Despite Non-Stop Rumors, New York Jets Head Coach Adam Gase Is Blocking out the Distractions

Those around Adam Gase know not to bring up reports and rumors relating to his job performance as head coach of the New York Jets. That’s because Gase doesn’t want to know, even if it is coming from his wife or friends.

And in light of a report on Sunday from ESPN’s Chris Mortensen that Gase’s job could be on the line, the head coach of the 0-3 Jets attacks these criticisms by doubling down on his team.

“I just don’t respond to any of it. If somebody tries to tell me something, I’m like – it doesn’t help me,” Gase said on Tuesday in his virtual press conference. “It doesn’t do anything for me.”

There has been plenty to talk about as Gase has been raked over the coals since being hired by the Jets last offseason. He was an unpopular hire, with most Jets fans wanting Mike McCarthy and publicly disappointed by the hire of Gase.

There has been discord since then among the fan base. Last year after a 1-7 start to the year, Gase was on the hot seat until his team rebounded to close out the second half of the season with six wins from their final eight games.

But a bad start to the year, including consecutive blowout losses the past two weeks, and the knives are being sharpened again for Gase. A week ago, the Jets head coach responded to a question about the widespread criticism surrounding his job by saying that he didn’t even have a web browser open, such was his focus on the game at hand.

The injury-depleted Jets lost that game 36-7 at the Indianapolis Colts.

“It’s something, I can’t focus on that. It’s wasted energy for me. It’s not going to help me at all. All I can do is make sure I get our guys in the right headspace to go out there on Thursday and play well,” Gase said.

“And it started last night with our meetings going over: here’s how we’re going to play this game, here’s who is available to us, go do our walkthrough, do the same thing today. We’ve got so much stuff we’ve got to get in over the next two days to get ready to play this game, that’s got to be my focus. if I waste my energy on anything else, it’s just counterproductive to what we’re trying to do.”

Gase spoke on Tuesday about being in the moment and enjoying the chance to play before a national audience against the Denver Broncos, another 0-3 team. He didn’t want his players hung up on other issues and outside distractions.

His team is still rebuilding and has been hit hard by injuries. Given their lack of depth, the loss of players such as wide receivers Jamison Crowder and Breshad Perriman in recent weeks or right tackle George Fant for Week 3 have been devastating. Other teams can handle the slew of injuries this year.

Gase’s Jets simply aren’t there yet.

After the Jets loss in Indianapolis on Sunday, players like guard Greg Van Roten, a free agent signing this spring, spoke about Gase. They talked about sticking to the game plan and executing it. They talked macro when it came to the Jets season and didn’t focus on the team’s performance against the Colts or the San Francisco 49ers a week earlier.

Van Roten said he was excited to play for Gase when he signed in free agency. Nothing that has happened since then, he said, including their 0-3 start to the season has changed that dynamic.

That same point of determination and execution was echoed by quarterback Sam Darnold on Monday in his virtual press conference. After Gase, Darnold has taken the brunt of the criticism for the Jets bad start to the year.

To his credit, Darnold owned up to his three interception performance in Week 3.

“Yeah, it’s frustrating whenever games don’t go the way that you want, or whenever you lose in general. It’s never fun and it can be frustrating,” Darnold said.

“For us, we really just have to figure out what we’ve got to do and what we’ve got to do better. We’ve got to continue to learn and get better every single day.”