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      New York Sports Entering a Promising Era

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.The Friendship of LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyOn New York SportsThat Strange Feeling Going Around New York Is OptimismAfter two decades of frustration and incompetence broken up by an occasional championship (thanks, Giants), the region’s sports teams all appear headed in the right direction.Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving have the Nets poised to be true championship contenders for the first time since Jason Kidd was playing for the team.Credit…Jason Miller/Getty ImagesFeb. 23, 2021Updated 9:08 a.m. ETIt was a rough couple of decades for sports in New York, and not just because of the incessant losing. The last 20 years was an era of general ineptitude marked by a butt fumble, a Ponzi scheme, failed coaches, disgraced executives, a team hero getting dragged out of the arena by security and losing seasons stacking up like rotting garbage bags in the snow.To be a New York sports fan through all of that was a mental and emotional test of endurance just to remain loyal during perhaps the worst two-decade stretch for sports in the region.The dozen or so teams in the country’s biggest market, with all their resources and expectations, competed for a possible 223 championships over that period in six different leagues, but won only four titles, or 1.8 percent. Boston, a much smaller city, won 12 out of a possible 99 and one team in a an even tinier market — the San Antonio Spurs — won just as many as all the New York teams combined, despite having only 20 chances.But maybe, just maybe, the collective suffering is coming to a merciful end. You might have to look deep in a couple of cases, but for the first time in years, all the arrows seem to be pointing up.“We are on the cusp of maybe a good 10-year run where all the teams are in contention in their respective sport,” said Boomer Esiason, the Long Island-bred former N.F.L. M.V.P. who, as the host of the drive-time morning show on WFAN radio, has the pulse of the fans. “It’s really a fascinating time in New York sports.”Of course, it could all go sideways in the blink of a stupid trade or a shredded elbow, especially with articles like this one to jinx it. For now, optimism reigns as fans are allowed back in arenas and stadiums in limited numbers, and the following words can be typed in succession for the first time in ages: The Nets are stacked, the Mets are poised, the Giants seem to be building something real, the Jets have a bushel of draft picks and a commanding new coach. And the Knicks — the Knicks! — actually seem to know what they are doing.OK, we know you are skeptical. Twenty years of sports PTSD will do that. But here is a closer look at how the various New York teams are faring.Julius Randle, center, has received All-Star buzz but the team has several other promising young players like Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett.Credit…Jason Decrow/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe Nets are contenders. The Knicks are competent!The most astonishing turnaround in the metropolitan region at the moment belongs to the Knicks.People under the age of 30 may not remember, but there was a time when the Knicks owned New York, even more than the Yankees. When they played the Chicago Bulls, the Indiana Pacers or the Miami Heat in the playoffs in the 1990s, the city went on pause. That changed, coincidentally or not, around the same time James Dolan took ownership of the team and the Knicks only made the playoffs (barely) five times over 20 seasons.But the future for the Knicks shimmers a little brighter now with a combination of exciting young players, a highly respected head coach in Tom Thibodeau and a sensible executive with a vision in charge of it all (Leon Rose, that is, not Dolan).Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin are impressing in their first few months in the league. RJ Barrett, a former No. 3 over all pick, is only a year ahead of them on the development scale. And Julius Randle, a rare free agent success for the team, has broken out to become a star. With everyone committing to Thibodeau’s defensive mandate, the Knicks are floating close to .500 for the first time in eight years and are actually watchable again.“One hundred percent they are headed in the right direction,” said Isiah Thomas, the Hall of Fame point guard, N.B.A. analyst and former Knicks coach and executive. “Under Leon Rose and Thibodeau, what they have established with his defensive mentality is already paying dividends.”Sabrina Ionescu didn’t get much of a rookie season because of an injury, but she is expected to lead the Liberty into a promising new era.Credit…Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressWhile the Knicks are building organically, the Nets took the just-add-water approach with a powerful mix of three superstars — Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving. The Nets, fresh off a five-game sweep on the West Coast, are the No. 2 team in the Eastern Conference behind the Philadelphia 76ers and are title contenders