New York Jets: Adam Gase’s offense is turning a corner

10 games into his coaching tenure with the New York Jets, head coach Adam Gase’s offense is finally starting to breakthrough.

In his first eight games with the New York Jets, Adam Gase’s offense was ranked 32nd in football and his team sat at a 1-7 record. A demoralizing loss to the lowly Miami Dolphins was seemingly the dagger to a truly awful season.

Two weeks later, his squad sits at a not-so-embarrassing 3-7 rolling on a two-game win streak and his offense is coming off their best game of the year by a landslide. Say what you want about Gase and his Jets tenure so far, but give credit where it’s due.

His offense has drastically improved.

Sam Darnold began being more assertive in game planning with Gase, reportedly confronting his coach following his brutal outing against the New England Patriots. Darnold went over the playbook with Gase, telling him what he felt they could run effectively and what they couldn’t.

Since that meeting, the Jets have a 2-1 record and have had some of their most productive games of the season offensively.

In those games, Darnold has completed 65 percent of his passes while throwing for 783 yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions. His rating in these three games was 101.5, compared to a season rating of 81.1.

Gase has play-called to Darnold’s strengths much better in recent weeks, allowing Darnold to do what makes him great: roll out of the pocket and make plays. This has been a gigantic beneficiary to Darnold. Standing behind the Jets’ inept offensive line was never an answer to their problems.

Darnold had the best game of his NFL career on Sunday, posting a career-high four touchdowns and a QB rating of 121.8 in the Jets’ dominant performance against the Washington Redskins.

He’s revived what looked like a throwaway season for him, getting his TD:INT ratio positive, and more importantly, winning football games.

These games may have been against subpar defenses, but so what? The Jets offense looks competent for the first time in far too long.

If the Jets can keep their hot streak rolling against the playoff-contending Oakland Raiders, that would be a very convincing win for Gase and his staff. The longer Darnold has with Gase and his offense, the better he will get under it.

The Jets weren’t necessarily destined for offensive success with a new head coach, an everlasting list of injuries, and a 22-year-old quarterback trying to handle it all under center isn’t a formula for success.

Now that the two have worked with each other, with Gase coaching to Darnold’s strengths, hopefully they can get the offense rolling in the second half of the season.