Great game! Game ball obviously goes to Sam Darnold. He came back and did what many of us knew he could do: Lead the team to victory. He clearly was battling through mono Week 1, because this is the Sam we knew and expected to play in 2019. Other game balls: -Jamal Adams -Sam Ficken (Made 3 extra points and a FG. Huge with the Jets' early kicking woes in a 24-22 win.) -Quinnen Willams with that nice 4th down play on Dak. -Robby Anderson is back! Also, Jamison Crowder and Demaryius Thomas looked good too. Honorary game ball to Jason Garrett too. With better coaching and situational football, Dallas still wins the game!
It's always so hard to determine what comes from coaching. There is certainly no doubt in my mind that it's important, but not as important as (1) talent, and (2) execution. So how much of yesterday's mistakes by the Cowboys are Garrett's fault? I'm sure some (ten years of mediocrity means something), but I'm not sure how much. But that wasn't my biggest Garrett-related reaction. It's really obvious that lots of players on the team have no respect for him. He's on the sideline trying to pump them up, going from player to player with encouragement, etc., and they are literally totally ignoring him. That to me is the reason why Jerry is paying for not firing him years ago. And speaking of Jerry, is he going to pay Dak the money he wants with these kinds of performances? I don't think so, but then what? Start all over with a rookie QB?
I was just thinking of him going for it on 4th down. If he doesn't, it is 7-6. Instead it was instantly 14-3. In a 24-22 game, that is a big mistake. Also, I get Cooper and Cobb were out, but if Dak is really a top QB, he needed to attack the Jets secondary more. The strategy was just odd to me and I feel it cost the Cowboys the game. That is why I mentioned Garrett. Yeah, the vibe on the Cowboys bench was odd. He may have lost the team. Time will tell.
Uh, no it didn't. As you yourself said: "...the same Adam Gase as the previous 4 weeks" Yes, Darnold made ALL the difference. Gase did what Gase had done the previous four weeks, despite not having a QB that could execute the plays he was dialing up. To put a finer point on it, when Gase had P. Manning, he looked like a genius, but when he didn't, he didn't look so smart. Yesterday he FINALLY put in more pass pro! What a concept! After seeing his backup QB knocked out for the season, and his backup-backup QB sacked like a rag doll tossed to police dogs, he FINALLY figured out that he needed to protect the QB! Genius! And the 92 yard bomb from Darnold to Anderson was an audible called by Sam, not Gase. Does Gase look much smarter with a FQB? Sure, any coach would! But when he doesn't have one, he doesn't seem to make adjustments for the difference in talent. I admit that I'm not there in practices and the locker room, so I don't know what Gase is doing ro trying to do, I can only comment based upon what I see - just like you and everyone else - but this is what I see. Sam made all the difference yesterday, Gase was just doing what he's done for the previous 4 weeks as you said, and if you don't see that as a problem with his coaching, I don't know what to tell you.
And here we go... First of all, in another thread I pointed out that the 92 yard pass was an audible at the line. I acknowledged that yesterday when I saw it. Second of all, of course Gase looks much smarter with Darnold at QB. Why? Because he actually has a QB that can run the plays he calls and find guys open. He also knows how to move pieces around to get guys in their proper positions, just as Le'Veon Bell mentioned. Your argument is an irrelevant one. You are claiming that the only true gauge of how good a coach is, is when he has a shit player at QB. You keep claiming that Gase is only good when he has Mannning or now Darnold at QB. Well, that's great news, because he has Darnold for years to come at QB. This same argument can be made in situations throughout the NFL. How do you know Bellicheck would be what he is without Brady? He likely wouldn't be. And your argument against Gase is proving to make my point. Gase did what he did all season. The difference was, he had a QB who was able to produce on the designed plays. And make adjustments for the difference in talent?! Luke Falk is a joke. I don't care how you spin it, he was a steaming pile of shit. Everyone knew that. Hell, Bill Cowher said he should never see an NFL field again in his life. So your answer would be to dumb down the offense enough for him to succeed. Great. That's exactly what Gase did. He dumbed it down and got Bell the ball over and over. Falk couldn't make adjustments. Falk couldn't get guys in position. And Falk would hold on to the ball while his receivers were wide open. It's hilarious how now the argument has shifted to "well of course he looks great. Darnold makes him look great" LOL
No, the argument hasn't "shifted", it was always that. And no,I never said "the only true gauge of how good a coach is, is when he has a shit player at QB", that would be you making a 'straw man argument'. What I said was that a coach's ability is better measured when they don't have great players. You continue to gloss over the fact that Gase did not seem to make any adjustments for the fact that he had a shit QB. And BTW - who was it that chose that shit QB to be on the team, along with the other shit QB Siemian? How could a supposedly astute coach even consider having Falk or Siemian as backups? It was obvious to all that neither should be on an active NFL roster, but Gase apparently thought that they should. Maybe he believed that his coaching and play calling could make up for their lack of ability, because that's sure what it looked like. I knew this would happen. Darnold would return and make the team look good, and everyone would say "See? Gase ain't so bad!" Well honestly I hope you're right. I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it. I accept the reality that the win yesterday saved Gase's job for the season in all probability, but I don't think he's the right coach to bring the Jets to a SB, and that's the only measurement I'm concerned about.