for the first time since the Jason Kidd (playing) era.The Liberty have been quietly atrocious the last three years, but in 2020 they selected the incomparable point guard Sabrina Ionescu with the No. 1 over all pick in the W.N.B.A. draft. She played in only three games her rookie season because of an ankle injury, but is expected to help transform the team. Adding Natasha Howard, an All-Star who has won multiple championships, can’t hurt.Oh, and St. John’s men’s team is playing tough defense, too, and is over .500.Taken as a whole, Thomas said, “It’s very positive for basketball in New York right now.”Shortstop Francisco Lindor is expected to solidify the Mets’ defense while providing a middle-of-the-order bat.Credit…Gene J. Puskar/Associated PressD.J. LeMahieu and Luke Voit are two of the many bright spots for a loaded Yankees offense.Credit…Mike Stobe/Getty ImagesThe Mets have a savior. The Yankees are the Yankees.It is impossible to look past the Mets repeatedly hiring men accused of harassment, but the actual team on the field should be in for an exciting summer. Many of those fans waited years for an owner like Steven Cohen to take the team from the Wilpons and start spreading his billions around like a wiseguy at a craps game, but their best off-season move was a trade for Francisco Lindor, a transformational player. For now, fans and players alike believe Cohen will deliver a winner to Flushing. Luis Rojas, the Mets manager said the players’ optimism was palpable on the first day of spring training.“You feel the energy from the guys as far as talking about the passion that our new owners has shown in the off-season,” Rojas said.As for the Yankees, let’s cut them some slack for only winning one World Series since 2000. Ordinarily, that would be an abject failure, but compared to the other slouches in town, at least they actually grabbed one. For sheer consistency of effort over that time, the Yankees stood alone in the region.Coach Joe Judge appears to have changed the tone for the Giants.Credit…Adam Hunger/Associated PressCoach Robert Saleh is expected to bring intensity to the Jets’ sideline.Credit…Doug Benc/Associated PressIn new coaches, the New York football teams trust.Look, we know the last five years or so of football in New Jersey has been excruciating for the fans. But …“There is no question that both franchises are on the upswing,” said Esiason, who is also an N.F.L. analyst for CBS. “Both Giants and Jets fans feel there is an optimism surrounding the team, for different reasons.”Finding something positive about the Jets is really an undertaking for a historian. Actually, a geologist — what does the carbon dating reveal about their only trophy? Paleolithic period? Jurassic? After all, the Jets (2-14 last season) can’t even lose properly. By winning a second game, they missed out on a generational No. 1 draft pick. Trevor Lawrence almost certainly won’t be a Jet, but the No. 2 pick is better than, say, the No. 3 pick, and they have many more picks in the holster, too.“I would love to see Joe Douglas’s white board,” Esiason, who played for the Jets, said about the team’s shockingly competent general manager. “They’ve got tons of options.”They also have a new coach, Robert Saleh, whom people already love before he has run a practice. The Jets clearly took note of the success of their fellow Jersey swamp residents’ new tough-guy coach, and hired one of their own.Much of the hope surrounding the Giants emanates from that coach. Joe Judge changed the culture in his first year and led the G-men to six wins, which in the awful N.F.C. East made them a playoff contender.Plus, with two Super Bowl titles in the last 14 years, the Giants get the city’s only hall pass in this accounting.Alexis Lafreniere, center, is one of the many bright spots for a team that began a total rebuild a few years ago.Credit…Nick Wass/Associated PressHockey built itself back from the ground up.Esiason is also passionate hockey fan, and he pointed to a key moment in recent Rangers history that he sees as the catalyst for the entire region’s turnaround. In February 2018, the Rangers decided they were going to tear down the roster and rebuild, and sent a letter to season ticket holders advising them to say goodbye to their beloved older stars.“That has never been accepted in New York, for any team,” Esiason said. “It kind of set things in motion.”Now the Rangers are loaded with promising young players, like Alexis Lafreniere, last year’s No. 1 pick, Kaapo Kakko, the No. 2 pick in 2019, Adam Fox and goalie Igor Shesterkin, just to name a few.The Devils have also been plucking No. 1 picks, with Nico Hischier, who was just named captain last week, in 2017 and Jack Hughes in 2019, plus a deep pool of other intriguing prospects. Fans seem to appreciate where they are headed (and yes, they also get credit for capturing the region’s other title way back in 2003).Meanwhile Islanders fans are feeling good that Lou Lamoriello is the president of a team that made the conference finals last year.“Lou Lamoriello has basically resuscitated that moribund franchise,” said Esiason, whose son-in-law, Matt Martin, is a forward on the team, “and they have a new arena being built over in Elmont — who would have thought that would ever happen? Now, suddenly, they are one of the top teams in the N.H.L.”It’s all there. Maybe.Add it all up, from the Bronx to New Jersey — the Red Bulls are bound to win an M.L.S. Cup eventually, right? — and maybe the region really is headed for something better than four championships in the next 20 years.“New York is the greatest city in the world and it really needs some positive energy,” said Alex Rodriguez, the ESPN analyst who was part of the last Yankees championship in 2009. “Things are looking up. I think sports is ready to bring a lot of joy and hope for the folks of New York.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Tim Tebow Retires From Baseball

