New York Post, Tuesday, December 1, 2020nypost.comBy Brian CostelloThe great play-calling controversy contin-
ued Monday with Jets coach Adam Gase pro-
viding more clarity than he did Sunday about
who was calling the plays.
It appeared that Gase had taken
back the play-calling in Sunday’s
20-3 loss to the Dolphins after of-
fensive coordinator Dowell Log-
gains called the plays the previous four
games. But Gase said that was not the case in
his postgame press conference. He was
asked for further clarification on Monday.
“It’s a collaborative effort between Dowell,
myself and the offensive staff obviously is in-
volved,” Gase said. “For us to say like, who’s
calling what, when, what situation and those
things, that’s a competitive disadvantage re-
ally at the end of the day. You don’t want
teams to know, ‘Hey, is this guy calling runs,
calling passes, calling play actions, calling
empties, calling dropbacks? Who has third
down and the red zone?’ That’s kind of for usto really be able to do without having to
make it public knowledge, but the last three
weeks it’s been a collaborative effort
throughout the game.”
Gase has gradually taken back more play-
calling from Loggains as the
weeks have gone on. On Sunday,
it was about 50/50 with each one
taking different situations. Gase
did a poor job of explaining this
after the game.
This is an example of a minor issue that
gets blown up in an 0-11 season. If the Jets
were winning, no one would care who is
calling the plays. But they are not, so every-
thing becomes an issue.➤One bright spot for the Jets continues to
be the play of second-year defensive tackle
Quinnen Williams, who had a strong out-
ing against the Dolphins. Williams had seven
tackles, 1.5 sacks, three quarterback hits, two
passes defensed and a forced fumble.
“I don’t want to say this is the most im-pressive game that I’ve seen him play, but I
think he’s had a good amount of them this
year and definitely seeing improvement
throughout the season,” Gase said. “I mean
he’s been out there — beginning of the year,
maybe there was a little bit, he wasn’t as con-
sistent, but man, this kind of like middle part
of the season I feel like he’s really showing
up a lot whether it be [tackles for loss] or
creating pressure on the quarterback. He’s
playing his ass off right now.”➤Gase did not provide much more infor-
mation on what is going on with guard Alex
Lewis, who was inactive for Sunday’s game
for a non-injury reason. Gase would only say
it is being handled internally. Gase did deny
a rumor that was floating around the internet
that he and Lewis had a heated altercation.
“We had a conversation. I wouldn’t call it, I
don’t know if it’s really a verbal altercation,
but we had a conversation and right now, like
I said, we’re handling it internally,” Gase
said.Offensive play-calling now a ‘collaborative effort’
JETS
NOTES
By Brian CostelloJets quarterback Sam Darnold
struggled in his return Sunday,
but don’t expect a change at the
position this season.
On Monday, coach Adam Gase
backed Darnold, who threw two
interceptions against the Dol-
phins in his first game back from
a shoulder injury.
“I think Sam is the starter, and
we need Sam to play as many
snaps as possible,” Gase said. “I
think we’re just going to keep
working to get better every week,
and I think he will. I think he’s
very competitive and he wants to
do well and he’s looking forward
to this next game.”
It is fair to question whether the
Jets are better off playing backup
Joe Flacco. The Jets offense played
better in the last two games Flacco
started. Flacco threw five touch-
down passes combined against
the Patriots and Chargers. Sunday
was the fourth straight start for
Darnold without a touchdown
pass. His last touchdown throw
came on Sept. 27 against the Colts
in Week 3. He has three touch-
down passes all year.
“When I look at, kind of when
you go back and watch the game,
it’s easy to point at the quarter-
back all the time,” Gase said. “To
me it’s, one, Sam needs to play. I
want him to play, I want him to be
out there. I feel like it wasn’t all on
him every drive. Were there some
mistakes made? Yes. But it wasn’t
every drive was his fault. I mean
we don’t pull out offensive line-
men because they get beat one
time or two or three or five times.
We don’t pull out receivers when
they drop the ball. Guys have got
to stay in there and play, that’s
football.”
It has been a disappointing sea-son all around for the 0-11 Jets, but
Darnold may be the biggest dis-
appointment of all. There were
high expectations for Darnold in
his third season, but he has failed
to live up to them. Some of that is
on Darnold. Some of that is on
Gase. Some of that is on the offen-
sive line and wide receivers sur-
rounding him.
Now, it feels like these are the
final five games of Darnold’s Jets
career. If the Jets wind up withthe No. 1 pick, they are expected
to draft Clemson quarterback
Trevor Lawrence and trade Dar-
nold. If they pick No. 2, then they
face a decision of whether to
trade Darnold and draft Ohio
State quarterback Justin Fields or
stick with Darnold.
Darnold was asked if he feels
like he is auditioning for his job in
2021.
“No,” Darnold said. “Every sin-
gle day I need to come in with aworker’s mentality and making
sure I’m doing everything I need
to do every single day to put this
team and this offense, in particu-
lar, in a good position to score
touchdowns and win a football
game. That’s all I’m focused on.”
As the calendar turns to De-
cember, it feels like any hope for
Darnold turning things around
this season is gone. Gase still be-
lieves Darnold can show some-
thing in the final five games.
“I think there can definitely be
improvement,” Gase said. “I think
there was some things that he can
fix very quickly. I think we all for-
get that he hadn’t played in a few
weeks, getting out there with a
couple new guys. Our timing was
good on some things, not as good
on others. We’ve still got to build
that trust, keep building that trust.
I know there are some plays
where he definitely wishes he
could go back and have a redo,
but that’s not how it works. There
were a few other decisions that
when we get cleaned up, we
might have a different outcome.”
[email protected]Coach: Darnold will
remain the starter
Sunday
raiders at jets
1 p.m.
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Line: Jets +7.5 • O/U: 46.5top man: Adam Gase said Sam Darnold will continue to be the
Jets’ starter because he “needs to play.” N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelbergmove in a new
direction: With the Jets
sitting at 0-11 after an ugly loss
to the Dolphins on Sunday,
and showing no signs of
getting better, it is time for
CEO Christopher Johnson
(left) to fire Adam Gase, writes
The Post’s Mark Cannizzaro.
N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg (2)