Why Adam Gase is already facing major Jets danger

JACKSONVILLE , Fla. — The Jets are a bad football team.

This, of course, should not be considered breaking news following their sloppy 29-15 loss to the Jaguars Sunday at TIAA Bank Field that dropped them to 1-6 this season.

But the Jets do nothing well. Name something — anything — they do well. Take all the time you need.

The Jets don’t play offense well. They turn the ball over too often (three interceptions Sunday). They can’t protect the quarterback (Sam Darnold was sacked eight times). They can’t run the ball (Le’Veon Bell had 23 yards on nine carries).

They don’t play defense well enough, with a maddening inability to get off the field on third downs (the Jaguars were 8 of 17 on third-down conversions, several of which were game-changing).

They are penalized too often at the most critical moments — 10 penalties for 83 yards on this day.

Their special teams don’t make enough plays to make a difference.

Oh yes, and they don’t coach well.

Name the last tangible in-game adjustment head coach Adam Gase and/or defensive coordinator Gregg Williams has made to change the course of a game. Again, take all the time you need.

Exhibit A on Sunday: Darnold was 7 of 7 for 88 yards on the first drive and the Jets managed just 130 more total yards of offense the rest of the game.

Exhibit B: The Jets somehow have managed to marginalize Bell, one of the most dynamic running backs in the NFL. In a game that was never more than a two-possession deficit, how does Bell get just nine carries and five pass targets of the teams 53 offensive plays? The Jets lost on Sunday because they don’t do anything well. This team actually looks worse than the teams Todd Bowles coached before he was fired and replaced by Gase. And that has to be as disheartening as anything to their loyal fan base.

The Jets are a mere six days away from achieving a Kotite-ian calamitous low point if they lose to the “tanking-for-Tua’’ Dolphins next Sunday in South Florida.

The Jets fan base was sour on Gase before Sunday’s loss. Can you imagine the how angry that mob will become if the Jets cannot beat Gase’s former team, a rudderless outfit that is actually trying to lose games to secure the No. 1 draft pick in 2020?

Sunday’s game represents a precarious pressure point for Gase, who simply cannot lose to his former team, which happened to be quarterbacked (at least for the moment) by former Jets castoff Ryan Fitzpatrick, or he’s in danger of losing the fan base forever.

Safety Jamal Adams, one of the heart-and-soul players in the Jets locker room, sounded as despondent as he has in his three years with the team after the game.

“We’re 1-6, man,’’ Adams said in hushed tones, his hoodie nearly covering his eyes. “I mean, it’s been three years. Frustrating. I just want to win. All we can do is put our heads down and stick together. It has to come a point in time when enough is enough.’’

Enough should already have been enough entering Sunday’s game. Based on their embarrassing loss 33-0 to the Patriots last week, the Jaguars coaching staff was expecting a spirited performance out of the Jets.

And then the game started.

Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette burst through the Jets defense for 66 yards on the second play from scrimmage.

Two plays after the Fournette back-breaker, the Jags took a 6-0 lead on the first of three touchdown passes thrown by Gardner Minshew, a rookie sixth-round draft pick afterthought on the Jags’ roster until they lost starter Nick Foles 10 plays into the season.

Minshew should not be badly outplaying Sam Darnold, the third pick in the 2018 draft, but there it was Sunday, Minshew with three touchdown passes and no turnovers and Darnold with three interceptions, giving him seven in the past two games.

“Two of my worst games ever,’’ Darnold said.

The Jets had excuses in place earlier in the season, with Darnold missing three games with mononucleosis. But he’s been back for the past three games, beginning with the Jets impressive home win over the Cowboys, and it hasn’t looked so good since the win over Dallas.

Can you imagine what the Cowboys must be thinking watching how the Jets have performed the past two games after manhandling them?

“It’s not fun,’’ Gase said of his team’s predicament. “Nobody is pulling us out of this. We have to do it. No one else is coming to save us.”

There aren’t enough life preservers along the Atlantic coastline from Jacksonville to New York to save the Jets this season. It’s that bad.

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