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAt the End of a Winding Path, Tim Tebow Retires From BaseballThe Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback turned Mets minor leaguer has ended his unlikely run at being a two-sport athlete.Tim Tebow never found the same success professionally that he did in college football. But he drew attention at every stop.Credit…Vera Nieuwenhuis/Associated PressFeb. 17, 2021, 8:57 p.m. ETEnding one of the more surprising — and unlikely — attempts at a two-sport career, Tim Tebow, the superstar college quarterback turned N.F.L. curiosity turned minor-league baseball player, announced his retirement from professional sports on Wednesday.“I loved every minute of the journey, but at this time I feel called in other directions,” Tebow said in a statement released by the Mets, who signed him to a minor-league deal in 2016. “I never want to be partially in on anything. I always want to be 100 percent in on whatever I choose.”While Tebow never went beyond Class AAA in baseball, he drew a great deal of attention, because of both his exploits on the football field and his charitable endeavors. He is the author of several books and has done missionary work around the world. He was often polarizing, though, with fans of both sports regularly disagreeing about his value and potential, as well as his outspokenness as a Christian. But wherever he went, Tebow drew a crowd.I never want to be partially in on anything. I always want to be 100% in on whatever I choose. Thank you again for everyone’s support of this awesome journey in baseball, I’ll always cherish my time as a Met! #LGM— Tim Tebow (@TimTebow) February 18, 2021
      “It has been a pleasure to have Tim in our organization, as he’s been a consummate professional during his four years with the Mets,” said Sandy Alderson, the president of the Mets. “By reaching the Triple-A level in 2019, he far exceeded expectations when he first entered the system in 2016, and he should be very proud of his accomplishments.”Tebow, 33, showed tremendous athleticism at every stop of his journey, but after a standout career at Florida, during which he won the 2007 Heisman Trophy and two national championships, he never found the right fit professionally.A first-round pick of the Denver Broncos in 2010, he struggled to make his run-heavy approach to playing quarterback work in the N.F.L., but he did manage a surprising close to the 2011 season. After going 7-4 as a starter, he shocked the sport by leading the Broncos to an upset of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild-card round of the playoffs.Tebow’s peak as a professional athlete came after the 2011 N.F.L. season when he led the Denver Broncos to an upset of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild-card round of the playoffs.Credit…Aaron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post, via Associated PressThat success was short-lived, however, as he was traded to the Jets before the next season. After arriving to much fanfare, he threw just eight passes for the Jets over the course of two games and was released. Attempts to catch on with the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles went nowhere.A year after his release from the Eagles in 2015, Tebow, who had not played organized baseball since his junior year in high school, was signed by the Mets.“This decision was strictly driven by baseball,” Alderson insisted at the time of the signing. “This was not something that was driven by marketing considerations or anything of the sort.”Tebow homered in his first professional at-bat, but over all he hit .223 in four seasons, with 18 home runs. In 2019, he hit .163 with four homers for Class AAA Syracuse.In announcing his retirement, he acknowledged the Mets fans who had pulled for him in his quest to join the ranks of Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders, athletes who reached the pinnacle in both football and baseball.“Thank you again for everyone’s support of this awesome journey in baseball,” he said. “I’ll always cherish my time as a Met.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Robert Saleh Outlines Plans for the Jets, With No Specifics About Quarterback

