FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — After watching his offense fail to score a touchdown for the second consecutive game, New York Jets coach Adam Gase didn’t hold back with his frustration, calling it “brutal … infuriating,” among other things.
“Offensively, we were atrocious — as bad as you can get,” he said Sunday after a 30-14 loss to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. “We’ve got a lot to fix going into the bye. We’re going to have to address all of these issues that we are having right now.”
Starting his third quarterback in three weeks, Gase saw Luke Falk orchestrate only two drives across midfield. He passed for only 98 yards and was sacked five times in his starting debut, as the Jets managed only 105 total yards, the third fewest in a game in team history, and went 0-for-12 on third down.
Their only points came on touchdowns by the defense and special teams.
“Yeah, it’s brutal,” said Gase, who started Falk because Sam Darnold (mononucleosis) and Trevor Siemian (season-ending ankle surgery) were sidelined. “It’s one of those things where it’s infuriating because you’re watching the defense and special teams play as hard as they can and executing what they’re being asked to do, and they’re doing it well a majority of the game and then we’re not holding our end on offense.”
Gase, hired because of his offensive background, already is facing criticism from fans and media. In three games, the offense has been outscored by the defense, 15-11. His playcalling against the Patriots was conservative, as Falk attempted only two passes that traveled more than 20 yards in the air.
Wide receiver Robby Anderson, held to three catches for 11 yards, appeared frustrated with the offensive line. He said he doesn’t care about individual stats, that his only concern is winning, but he added, “I don’t think we’re collectively getting a rhythm. It’s just hard. It starts up front and it goes from there.”
Running back Le’Veon Bell, the focal point of the game plan, was held to 35 yards on 18 rushes. He caught a team-high four passes, but for only 28 yards.
Afterward, Bell sat at his locker for at least 15 minutes, staring at his phone. He apparently saw the negative reaction from fans because he fired off two tweets before meeting with reporters:
all you haters, enjoy it for now..just don’t go casper when all this gets turned around..we embrace adversity, we embrace the hate, and everyone that wants to see my team fail, or me fail individually, I’ll remember, we’ll remember it ALL, & use it, & wear it as a badge of honor!
— Le’Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) September 22, 2019
& all of the fans, we need you! More than ever, don’t give up on this team..just keep believing we’ll get this ship turned around & sailing in the right direction! We’ll give it our ALL and we’ll be back after the bye..we love you all & we appreciate all your support, it’s NEEDED
— Le’Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) September 22, 2019
“I’m not going to stop believing in my guys,” said Bell, who has only 128 rushing yards through three games. “We definitely can make plays.”
Bell insisted “it’s not just the quarterback,” adding, “regardless if Sam is in the game or not, we’ve got to protect him. We’ve still got to make plays on the outside. We’ve just got to clean up the little things and we’ll be fine.”
Darnold hopes to return in Week 5 against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Jets need a boost because their total of 33 points scored after three games is their lowest since 2003, and the third-lowest in team history.
“We got to look at a lot of things over this bye week,” Gase said. “I mean, I never thought I would say, ‘Week 4 bye week, I’m glad it’s here.’ But, I mean, we got to address some things. We got to figure out what’s going on. We’re not in sync. We’re not doing a good job of working together. We’re kind of all over the place. So we got to get that fixed.”