The obvious choice would be to give the game ball to Sam, but my game ball goes to the Offensive Line that game Sam a chance to show his skills. There were two sacks yesterday and one could argue one was a coverage sack and Sam should have gotten rid of it. So, as usual, the OL is ignored when a team wins.
Again, your true evaluation of a coach is based on his ability to coach without his starting QB. That's a horrible way to evaluate a coach. To be frank. You evaluate a coach when he has the talent on the roster and when he spends the ENTIRE pre-season and off-season preparing with said talent. I am not arguing whether Gase had blame to sign Falk or not. What I am arguing is the fact that in 2 games that Darnold has played, one of which he had mono during, this team scored 44 points. You can spin it in any which way you want, but if it takes Darnold to be under center for Gase to look this good, then sign me the fuck up, because Darnold will be here for years to come and we will be winning a lot of football games. And in the same argument you are making about him not making adjustments, you are then stating that you are "not in practices or in the locker room", so again, he dumbs down the offense enough to help Falk but Falk continues to hold on to the ball and not make the necessary adjustments ALL QB's make. The players have already stated this was the case. Both Anderson and Bell have already come out stating that having Darnold back allows for the plays to develop, adjustments to be made, and guys to catch the ball down the field. You can not have a great head coach without a great QB. Bill Bellichick and Tom Brady Vince Lombardi and Bart Starr Chuck Noll and Terry Bradshaw Tom Landry and Rodger Staubach Bill Walsh and Joe Montanna Mike Tomlin and Big Ben Don Shula and Dan Marino Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning
Is it your contention that the audible called by Sam was was not actually part of the design of the O that Gase installed and worked with Sam and the O on? Sam just made it up based on what he saw at the LOS? I think your hatred of Gase is bordering on insanity.
We'll just have to agree to disagree on how you evaluate a coach. But since you also agree that you aren't in the locker room or practices, how do you know he "dumbed down the offense"? You don't. Whatever adjustments he MIGHT have made didn't work. A good coach would then try something different, but he didn't seem to. Support for this belief is based upon the fact that it was only yesterday that Gase held back a TE and blocking backto beef up the pass pro! Why did it take him so long to figure that out? But you don't think that indicates anything about Gase's ability? Ok. As for great coaches needing great QBs, I agree up to a point, but you can have a great coach without a great QB, and have a great QB without a great coach. Moreover, who's responsible in the pairings you listed? Bellichick drafted Brady a 6th rounder, Brady was not a "great QB" at first, but he became one under BB. But Bellichick won all those rings with Brady as his QB. Who's the chicken and who's the egg? Lombardi named his QB Bart Starr who was cut from the Steelers, so Starr wasn't "great" before he played for Lombardi. Landry was a winner before Staubach. Likewise Walsh before Montana, and Shula and Marino, so they must have been able to find and nurture QBs before the ones you mentioned. In the cases of Tomlin and Dungy, we'd have to see what they did before or after Big Ben and Manning. But there are way more examples of great QBs who didn't win because they played for less than great coaches. Likewise there are some QBs who weren't considered great who won SBs because they played for a great coach. But here's the bottom line: having a great QB vastly increases your odds of winning, but if you don't have good coaching, that QB isn't going to win much. I think Sam will make a positive difference, but he did that under Bowles, and I never believed Bowles was a good coach. I don't believe Gase is a good coach based on what I've seen of him. The Jets have one half of the winning formula in Darnold, they need to find the other half.
Fair point, but that's not the only reason that I believe Gase isn't a good coach. I don't hate Gase, I just don't think he's a good coach and don't want him as the coach of the Jets.
If your first two point guards are out and the other team presses and turns your over time after time you lose the game. No amount of adjustments can make up for that. Same here.
Not sure if he returned but he hit the WR and went down. Hewitt has been great. Him and Cashman have stepped up, makes me feel better about the LB depth here
Prior to drafting Brady in 2000 and him starting, Belichick had a coaching record of 41 and 55. Bart Starr never played for the Steelers, not sure where you got that one from. I didn't say Johnny Unitas. Tom Landry was 56-63 prior to Staubach. Bill Walsh's first year coaching was Montana's first year in the NFL. Don Shula had Unitas from 1963-1968. He then had Bob Griese from 1970-1980. See the trend here?
I think that both Falco and you have made some good points in this discussion. Even though I consider you a friend, you know that I think that you have been too quick to want to fire Gase. I think Falco is right on that aspect and that we need more time before we can make an accurate assessment of Gase as HC. I agree with your comments above about HCs and QBs. I can immediately think of Joe Gibbs and Mark Rypien or Doug Williams. I can think of the Pats only losing one or two games with Matt Cassell starting for almost an entire season. I can think of Archie Manning being wasted on the Aints. I think of Mike Ditka and Jim McMahon and Doug Flutie. Heck, Bill Parcells and Vinny Testaverde too. I think of Steve Young with TB and then with the Niners. It seems to me that Gase didn't make many adjustments or changes to the offense for Siemian/Falk, but that isn't a reason for me to want to fire him. Why? One because as both of you have said, we don't know what was said or what happened in Jets' practices or game plans. Things aren't always as they seem. Two, even if he didn't make any adjustments/changes, I can't fault him because he knew that Sam would be back a few weeks. What's the point of making big changes in your offensive scheme for a 3rd string QB with whom you know it won't make much, if any, difference? Why make your whole offense have to change, and then change again when Sam comes back, when it's only for a couple of games? The OL needed to learn to work together and the rest of the offense needed to learn how to execute Gase's system/offense. Sometimes one just has to bite the bullet and suffer for a few games. Think of it as trying to win the war rather than a couple of battles. Let's say Gase did make some big changes to help Falk. Would it have led to the Jets winning those 3 games? Since Falk can't read Ds and can't get players settled and in the right position, in all likelihood, no. It would just have been a wasted exercise. The offense might have looked less pathetic and less lost, but then again, because it would have been a change from what they had practiced in OTAs and TC, it could have taken several weeks for them to adapt to those changes, then when Sam came back, they'd have to re-adapt to the previous system, and they could have lost yesterday even with Sam. I think Gase was thinking long term, not short term. He knew that Falk was not the answer, and he kept working on the execution of the offense so that when Sam got back, things would be better and more stable, not still unstable. Before you blame Gase for having a QB who couldn't play on the roster, have you considered that Falk must have showed promise last year on the PS in Miami, that he looked pretty good in preseason action, and he must have looked pretty good with the Jets in TC? Gase probably never thought that Falk would ever see the field this year. How many teams can afford to or do carry 3 starting-caliber QBs on their roster? You know the answer to that is none. Falk wasn't even on the roster, he was on the PS, and was only promoted because of Sam's mono. Since he knew the system, Gase and Douglas probably thought he would be able to handle it and things would be better than signing an expensive veteran who didn't know the system and would take time to get up to speed. Signing a vet would also eat up more cap space, and would be less they'd have for emergencies or to carry over to next season. Most of us thought that Siemian would have been a quality backup QB. He had a winning record in Denver as a starter and seemed to be a pretty good game manager. I was shocked when he played so poorly in preseason and so awfully before he was hurt. Maybe his skills don't fit Gase's system. If so, then you can rightly criticize Gase for wanting Siemian, but I don't understand criticizing Gase for choosing Falk over Davis Webb. The Jets weren't going to or wouldn't have been able to sign a veteran QB to the PS. They're trying to be prudent with cap expenditures. At any rate, I think that now is the time we can begin accurately assessing Gase as HC of the Jets. We'll be able to see his game plans, play calling and adjustments. All of that can still be greatly hindered or undermined by the lack of solid OL play, however. Still, I think we should have a good idea by the end of the season whether Gase can adjust his offense to have some success with less than stellar talent on the OL.
The Princeton Alumni Network is hugh and the Garrett brothers were big Ivy League stars. I remember watching them play at Princeton and Columbia where they were all great. Guaranteed Bezos gives him a job at Amazon....but not sure if shipping receiving or Management ahah Of course , another option is joining bro John at Lafayette College (last National Championship 1926)
