Gregg Williams Defends Comments About the Offense, Invoking Friendship With Adam Gase
On Friday, New York Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams didn’t back away from a statement he made last week that seemed to point his fingers at the offense as being partially to blame for the defense’s struggles.
His answer to questions about what was taken as a slight at the offense’s struggles is that Williams is friends with Jets head coach Adam Gase and that his comments weren’t seen as divisive in the Jets locker room. Gase is a former quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. As such, this is his offense that Williams appeared to be taking issue with a week ago.
“The whole thing is that Coach Gase and I are great friends, we’ve been that way, we’re on the same page, we talk about all those things,” Williams said on Friday. “So, that thing is no thing and we’ve got to go on. We’ve got to make them kick field goals, we’ve got to make them do that kind of stuff and do our job.”
Coming into Week 5, the Jets were allowing 32.2 points per game, among the worst in the league. Last Friday, Williams was asked about this stat and answered by saying that “it’s not all defensively” in terms of the reason why the points allowed have been so high.
He was asked to clarify what he meant by that statement and dodged the answer.
The comments were seen to be Williams’ taking a dig at the offense, which has struggled with penalties, field position and turnovers. But the Jets defense has been equally culpable for their own errors and mistakes, including repeated breakdowns in assignments as well as personal fouls.
Williams was asked on Friday if those remarks could splinter the locker room to which he said “it’s not divisive with our players, OK? That’s not an issue, not anything.”
“I always take a look at all those things,” Williams said. “But here’s the deal is that I know who we are, I know who the head coach and I are, and the players know that too.”
To Williams’ point, the Jets offense was shut out in Week 6 at the Miami Dolphins, mustering just 13 first downs and only 263 yards of total offense. They didn’t help the defense or provide any cushion whatsoever.
The defense was far from tremendous, although the 24 points allowed is the lowest of the season for 0-6 Jets.
Last year, Williams and his defense were praised around the league. Despite numerous injuries and a weak two-deep, they finished No. 16 in total defense, quite an accomplishment given the personnel at his disposal.