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyRobert Saleh Outlines Plans for the Jets, With No Specifics About QuarterbackSaleh praised Sam Darnold’s arm strength but stopped short of committing to him as the starter as the Jets hold the No. 2 pick in the draft.Jets Coach Robert Saleh, the former San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator, said he would leave the defensive play calling to his coordinator, Jeff Ulbrich.Credit…Jennifer Stewart/Associated PressJan. 21, 2021, 7:10 p.m. ETAs Robert Saleh said he planned to infuse every aspect of the Jets with a clear identity, the team on Thursday formally announced the bulk of the staff that will support him as he begins his first season as the head coach of an N.F.L. team.Several of the assistants have ties to the San Francisco 49ers, whose defense thrived with Saleh as its coordinator over the last four years. The Jets’ defense, which ranked 26th in points allowed in 2020, will be led by Jeff Ulbrich, who was promoted to the Atlanta Falcons’ co-defensive coordinator this season after serving as their linebackers coach since 2015.Ulbrich spent his entire playing career with the 49ers, as a linebacker from 2000 to 2009, and when he was an assistant coach for special teams with the Seattle Seahawks, he worked with Saleh during the 2011 season. Saleh said that, unlike some former coordinators when they become head coaches, he would leave the defensive play calling to Ulbrich and take on more of an oversight role.As Saleh, 41, tries to end the Jets’ 10-year streak of no postseason appearances, the question of whether to stick with quarterback Sam Darnold, the No. 3 pick in the 2018 draft, looms large. On Thursday, Saleh declined to discuss whether the team was considering using its No. 2 overall pick in this spring’s draft on another young quarterback or possibly trying to trade for the Houston Texans’ Deshaun Watson, who has reportedly become disaffected after the team’s hiring of a new general manager without his consultation.Saleh offered a glowing review of Darnold’s arm and said: “He’s fearless in the pocket, he’s got a natural throwing motion, he’s mobile, he’s extremely intelligent,” adding that “his reputation in the locker room is unquestioned.” Yet he stopped short of guaranteeing that the team would hold onto Darnold as its starter for the coming season.“We’re just getting the staff into the building so there’s so many things that we have to do from an evaluation standpoint with regards to the entire roster not just a quarterback,” Saleh said in his first news conference as head coach. “To give you that answer right now would not be fair.”The new offensive coordinator, Mike LaFleur, will be coming from the 49ers’ staff, as will John Benton, the offensive line coach and run game coordinator. Greg Knapp, the Jets’ new passing game specialist, most recently worked with the Atlanta Falcons, but he started his N.F.L. coaching career in San Francisco in the 1990s and overlapped with Saleh on the Texans’ staff in 2010. Rob Calabrese, who most recently worked with the Denver Broncos, will be the new quarterbacks coach.The 2020 Jets’ offense was the worst in the league in most categories under Adam Gase, who left the team with a 9-23 record during his two-year tenure. Saleh’s hope is to make the Jets’ offense reflect the 49ers’ system honed under Coach Kyle Shanahan.“There’s going to be a clear identity of what we’re trying to accomplish down in and down out on the offensive side of the ball, defensive side of the ball and special teams, for that matter,” Saleh said.Saleh said the team’s philosophy would be “all gas, no brakes,” a phrase he also used when he introduced himself as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator.“He has consistently demonstrated the ability to innovate, motivate and collaborate,” Christopher Johnson, who has been serving as chairman of the Jets for the past four years, said of Saleh. “His character and passion are what this team needs.”Johnson will also take on a new role with the Jets as their vice chairman, allowing his brother, Woody, to reclaim the decision-making spot as principal owner. Woody Johnson had been serving as ambassador to the United Kingdom since 2017 under the Trump administration; Christopher Johnson said his brother was flying back to the United States on Thursday.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      In Robert Saleh, the Jets Believe They Found the Head Coach They Need

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyIn Robert Saleh, the Jets Believe They Found the Leader They NeedSaleh’s defense carried the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance. But it was his ability to motivate players that brought him to New York.Robert Saleh, 41, was the San Francisco 49ers’ defensive coordinator for four seasons.Credit…Tony Avelar/Associated PressJan. 15, 2021Updated 7:51 p.m. ETRobert Saleh oversaw a San Francisco 49ers defense that came within minutes of winning the Super Bowl last year and that managed to rank among the league’s best this season despite missing many of its top players.But that is not why the Jets coveted him.After one of the worst seasons in franchise history, a 2-14 fiasco that exposed a lack of comprehensive oversight and resulted in Adam Gase’s dismissal after two years on the job, the Jets did not focus on finding an offensive mastermind or a defensive wizard when they searched for Gase’s replacement. They wanted a leader, an expert communicator, an energetic motivator capable of inspiring both the locker room and a fan base that had been growing more disgruntled by the day.An extensive process led the Jets to Saleh, who after twice interviewing with the team agreed late Thursday night to become their next head coach, the climax of his 20-year odyssey from a low-level position in the business world to the leadership of an N.F.L. team.Saleh, 41, who is of Lebanese descent, is believed to be the league’s first Muslim Arab American head coach. He spent 16 seasons as an N.F.L. assistant, the last four as the defensive coordinator with San Francisco, where players and fellow coaches alike expected him to get a head-coaching job someday.“When you’re looking for a head coach who can establish a culture and get the respect of his players and is just a great teacher, that’s Saleh,” the former N.F.L. linebacker Brock Coyle, who played two seasons for Saleh in San Francisco, said Friday in a telephone interview. “Every time I left a meeting with him, I knew exactly what needed to be done, whether it was in practice or the game.”Saleh worked with Richard Sherman in Seattle and then helped the star cornerback rejuvenate his career in San Francisco.Credit…Stan Szeto/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe Jets have struggled to establish much of anything over the past decade except dysfunction and despair, winning the third-fewest games in the N.F.L. since their last playoff appearance, in the 2010 season. Saleh provides a welcomed infusion of dynamism.With his shaved head and muscular physique, Saleh, a former tight end at Northern Michigan, cuts a commanding figure, and his demonstrative sideline presence — yelling, fist-pumping, high-fiving — after big defensive plays earned him sustained airtime during 49ers broadcasts.Off the field, Saleh projects a calm and collected demeanor, Coyle said, and in the high-stress world of coaching, that resonated with his players.“He really put critical thinking into his coaching,” Coyle said. “He’s not this ego-driven guy. He really thought about what’s the best way to relay the message he wanted to his player and always wanted to hear what the players thought. His door was always open.”After a ragged first two seasons under Saleh’s watch, the 49ers’ defense, fueled by an influx of talent, powered the team to the Super Bowl, which San Francisco lost to Kansas City. Impressed, the Browns interviewed him in the last off-season, and after learning that Cleveland would be hiring Kevin Stefanski instead, the 49ers’ head coach, Kyle Shanahan, said: “Every year we keep him we’ll be very fortunate. Saleh’s going to be a head coach in this league. He could’ve been one this year. Most likely, he’ll be one next year.”Several vital members from the 49ers’ 2019 defense, including Nick Bosa, Richard Sherman and Dee Ford, missed most of this season with injuries, but the team still finished fourth in passing yards allowed and fifth in total yards allowed per game.As Saleh sets about assembling a team to his specifications, it’s likely that he will import players and coaches from San Francisco. That group could include Mike LaFleur — the younger brother of Packers Coach Matt LaFleur, who was the best man at Saleh’s wedding — as the Jets’ offensive coordinator.Mike LaFleur, right, with 49ers Coach Kyle Shanahan. LaFleur is a likely candidate to lead Saleh’s offense with the Jets.Credit…Jeff Chiu/Associated PressIf so, LaFleur would surely borrow Shanahan’s run-heavy scheme, loaded with motions and shifts, a decision that could influence how the Jets approach the quarterback position this off-season. The incumbent, Sam Darnold, played in a version of that scheme as a rookie, but the Jets must decide whether to continue building around Darnold or to trade him, filling his spot with a veteran or a first-round pick, perhaps Justin Fields of Ohio State or Zach Wilson of Brigham Young.Saleh grew up in Dearborn, Mich., home to one of the country’s largest Arab American communities, and after graduating from Northern Michigan in 2001, picked finance over football, going to work for Comerica Bank. But a few months later, when his brother David escaped the South Tower during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Saleh reassessed what he wanted from life.“His love and passion for football is ultimately why he wanted to get into coaching,” David Saleh told The Detroit News in 2020. “He just didn’t want to leave the game.”Saleh worked for three college programs over the next four years before joining the Houston Texans as a defensive intern in 2005, a move that altered the trajectory of his career. There, he met Shanahan, who would hire him in 2017 as the 49ers defensive coordinator.Saleh became the fourth head coach of color currently in the N.F.L., according to the league’s measures of diversity, with four openings still to be filled. His hiring came several months after the league updated the Rooney Rule, which aims to increase diversity in candidacies for head coaching jobs and certain front office roles. The rule was changed in May to bump up its interviewing requirement from at least one external minority candidate for each head coaching position to at least two.When Jets General Manager Joe Douglas recently delineated his ideal qualities for the next coach, he only alluded to football. He mentioned character, integrity and communication skills. After interviewing nine candidates, after listening to their plans and their visions and their ambitions, Douglas and the Jets knew what they needed.They needed Robert Saleh.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      N.F.L. Black Monday: Jaguars Fire Marrone After Jets Dump Gase

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyN.F.L. Firings: Jaguars’ Marrone and Jets’ Gase Are OutDoug Marrone’s departure in Jacksonville came hours after the Jets fired Adam Gase. But Black Monday may not be as dark as usual this year.Jacksonville’s Doug Marrone, left, with the Jets’ Adam Gase in 2019. Both were fired after Week 17.Credit…Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressJan. 4, 2021, 9:42 a.m. ETBlack Monday, the day when N.F.L. head coaches are often shown the door, wasn’t as black this year. But that was only because so many coaches had already been fired.Doug Marrone of the Jaguars was the first to learn his fate on Monday morning, with the news confirmed in a statement from the Jacksonville owner Shad Khan.Statement from Owner Shad Khan. pic.twitter.com/cmLo7ss9gS— #DUUUVAL (@Jaguars) January 4, 2021
      Marrone joined Adam Gase of Jets, who lost his job on Sunday, and three coaches who didn’t even make it through the season: Bill O’Brien of the Texans, Dan Quinn of the Falcons and Matt Patricia of the Lions.Who Is Out?Doug Marrone, JaguarsThe Jaguars won their first game of the season against the Colts, launching a wave of Minshew Madness headlines about the triumph of their colorful quarterback, Gardner Minshew. They then proceeded to lose 15 games in a row. That signaled the end of the line for Marrone, the former Buffalo Bills head coach who took the Jaguars to the A.F.C. championship game in his first season, but was 12-36 since. The Jaguars’ 1-15 record will give them the top pick in this year’s draft, a selection they are very likely to use on Trevor Lawrence of Clemson. Farewell, Minshew Madness.Adam Gase, JetsGase was fired Sunday, not long after the Jets lost to the Patriots. The team finished the season 2-14 after an 0-13 start. Gase was expected to be an offensive guru, but he was 9-23 in his two seasons, and the young quarterback Sam Darnold struggled. With the Browns making the playoffs after 17 years, the Jets now hold the longest streak of missing the playoffs, 10 seasons. The next longest playoff drought is five.Midseason FiringsThree head coaches did not even make it to Week 17.Bill O’Brien was fired by the Texans after an 0-4 start. O’Brien was 52-48 with four playoff appearances and two playoff wins, but his roster moves as general manager didn’t produce the success needed to keep his job.Dan Quinn was fired by the Falcons after an 0-5 start. In five-plus seasons, he was 43-42 with two playoff appearances and a loss to the Patriots in Super Bowl LI.Matt Patricia was fired by the Lions after a Thanksgiving Day loss. In two plus seasons, Patricia was 13-29-1.Who’s Next?Four other teams who put up poor records are not expected to fire their head coaches.The Bengals (4-11-1) got an exciting season out of the rookie quarterback Joe Burrow, but despite that poor record the team said Monday that they would not dismiss Coach Zac Taylor.Doug Pederson is still revered in Philadelphia for his Super Bowl season and despite some grumbling in his city and his locker room he is expected to keep his job even though the Eagles ended up 4-11-1 in a terrible division.The Panthers and Broncos were both 5-11 this season, but Matt Rhule and Vic Fangio are likely to stay as well.The Chargers may be a different story: Although their record was a bit better than those teams, they may fire Anthony Lynn, who followed a 12-4 season in 2018 with records of 5-11 and 7-9.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Jets’ Final Loss to Patriots Comes Ahead of Expected Overhaul

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyPatriots 28, jets 14Jets’ Final Loss to Patriots Comes Ahead of Expected OverhaulThe Jets lost an early lead to New England and finish with a 2-14 record amid reports that Coach Adam Gase will be fired and as the team decides whether it will retain quarterback Sam Darnold.Cam Newton ran past Jets safety Marcus Maye in the first half of the Patriots’ win on Sunday. Both players’ futures with their teams are up in the air.Credit…Winslow Townson/USA Today Sports, via ReutersJan. 3, 2021Updated 9:29 p.m. ETFOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Cam Newton saved his best performance this season for what was likely his final game with the New England Patriots.Newton threw three touchdown passes and caught another, and the Patriots rallied to beat the Jets, 28-14, on Sunday.The win snapped a three-game losing streak for New England (7-9), which earned its 10th straight win over the Jets (2-14) but won’t be playing in the postseason for the first time since the 2008 season.While it won’t erase the disappointment of New England missing the playoffs, it was a nice finish for Newton, who entered the season with the weighty task of succeeding Tom Brady following his departure to Tampa Bay.Newton was 21 of 30 for 242 yards, his first game with multiple passing touchdowns this season. He also ran 11 times for 79 yards. Newton played under a one-year deal this season. He said he hasn’t contemplated where he will go from here.“I have my desires,” he said. “I know where my heart’s at. I know the things of who I am. But as far as that, I can’t really speak on that right now. But just my whole time in New England has just been a blessing. Just see how it goes and go from there.”Coach Bill Belichick said that after a disappointing stretch he was proud of the way his team bounced back“It was good to end a disappointing season on a positive note,” he said.Belichick said he wasn’t prepared to address Newton’s future.“I don’t really have anything to say about next year,” Belichick said.New England trailed 14-7 early in the third quarter, but outscored the Jets 21-0 the rest of the way in what was likely Adam Gase’s final game as the Jets’ coach. Gase said he didn’t have any expectations regarding his future.“I’m sure we’ll talk tonight or tomorrow,” Gase said. “I’m not going to predict anything.”Quarterback Sam Darnold, whose future with the Jets is also uncertain, was 23 of 34 for 266 yards, a touchdown and two second-half interceptions. Like Gase, he said he wasn’t thinking about his future beyond Sunday.“I’m not going to do that right now,” Darnold said. “Whether I stay, whether I leave — whatever happens, I’ll deal with it when it comes.”The Jets moved quickly on the first possession of the third quarter, taking their lead on Josh Adams’ 1-yard touchdown run. The score was set up by a 53-yard completion from Darnold to Breshad Perriman that got the ball inside the Patriots’ 15-yard line.New England went to its bag of tricks to tie it back up.With the ball on the Jets’ 19-yard line, Newton handed the ball off to Sony Michel, who flipped the ball back to receiver Jakobi Meyers on an end-around. But Meyers stopped in the backfield and tossed a pass to a wide-open Newton for the touchdown. It marked the second touchdown pass of the season for Meyers.Darnold was intercepted by J.C. Jackson on the Jets’ ensuing drive, giving the ball back to the Patriots on the Jets’ 45-yard line.The Patriots took advantage, scoring four plays later on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Newton to tight end Devin Asiasi to make the score 21-14 with 13:56 left in the game.Two series later, Newton connected with Michel for a 31-yard score.It was 7-7 at halftime as both offenses had trouble sustaining drives. The exceptions came at the beginning and end of the half.Newton made plays with both his arm and feet on the opening series of the game to put the Patriots in front.First, he scampered for a 49-yard run to get New England down to the 15-yard line. Four plays later, he connected with James White on a 7-yard touchdown pass to cap a seven-play, 84-yard drive.The Jets had their most success on their second to last possession of the first half when Darnold punctuated their 10-play, 80-yard drive by threading a pass between a pair of defenders in the end zone to Chris Herndon for a 21-yard touchdown.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Adam Gase, Hired to Spark Jets’ Offense, Is Out After Two Seasons

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAdam Gase, Hired to Spark Jets’ Offense, Is Out After Two SeasonsGase sputtered to a 9-23 record in a tenure during which star players left disgruntled and the franchise quarterback, Sam Darnold, went underdeveloped.Adam Gase, right, was tapped to revitalize the Jets’ offense. Two seasons later, quarterback Sam Darnold has regressed and the team owns the N.F.L.’s longest playoff drought.Credit…Charles Krupa/Associated PressJan. 3, 2021, 9:13 p.m. ETOn the day the Jets introduced Adam Gase as their next head coach, their chief executive, Christopher Johnson, heralded an organizational shift. After hiring defensive-minded coaches for more than two decades, it was time for the Jets, Johnson said, to align with league trends.“To paraphrase Wayne Gretzky,” Johnson said of Gase, “he’s coaching where football is going.”That assessment was hardly prescient. Gase’s failure to oversee a capable offense resulted in one of the worst seasons in franchise history and precipitated his dismissal Sunday, hours after a Week 17 loss to the Patriots dropped the Jets’ record to 2-14 and less than two years after Johnson appointed him in January 2019 to replace Todd Bowles.Instead of revitalizing the Jets and developing quarterback Sam Darnold, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 draft, into a star, Gase departs as yet another caretaker of the team’s postseason drought, the longest in the league, 10 seasons and counting.