According to Le'Veon Bell's own admission, he regularly smoked pot before games: https://nypost.com/2023/05/29/leveon-bell-admits-he-smoked-marijuana-before-nfl-games/ Those who simply read the headline and say "That explains a lot" would only be partly right. He goes on to say that had big games - presumably while on the Steelers - being high, and implies that it wasn't a factor in his later poor performance with the Jets. That may or may not be true - maybe he would've had even bigger games, and been able to sustain his performance even with the Jets if he didn't get high. But he goes on to say what a horrible HC Gase was, and how badly he screwed Sam Darnold - and the rest of the team up. He said that the Jets weren't a good team, but even so, if Mike Tomlin were coaching them they probably would've won 9 games at least. Again, this is conjecture and there's no way to prove it, but when a seasoned, and successful player make an observation like this, it carries some weight IMO, especially since we all saw what a total mess Gase made of things. And of course the biggest mess he made was with Darnold, likely ruining him completely. That's not to say that Sam was destined to be a HOF'er, or that he didn't have problems and shortcomings, but Gase did nothing to help him improve, and by his insistence on installing a complex system that wasn't really compatible with Darnold's strengths, he completely ruined Sam's confidence, and without confidence no athlete can perform well. Which brings us to the situation with Zach Wilson. Again, a HC that knows nothing about offense and developing QBs is hired, and he hires a first time OC and a QB Coach who had never held that position before. Why would anyone be surprised at what happened? Why is anyone still blaming Wilson for it? Yes, coaching DOES make a difference.
No doubt about it. Especially for a QB. We all saw the strides Sam was making in 2018. Then he gets mono, comes back, and is never quite the same. Obviously Gase was terrible. Zach was definitely set up to fail by the coaching staff, mostly because they did not factor in confidence for the QB. They decided 2021 was a learning year, but it was hard for Zach to learn while the rest of his teammates were too. Then he fell behind. That is why I am confident he can bounce back and still have a great career. Having said all of that, Bell is an embarrassment. I don't care what he says. He was terrible on the Jets. He is a RB. His job is not that complicated no matter the Head Coach. He lacked burst from the second he showed up, and somehow kept getting slower after. One of the worst signings in Jets history, by far, and that is saying something.
Yes, I completely agree that Bell was one of the worst signings ever by team defined by bad signings. I didn't mean to imply that he should be absolved of his failures, but he's still a professional who did have success, and who would certainly be able to recognize good coaching and systems. And while coaching does make a major difference in success or failure, he didn't fail because of Gase, he failed because he took his career for granted and was too selfish to do anything differently.
Zach Wilson's Personal QB Coach John Beck Reportedly Added to Jets Coaching Staff https://bleacherreport.com/articles...-beck-reportedly-added-to-jets-coaching-staff Keep making excuses - that defy real-world empirical data.
If you can't see the difference between Sam's situation and Zach's situation, I don't know what to tell you. There's a reason Gase is no longer in the NFL, whereas MLF got hired by McVay to be the OC for the Rams.
Leveon smokes a lot of pot and said Adam Gase, no longer employed in the league, was a horrible coach so that’s why Mike LaFleur screwed Zach Wilson up so badly that he overthrows deep-ins to be picked off by a single high safety or throws the ball into the feet of the receiver after retreating 20 yards?
We'll see how MLF does with a veteran QB and offensive roster. And it will certainly help him to be working under a guy who knows something about offense. Do you see that difference?
Whatever he started out as he became a damn good, likely HOF, HC. Parcells was a DC, as was BB. I'm not saying that DCs can't become good HCs. but it usually takes time and even then it doesn't always work. My point was that Zach was being "taught" by guys who were inexperienced in doing that. Maybe - hopefully - Saleh carves out a record like Parcells, BB, and Tomlin, but he's no where near that level of knowledge and cross over ability to coach beyond "D" right now. It wasn't a conducive situation to put your #2 overall pick into.
One man's explanation is another man's excuse. "real world empirical data" without the context of the other factors is pretty meaningless as far as making a judgement whether Zach can succeed under the right conditions.
I recall Bell saying at the start of his 2nd year that he was in much better shape than the year before. So basically he was out of shape his first year here. Plus I recall Gase NOT wanted to sign him in the first place!! That's what got Mac Daddy fired.
Are you suggesting the Jets should run an offense tailored to one of the backups rather than the starter?
Yes, it does, but I think the difference between Adam Gase and Coach Saleh is the Flake Factor. Gase was just a weirdo. He wasn't amenable to anything that didn't have his fckd up ideas on it. He couldn't relate to people. Tom Coughlin wasn't a people person, for example, but that's not what I'm talking about. I don't think Adam Gase was a misunderstood genius or an idiot savant. He was just an idiot. Jury still out on Saleh. Gase was pinned out the day he was hired and Christopher Johnson . . . ooof, I don't want to talk about it. It makes me wanna do drugs, and I don't do drugs. EDIT: Sp because drugs.
No. I'm suggesting that Zach Wilson is unlikely to be able to run an offense tailored to Aaron Rodgers particularly successfully.
You really are milking this as far as you can, eh? The situations were entirely different... You could literally see just how bad Adam Gase truly was, you could see him ruining Sam as It all played out. Sam Darnold actually had moments of looking like a truly competent QB In this league. A lot of potential there, that was slowly being gutted by a horrendous coaching staff. Zach Wilson has always looked like he was In over his head. Zach Wilson has consistently done things that just suggest that the player Is dog shit, not that the coaching staff was hindering his abilities to be good. He's just not good. Case In point Is the uptick In production from our backups under the same coaching staff. I hope he does develop Into a good QB still. I do. The odds are very much unlikely though. Slim to none. As they say.
The moments of competency can be shown by Zach too…it seems both him and Sam had WTF moments along the way. Sam bounced around to Carolina and now SF with really no resolution as to if he’s a starting QB. Staff be damned by Sam, he had Gase and whatever Carolina was trotting out there. Zach still has time and hopefully competent staff and a QB to learn from to be salvageable if we were to believe Rodgers and Hackett are the magic potion.
