Adam Gase Is a Parasite. But the Jets Need Him

-by Austin Stephens, co-host and producer of The Home Stand

Adam Gase, head coach of the New York Jets, is terrible. Actually, that may be too kind. Adam Gase is an all around absolutely god-awful coach. Probably one of the worst of our generation. He is a cancer; a parasite. He’s the Monstars’ basketball from Space Jam; leeching the talent of great players. It takes someone like Michael Jordan to overcome him. And when there’s a player great enough to do that, Gase will ride the coattails of success for his own gain. So now here he sits at 0-6 on this 2020 season, and the Jets have some decisions to make. But I think they’ve already made it. Gase will stay, for now. Because they need him. Because sometimes a parasite can do a little good before it totally kills you.

Gase got his NFL coaching start as the offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos under head coach John Fox in 2013. Gase contributed to a record breaking passing year for the Broncos’ quarterback. Of course, that just so happened to be Peyton Manning, who probably still would have set records with Spongebob Squarepants as his OC. Nevertheless, Gase rode this success to the OC of the Chicago Bears (again under John Fox), and then landed his first head coaching job for the Miami Dolphins in 2015.

In his first year as head coach, Gase led the Dolphins to a 10-6 record, and actually made the playoffs before losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wildcard round. Now you may be thinking “Weeell look at that. He’s not so bad. Playoffs in his first year as a head coach.” Okay, fair, but let’s not forget that he went 6-10 and 7-9 the next two seasons. But you know what the most damning thing is? Ryan Tannehill was the quarterback. A guy who’s now one of the top QBs in the league on the undefeated Tennessee Titans. Hindsight is 20/20, but man did Gase really screw that one up. Plus not to mention the fact top players were constantly asking for trades out of Miami under his coaching. All this led to his firing after the 2018 season.

Which landed him in his current role as head coach of the New York Jets. The big zero and six New York Jets. The last place, worst team in the league, probably gonna lose sixteen games, New York Jets. (Did I mention they haven’t won a game yet?) He took a great prospect in Sam Darnold and turned him into a puddle. He took Le’Veon Bell, who, at the time he signed, was one of the best running backs in the league, and made him a nonexistent puppy dog. Jarvis Landry, Kenyan Drake, DeVante Parker, Mike Gesicki; all guys who have thrived once out from under the thumb of Gase.

Then there’s also the Jamal Adams controversy. Tumultuous contract talks led to Adams demanding a trade, citing in interviews that Gase was not the right leader for the Jets and that he did not build good relationships with people in the building.

The guy does not know how to bring out the best in people. Quite the opposite actually.

He should be fired. The Texans fired Bill O’Brien and won their first game. The Falcons fired Dan Quinn and won their first game. So why hasn’t Gase been fired? Because the Jets don’t want to win, for one very simple reason. Trevor Lawrence, the golden boy atop the draft boards.

It’s a bold strategy. They’re risking everything now for a shot at a better future. And they’re banking on Adam Gase to continue being the little parasite that he is, to give them what they need, before they take their medicine and drop him down the toilet.

Is the Trubisky Era Over?

-by Dylan Webster, host of The Home Stand

We’ve seen the highs. We’ve seen the lows. We’ve seen the good, the bad, AND the ugly. Oh man, we sure have seen the ugly. Mitch Trubisky has had one of the most roller coaster careers that I can recall in my lifetime. Granted he’s only been in the NFL for four years, but it still seems we’ve seen both the floor and the ceiling of Trubisky’s abilities. But it also appears we may have seen the last of him in a Chicago Bears uniform.

As I read numerous articles and listened to countless talking heads discuss the end of the Trubisky era for Chicago, I came across something interesting. Something that really sparked my interest to write this piece. An old quote from Bears general manager Ryan Pace during Trubisky’s introductory press conference in 2017. One where Pace compared the top 3 drafted quarterbacks of that year’s draft (Trubisky, Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson, Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes) to a player that he was extremely familiar with during his time in New Orleans. Drew Brees.

“All these top quarterbacks, it’s just their ability to quickly process defense, process coverage, find open targets, not panic under pressure, deliver accurate throws when there’s a noisy pocket and things are collapsing. Those guys all have those traits. Mitch has those traits. Drew has those traits.”

In my opinion, most of that statement is true. Drew Brees is one of the best players in the game right now and obviously has those traits. Deshaun Watson shares those same traits which led him to a national championship at Clemson and continue to serve him as one of the young, rising superstars of the NFL today. Patrick Mahomes has shown he has those traits as well after winning a Most Valuable Player award in his second year, a Super Bowl in his third, and has now turned himself into the new face of the NFL. Mitch Trubisky, unfortunately, has none of these traits.

Trubisky has shown an inability to read the defense before the snap and recognize coverages after. He routinely overlooks or ignores wide open receivers in an effort to force throws into bad spots. He constantly demonstrates his “happy feet” in the pocket and will rush throws to avoid getting hit. His accuracy that was once listed as a strength, is now a weakness. He is not the “poor man’s Drew Brees” or “Brees 2.0” that Bears fans were promised. He’s nowhere close to that. He’s simply just the wrong guy.

Ryan Pace completely botched the evaluation process in a year when it was extremely important to get it right. The quarterback group was extremely weak in 2017. In any draft year, you hope for five or six good prospects at the quarterback position. This year had two. Watson and Mahomes. Many teams had Trubisky at a distant third. This misstep in Pace’s assessment of Trubisky led to the Bears selecting him second overall in the draft. And now with the success that we’ve seen from the other two quarterbacks so far in their young careers, reporters and analysts from around the league are led to label Mitch Trubisky as something that any high-profile draft pick hopes to avoid. A draft bust.

That being said, there is a small part of me that feels bad for Mitch. He’s just a kid that can’t seem to handle the pressure that comes with being an NFL quarterback. In a city that has long been asking for a savior at that position. He’s a good kid. Someone you absolutely want to root for. He’s handled all the ups and downs with poise and grace. He’s taken responsibility for his mistakes and said repeatedly that he needs to be better. But better never seems to come. I can’t say for sure that we’ve seen the limit of Trubisky’s talent, but I also can’t say that he’ll ever be able to tap into that potential and become that quarterback Chicago needs. And for that, it is time to move on.

The question for the future now is what the Bears will do after this season. There should be numerous options for the Bears as they can look through the draft or free agency for some kind of solution to their problems. For Bears fans, it’s another chance to get “the guy” this team has been looking for since Jim McMahon led the ’85 Bears to a Super Bowl win. For Ryan Pace, it’s one final shot to pick the right guy at the most important position in football. No matter what the outcome is, Chicago will once again be grasping at straws this offseason at the quarterback position. Hoping this time, they won’t draw the short one again.