Adam Gase Responds on New York Jets Practice Criticism: 'I Haven't Necessarily Felt That'
Adam Gase responded to criticism from within his own locker room that the team's performances so far this year stem back to poor practices. The Jets, off to an 0-2 start, are currently a mess of injuries as well as discontent.
On Sunday, safety Bradley McDougald was critical of how the Jets are practicing, calling the sessions “slow.” Acquired in a trade in July from the Seattle Seahawks, McDougald’s comments came after the winless Jets got pushed around in this past Sunday’s 31-13 home loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
On Tuesday, linebacker Avery Williamson piled on a bit, criticizing the performance of the defense in practice during a radio interview with WFAN. Williamson did not, however, criticize Gase or the coaching staff in his comments.
That didn’t stop the headlines and criticism of Gase in light of the comments made by two prominent defensive players.
“We’ve changed practice so many different ways over the last five years that I’ve been a head coach. I don’t remember the way I used to do it, it has evolved over time. Avery texted me last night, right away, whenever he did that — whatever interview he did. I told him until [Eric Gelfand, senior vice president, communications and content] tells me, I really probably won’t know because I don’t even open internet browsers right now,” Gase said on Wednesday in his virtual press conference.
“He just said that he said something about how they practice on defense. He said like what he said wasn’t what was reported. I told him it is what it is.”
As for Williamson, the linebacker’s comments came on WFAN on Tuesday morning. He was asked about McDougald’s comments that were critical of slow practices and the failure to dominate in practice.
He invoked 49ers running back Raheem Mostert’s 80-yard touchdown run on the opening play from scrimmage in Week 2 as evidence of his point that the defense isn’t practicing well.
But Williamson’s comments were about the defense’s performance and not an indictment of the practice themselves, their structure or tempo.
“I could agree with him at times because at times in practice, guys are missing tackles or we aren’t doing things right,” Williamson said on WFAN.
“I feel like we haven’t been as crisp as we should be at, times. Or starting fast, I mean, he’s definitely been correct on that. At times, we don’t start fast in practice and we didn’t start fast the last two weeks. That’s something we have to fix for ourselves. You can’t come out sluggish in games and expect to win. When you have an 80-yard run, that’s tough, that’s tough to recover when the team isn’t playing as good. So yea, I have to agree with him on that.”
Gase, in his comments on Wednesday, said that there is an open forum within the locker room when it comes to practice and suggestions on how to improve.
“Everybody has a different feel for how practice goes. We are heading into Week 3 here, if that’s the feeling that they have, I mean we have the chance to really kind of ramp it up and make sure we’re doing what we need to do in individual and pick up the tempo,” Gase said.
“I haven’t necessarily felt that. When I watch our guys, I feel like guys are flying around, they’re chasing the ball You’re always looking to improve in practice just with everything.”
