Adam Gase admits he let Jets CEO Christopher Johnson down
Adam Gase offered a three-letter response when asked if he feels like he’s disappointed his boss, Jets CEO and Chairman Christopher Johnson.
“Yes,” Gase said Tuesday, per the New York Post.
It’s not hard to see why Gase feels that way. Not only are the Jets 0-13 and possibly heading toward a winless season, but Gase is 7-22 overall as New York’s head coach and his offense ranked 32nd in yards during both of his two seasons. Sam Darnold, who Gase was hired to groom, has also regressed tremendously in Year 3 and could be on his way out if the Jets target a quarterback in the 2021 draft.
Gase’s Jets were also mathematically eliminated from playoff contention before Week 15 in each of the past two seasons. That’s something Gase specifically mentioned when discussing how he feels he’s let Johnson down.
“For him not to feel a playoff feel of being competitive in December, it’s disappointing to me that we haven’t been able to do that for him,” Gase said. “I’ve told him multiple times [that] he deserves better, especially with how he is with our players, our staff, our coaches, anybody involved in this organization.”
But his response didn’t end there. Gase continued by offering his side of the story about how he’s tried (and, as he admitted earlier, failed) to fix things over the course of his tenure, despite insurmountable evidence to the contrary.
“I’ve tried to figure out where things went wrong, what can we change. You’re trying to evaluate things as you go and adjust to try to fix whatever the issue would be for that month or that three games or four games,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s about winning.”
Gase went on to praise Johnson for his patience with his coach and the team over the past two seasons. Every conversation between the two has been about making the team better rather than blaming anyone, according to Gase, and Johnson has never been angry toward the coach.
“I couldn’t ask to work for a better guy,” Gase said. “He’s like all of us. He wants to win as much as we do. He can see the effort the guys are playing with. We’ve just got to find a way to finish some of these games.”
