for the rest of this season, but for 2020 as well.
So many thoughts are prevailing through the heads of Jets fans over the last 50-plus hours since Johnson's declaration, including this by WFAN host Joe Benigno. I guess the Benigno scream probably best describes where Jets fans are right now.The fans are not happy and understandably so. The Jets under Gase have been a total mess this season. A 2-7 record aside, Darnold has regressed under his watch; players are unhappy including Quincy Enunwa, who is upset at the team fined him $27,900 for missing treatment, and the team overall looks unprepared, and unmotivated week-in-and-week-out.
Yet, Johnson doesn't want to rock the boat for the sake of continuity.
Johnson's decision is not surprising; we got our first inkling this was coming when Johnson decried the consistent criticism Gase has received this year as "unfair." There was no way that Johnson was going to fire Gase, the guy he picked over Mike McCarthy to be the head coach of this team last January. Doing so would be an admission of making a mistake -- something Johnson doesn't want to do.
A big part of Johnson's reasoning, I believe, has to do with the pending return date of his brother Woody. The older Johnson brother is reportedly making preparations to leave his position as Ambassador to the United Kingdom and return to the United States next November, regardless of the 2020 Presidential election.
If Christopher Johnson fired Gase now and selected another head coach, Woody could always cast away that choice when he got back, creating even more instability. Instead Gase's future could now rest in the hands of Woody Johnson, not Christopher. Gase was not Woody's choice -- as far as we know -- and if the Jets are just as bad next year, Woody's return would make a good excuse to make a change.
Another major factor in Johnson's decision is the development of Darnold. Here is where Johnson has a great point. It would be detrimental to the development of the quarterback to have him learn a third offense in three seasons. If that were to happen, Darnold could become a lost cause, and worse for him, the next coach may not fully believe in him the way Gase does now.
That is why Darnold's endorsement of Gase rings very close to Johnson's thinking. This is a quarterback driven league, and one of the most important dynamics to the success of a football team is the head coach-quarterback dynamic.Front office power: The final factor in Johnson's decision has to be the power he granted Gase during the summer. In May he took Gase's advice to heart and fired then General Manager Mike Maccagnan and brought in Gase's recommended choice of Joe Douglas to be the GM. Gase and Douglas are close, and unless that relationship has fractured in the last six months, having a coach and GM on the same page is so important to the stability of the franchise.
And, as we know the Jets have been the anthesis of stability for years.
As flawed as his reasoning is, in Johnson's mind, keeping Gase - no matter the record -- is about fostering a stable culture.
Unfortunately for the Jets and Jets' fans that culture is nothing more than more and more failure.
Will Johnson change his mind? We shall see. He's already flipped once -- just this year -- when extolled the praises of Maccagnan, only to fire him weeks later. Such is life of the New York Jets.
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