Gregg Williams made an indefensible decision in the final seconds of Sunday's loss to the Raiders, and the New York Jets aren't going to defend it, or him.
The Jets fired their defensive coordinator on Monday morning, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed, less than 24 hours after his reckless all-out blitz in the final seconds led directly to the team falling to 0-12 after losing a game they should have won.
At least Williams doesn't have to worry about going 0-16 twice. Williams was the defensive coordinator for the Browns in 2017, when they became the second team in NFL history to finish a season 0-16.
And if the Jets lose their next four games to fall to the same fate, he won't be there to suffer, but his name will forever be attached to it for what happened late Sunday afternoon.
The Jets had the game won against the Raiders. Las Vegas was down 28-24 and had the ball a the Jets' 46-yard line with 13 seconds remaining and no time outs. All the Jets had to do was keep the Raiders out of the end zone.
But instead of protecting the goal line by dropping safeties back, Williams sent eight men on a zero coverage blitz. It doesn't make a lot of sense in any situation with the game on the line.
But it makes even less sense considering that the Jets were playing two rookies at cornerback.
And considering that Raiders rookie Henry Ruggs III, one of the fastest players in the NFL, was matched up against Jets undrafted rookie Lamar Jackson, Williams' decision becomes so bad that the Jets were left no choice but to fire him after thee predictable happened: Raiders quarterback Derek Carr saw the blitz coming before it happened, stepped up in the pocket, and delivered a perfect strike to Ruggs who beat Jackson for the touchdown.
Safety Marcus Maye, who rarely gets upset about anything, repeated at least six times after Sunday's game that the team needs to be "in a better call," saying that Williams needed to do more to help them out in that situation. And coach Adam Gase didn't try to defend Williams' decision, saying only that the Jets were trying to get more pressure on Carr because he had struggled with that throughout the day.
It didn't work. And Williams paid for it with his job.
The longtime coach and coordinator has built a reputation as one of the better defensive minds in the NFL. But he also is known for his brash confidence which borders on arrogance. And that's why Sunday's unnecessary risk was not surprising.
Williams is not the only reason the Jets are 0-12. And firing him doesn't change the fact that Gase has been a massive disappointment in his two-plus seasons with the Jets, and will almost certainly be facing the same fate a month from now.
But Williams' terrible decision led directly to the Jets losing this game. And that's why he won't be on the sideline again this season.
