EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. _ If New York Jets coach Adam Gase was feeling any relief or vindication, he wasn't showing it following Sunday's 34-27 win over the Giants.
Gase spent most of last week as a pinata for Jets' fans after the brutal loss to the Dolphins, with some even calling for him to be fired after just eight games. But after the win improved the Jets to 2-7, Gase's message to his locker room wasn't about any of that.
"I love Adam Gase just because the fact that he was happy about the win, but he's not satisfied," Jets running back Le'Veon Bell said. "He (told us he) wants to continue winning. He wants to continue moving up."
Sunday's win doesn't remove Gase from the hot seat. If the Jets fall to the 1-8 Redskins on Sunday in Maryland, the fan anger will ratchet right back to where it was before the Giants win. But it buys him a week-long respite from the heat, and a chance to focus on building for the future.
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The whole reason Gase was brought here was to develop Sam Darnold and get the offense humming. Sunday's performance, against a mess of a Giants' defense, was far from perfect. There were too many lulls and mistakes.
But it was something the Jets can build on. They scored a season-high 27 offensive points. And Darnold snapped out of his funk with a turnover-free performance, avoiding the crippling mistakes that had undermined him and the team in the previous three games.
"That's a big deal," Gase said of Darnold protecting the ball. "It's been a couple of weeks in a row where he has walked out of these games frustrated with what has happened with the turnovers and missed opportunities. For him to play a game like that is valuable for his growth."
The win also could have been a sign of something building between Gase and the team. The Jets players heard and felt all the external negativity following the loss to the Dolphins, whether they admit it or not. But they were also paying attention to how their coach reacted to it.
"He's great. There's no flinch in him," Darnold said. "I think that kind of ripples throughout the team. When you've got a head coach that's just going to continue to work no matter what the circumstances are, no matter what people are saying about him, that's a really good thing."
But, as Gase said in the locker room after Sunday's win: this isn't about one game, it's about stacking performances. And for Darnold and the Jets to show true growth, they must back it up on Sunday against Washington.
That's the only way to get the heat permanently off Gase.
