NFL watching fiery Jets pairing of Adam Gase, Gregg Williams

MOBILE, Ala. — It is the Florham Park chemistry experiment people around the NFL are watching: What will combining one part Adam Gase and one part Gregg Williams yield?

We’ll soon find out how this new Jets coaching staff meshes, but it is a source of curiosity in the league and was a topic people were discussing this week at the Senior Bowl in bars, restaurants and hotel lobbies.

The new Jets head coach and defensive coordinator are both known as alpha males, the type not to take any crap and always have their intensity dialed up to 11. The main question from NFL people this week was: Can two people like that coexist on the same coaching staff? Will it lead to in-fighting? Will the offense and defense be pitted against each other?

Gase chose Williams, so he knows what he is getting into. Gase said on Day 1 on the job that he wanted to find a “head coach of the defense,” indicating he is going to turn that side of the ball over to Williams and stay out of his way. That could create an interesting situation.

Williams, a 20-year veteran as a defensive coordinator and head coach in the NFL, is known as a divisive personality. Last year as the Browns defensive coordinator, he was featured on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” fighting with offensive coordinator Todd Haley during one practice. After a defender hit quarterback Baker Mayfield, Haley yelled at the defense, “Don’t touch the [bleeping] quarterback in practice! Good teams don’t do it!” Williams responded, “somebody’s gotta [bleeping] block ’em.”

Inside the Jets, they are not afraid of this situation. They are embracing it. The word you hear from most people around the Jets is “energy.” There is a feeling Gase and Williams will both bring a new energy to the organization. Former coach Todd Bowles was laid back, too laid back in the eyes of some.

The Jets are hoping spirited practices and competition between the offense and defense in practices will push both sides to be better. There is also a feeling inside the Jets that an infusion of alpha was needed and players like Leonard Williams and Darron Lee could benefit from a kick in the butt.

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“I’m excited. I just keep picturing practice is … going to be the difference-maker for us is, it’s going to be like a game every day,” Gase said last week in an interview with Pro Football Talk. “Because the competition and the competitiveness between Gregg, myself, the staffs, that’s what you want. That’s how you get that energy you want to where the players feel that, they’re practicing like that, they’re creating that attitude. So now all of a sudden it becomes the fourth quarter, it’s a close game, our guys have been there before.”

The truth is most football teams feel like two squads — the offense and the defense. The two sides rarely feel like they are one unit. But it is a fine line. Some separation and competition is healthy. But sometimes one side begins to resent the other if there is a feeling of superiority on one side. Rex Ryan’s Jets fell victim to that with the defense increasingly feeling like the offense was not pulling its weight during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Finger-pointing begins and it is all downhill from there.

The Jets are counting on Gase being able to manage the situation and keep it from going from healthy competition to dysfunction. The model they are looking at is Sean McVay and Wade Phillips with the Rams, who will play in the Super Bowl next week. Now, Phillips does not quite have the outsized ego of Williams, but those who have worked with him say he does have more of a dominant personality than you think. The Rams have succeeded with McVay running the offense and Phillips controlling the defense.

The other element to watch in this chemistry experiment is general manager Mike Maccagan, who is quieter and more reserved than Gase and Williams. Will that lead to them pushing him around when it comes to personnel decisions? Maccagnan retained control of the 53-man roster, but he will listen to his coaches. But he also must be able to tell them “no” when he does not agree with their personnel evaluations. That may not be easy with Gase and Williams.

All of it sets up a fascinating storyline to watch with the 2019 Jets. Will they be one happy family or will they engage in more infighting than the five New York crime families?

Plenty of people around the NFL are fascinated to find out the answer.