When Adam Gase met with his players last Wednesday, he spoke about what kind of game it would be Sunday with the Steelers.
He expected it to be a low-scoring, defensive-dominated game in which they could not turn the ball over. It went pretty much according to plan, and Gase praised the way Sam Darnold managed the game. Darnold did not put up great statistics (183 yards, 1 TD), but he was not being asked to. He did not throw any interceptions, although a second-quarter fumble did prove costly.
“He played that game exactly the way that we talked about it on Wednesday,” Gase said, “when we met with our team and we talked about how we had to play that game, offense, defense and special teams, it was, outside of that one play, our guys executed what we wanted to do as a team. That was what really excited me because we took what we talked about on Wednesday, we practiced the right way, and then we went out and executed it.”
Gase placed the blame on himself for the strip-sack, saying he did not put Darnold in a great position there with the play call or the personnel grouping he had on the field when T.J. Watt beat tackle Brandon Shell to cause the fumble, which led to the game-tying touchdown for Pittsburgh.
“I put us in a bad spot,” Gase said. “He was waiting on a route which is 100 percent on me, I wish I would’ve stayed with a different personnel grouping which would’ve helped him in that situation get the ball out quicker, it was just a bad call by me that forced him to hold onto the ball.”
Darnold said he did not agree with Gase and he took the blame for holding onto the ball for too long.
LG Alex Lewis suffered an ankle injury in Sunday’s win. Lewis played the whole game, but told the trainers after the game he was in pain. The Jets are already down to their third-string right guard with Conor McDermott starting against the Steelers.
Brent Qvale probably will be the Jets’ third starting left guard this season if Lewis can’t play against the Bills.
For more on the Jets, listen to the latest episode of the “Gang’s All Here” podcast:
