Jets’ Adam Gase on Gregg Williams’ Comments: Everyone Needs to Shut Up and Play

Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

New York Jets head coach Adam Gase responded to defensive coordinator Gregg Williams’ apparent jab at the team’s offense this week.

According to Al Iannazzone of Newsday, Gase said, “Everyone needs to shut up and play,” when asked about Williams’ comments during the CBS production meeting.

Per ESPN’s Rich Cimini, Williams said the following when asked Friday about the Jets’ defensive struggles this season: “It’s not a very good number—and a lot of it’s not all defensively. It’s points on the board and we’ve got to do a good job of that, and how you do that is make them kick more field goals, got to do a better job in field-position-type things. As you see, the scoring is up in the league, but it still makes me sick.”

When asked to clarify what he meant when saying “it’s not all defensively,” Williams said, “You’d have to figure it out.”

The Jets entered Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins as arguably the worst team in the NFL with an 0-5 record.

New York has been a mess on both sides of the ball, as it ranked 31st in total offense and 32nd in scoring, as well as 25th in total defense and 30th in scoring defense ahead of Week 6.

Despite their lack of success, the Jets entered the week with a plus-two turnover differential. That means the defense hasn’t necessarily been dealt too many poor hands in terms of working with a short field, although New York’s 86 first downs ranked 30th in the NFL entering the week.

With the Jets unable to sustain long drives on offense, the defense has spent too much time on the field throughout the 2020 campaign.

Gase is the offensive play-caller, and while he said last week that he was open to giving up those duties, he decided to retain them ahead of the game against Miami.

Williams suggesting that the defense has been put in tough situations by the offense was essentially a direct shot at Gase and a microcosm of the internal struggles that seem to be plaguing the Jets.

With safety Jamal Adams forcing a trade to the Seattle Seahawks before the season and running back Le’Veon Bell getting himself released last week, there is seemingly no more dysfunctional franchise in the NFL right now than the Jets.