“While my sincere intentions are to have stability in our organization — especially in our leadership positions — it is clear the best decision for the Jets is to move in a different direction,” Johnson said in a statement. “We knew there was a lot of work that needed to be done when Adam joined us in 2019. Our strong finish last year was encouraging, but unfortunately, we did not sustain that positive momentum or see the progress we all expected this season.”As the Jets lost their first 13 games, careening toward winless infamy until they upset the Rams in Week 15 and outlasted Cleveland in Week 16, their struggles recalled another woeful era: their clumsiness under Rich Kotite — before Gase, the last offense-oriented coach the Jets had hired — who coached the team to its 1-15 nadir in 1996. In two seasons under Gase’s stewardship, the Jets went 9-23, Darnold regressed and the team’s offense ranked either last or next-to-last in points and total yardage each year. They finished last in both categories this season.“If there’s one side of the ball that I want to make sure is right — that one — it has not happened and that’s on me,” Gase said last week.Gase, 42, was a successful coordinator with Denver and Chicago, calling offensive plays for Peyton Manning in his record-setting season with the Broncos in 2013. Manning emphatically endorsed Gase to Johnson during the search process. Much as the Jets were motivated to acquire Tim Tebow in 2012 because he had led a late comeback to defeat them, team executives were also intrigued by Gase, in part, because he won five of six games against the Jets in his three seasons coaching the Dolphins, who fired him the day after the 2018 season ended. Gase went 23-25 with Miami.The Jets’ job opened at the same time, an inflection point across the N.F.L. landscape: Quarterbacks threw the most touchdown passes, and teams combined to score the most touchdowns, in a single season to that point.The aerial revolution prompted teams with vacancies to identify head coaches who could revamp desultory offenses and, though in 2018 the Jets actually scored more points and gained more yards than Miami did under Gase that season, the Jets believed he was the right person to mold Darnold at quarterback, the position that has vexed them like no other.What followed instead were spells of ineptitude and irreconcilable rifts. Four months after Gase was hired, the Jets fired their general manager, Mike Maccagnan, despite letting him run the two most critical parts of the 2019 off-season: the draft and free agency. Gase later dismissed the perception that he had won a power struggle between the two men.Then, after reportedly opposing the Jets’ decision to sign running back Le’Veon Bell in March 2019, Gase angered him by not deploying him to what Bell perceived was the best of his capabilities. The team wound up releasing Bell in October 2020. In that, Bell became the latest player alienated by this edition of Jets leadership, fronted by Gase and the new general manager Joe Douglas. Bell joined the star safety Jamal Adams, who was dealt to Seattle in July, and Quincy Enunwa and Kelechi Osemele, who had been upset with the way the team handled their injuries.The Jets, after closing the 2019 season by winning six of their final eight games, offered a smidgen of hope for a franchise that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2010 under Rex Ryan.It was a mirage. They were non-competitive in most games, and though teams generally aspire to peak in late December, the Jets’ late-season victories might have done more harm than good. To Gase’s credit and perhaps to the detriment of the franchise, his players did not quit on him. His coaching legacy will be rallying his players enough to win twice in the last three weeks, victories that cost the Jets the No. 1 overall selection in the 2021 draft because they no longer had the league’s worst record. Instead, they will choose second, behind Jacksonville.Almost certainly the Jets would have used that top pick to take Trevor Lawrence, the consensus top quarterback prospect, should he elect to skip his senior season at Clemson. Now, just three years after drafting Darnold out of Southern California, the Jets must decide whether to continue building around him; pursue a veteran stopgap in free agency or via trade; or draft a successor, perhaps Justin Fields of Ohio State or Zach Wilson of Brigham Young.Gase, like Ryan and Bowles before him, focused on his specialty, giving the deposed coordinator Gregg Williams — fired after his disastrous call in Week 12 led to the Raiders’ scoring the winning touchdown with five seconds left — autonomy over the defense, and the entire operation suffered: The Jets allowed 457 points, the most in franchise history.While teams around the league this season scored points and touchdowns at an unprecedented rate, surpassing the standard set in 2018, the Jets most definitely did not. They entered Week 17 last in most offensive categories, including yards, passing yards, points and first downs per game; yards and points per drive; and red-zone efficiency.That impotence doesn’t seem to track with something else Johnson said back in mid-September.Gase, Johnson said, had a “brilliant offensive mind.” With the Jets no closer to a playoff berth, no closer to where football is going, now it is time for Gase to use that mind somewhere else.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More