As heat rises on Jets coach Adam Gase, players say he isn't to blame for 0-3 start

After three straight blowout losses to start the season, uncertainty about the job security of New York Jets coach Adam Gase is starting to grow. 

Even before Sunday’s 36-7 loss to the Colts, there were signs that Gase could be in trouble, as ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported on the network’s pregame show that “executives on the highest levels are looking at Gase” and hinted that changes could be coming if they struggled Thursday night against a similarly banged up Broncos team. “Watch out on the Jets and Adam Gase this coming week,” Mortensen said.  

Well, Sunday’s destruction at the hands of the Colts certainly won’t help matters for Gase. The Jets have now been outscored 94-37 in three games. But he said he’s not thinking about his job security with the Broncos coming to town in less than 96 hours. 

"I'm going to do what I always do, come back to work tomorrow and try to get things fixed," Gase said. “That's something I can't worry about. I've got to focus on getting our guys right." 

Gase, who is now 7-12 as Jets coach, with 10 of those losses coming by 14 points or more, didn’t feel the need to defend himself. But the players who work most closely with him made it clear: they have Gase’s back. 

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“I truly believe this and the guys in the locker room feel the same way: We’ve been put in great position to go out there and succeed,” Jets quarterback Sam Darnold said. “And to go out there and make plays and execute a game plan that’s put together perfectly for us. It’s just about us going out there and executing. That’s it.”

Gase is extremely unpopular among Jets’ fans — just check out the replies to any post on any of the team’s social media platforms — as many have been yearning for a coaching change since last October. 

Greg Van Roten, the right guard, grew up as a Jets fan, so he understand the frustration better than anyone. But the Long Island native also urged fans to be careful what they wish for. 

“To the fans that are calling for his head: I never really understood that,” Van Roten said, recalling his time in Carolina last year when the Panthers fired coach Ron Rivera with four games left. “I was on a team last year, we fired our coach. It’s not like we started winning games, you go further in the tank. So I’m not really sure what that solves, but I get the frustration. I understand that.”

Van Roten’s argument is that it can get worse with an in-season coaching change. It did for the Panthers, who lost their final four games, including three of them by 30-plus points. 

One of the reasons Gase is disliked is his reputation a coach who rubs many players the wrong way. Van Roten also said he hasn’t seen that. Van Roten also made it clear that this team hasn’t stopped playing hard for Gase, despite the margin of defeat in the first three games of the season. 

“I don’t know anything really about his job,” Van Roten said. “I just know that the game plans are not the issue, it’s the execution of the team that’s the issue. So it’s not like guys don’t know what to do. We know what to do, we’re just not doing it. And that’s why it’s so frustrating, because it’s not like, ‘hey we weren’t ready for this, we didn’t know they were going to do that, or I don’t believe in this coach.’ 

“Like, I believe in Adam. I’m happy to be here.  I’ve heard nothing but good things before I got here, I’ve been around him a long time these last couple of months and I’m excited to play for him.”

But the NFL is a results-based business. And the fact is, that it’s on to coach to make sure the players execute, and that they don’t suffer blowout loss after blowout loss.

And it certainly doesn’t help that Darnold, who Gase is in charge of developing into a winning quarterback, seems to be headed in the right direction. So the players can defend Gase all they want. But if they keep getting destroyed after every game they play, the Jets are going to have no choice but to make a change.