No, Bowles is responsible for making his team a winner. That includes his influence over their personal conduct. Can he be there holding their hand all the time? Of course not! But when they fuck up, he needs to impose some consequences that are meaningful, meaning that it affects the player's playing time or position on the depth chart. It's not a case of "...head coach should feel responsible for what players such as Ray Lewis and Aaron Hernandez do off the field ...", it's that the head coach IS responsible for how his team performs on the field, and when players think they can get away with childish/thuggish behavior off the field, it carries over into the locker room and onto the field. The fact that Bowles assumes that his players will "act like grown men" is a major failure on his part. Until he remedies this, he's not going to succeed, and neither will the Jets.
Neither Anderson nor Lee have ever given any indications of on the field issues. In fact we don't even know what happened off the field. In a completely different spectrum, neither Lewis nor Aaron carried their horrific behavior on the field, Both continued to play till the law prevailed. No one felt the HC were not doing their job. So what is the message you are tying to send. That Bowles should punish a yet to be determined off the field incident by not letting them play? I'm going out on a limb here but if Bowles had a terrific second season this would not even come up. Why don't we give him a chance to determine what really happened before we indict him. Reestablishing locker room rigor and getting rid of dissidents was a damned good start.
If the guest speaker is late for the team meeting /speaking engagement, will TB roll out his "that's ok, not everyone has an alarm clock" pass like he proposed for own players who were or might be late in the future ?
Because they actually had a shot to be a playoff team last year on paper before the season went off the rails in Week 3, and this year they only have a shot at the #1 pick.
Part of TB's responsibility is setting an example--his announcement this offseason on being late for team meetings did not set much of one.
With Fitz at QB, I'd say that they didn't really have a shot at the playoffs. I'd say that their chances were probably even less with Geno starting or Petty.
problem with the team Bowles took over is 50% of the team were players in their last yr or two and couldn't give a rats ass about a 5 yr rebuilding. They just wanted to get out there, make a splash and a few bucks, then get the fuck outta there ....for good.. Noone was staying late to show anybody anything. Fuck 'em, the rooks that is. The vets had better things to do.
You can't measure progress in wins and losses this year IMO. That's extremely unfair to both Bowles and the team. Also we'd be switching schemes again so it'd be a waste of a year to fire him all because of a record. If the team is playing hard, smart and disciplined then continue to build from there.
LOL a Bowles team smart and disciplined. Sometimes you have to cut bait and realize that you made a bad hire. Bowles is a bad hire just like Idzik was a bad hire. As soon as Johnson sees mega empty seats in the stadium he will can Bowles.
I see a parallel between this and how he manages a football game. He does not think 2 steps ahead, he's reactionary. Why does it take a season like last year for him to understand/fix a bad locker room. Do we have to fail to succeed. Same thing for managing a game. He does not think about the next play till the 40 second clock starts, great game day coaches like Parcells knew what he was going to do on 4th down after the second down, whether that be call a timeout, run the ball, go for it, kick it, punt it or whatever. I have zero confidence in his game day decisions and building of the roster coming out of training camp.
If I remember correctly, Mangini brought in outside motivators to speak to the team. From what I heard, the players appreciated it. Team finished 10-6 that year, so it may have helped. Don't know if he did the same thing the following year when Pennington and Fiedler both got hurt and the team went 4-12. Motivation is good, but talent is better.
"Bowles Addressing Leadership" The HC whose players didn't show to most game last season... who didn't bench players for avoiding tackling, or being late, or missing practices.. that's the guy who is addressing the leadership? Isn't it kinda an oxymoron? Like "Bill Cosby addressing objectification of women", or "Kim Jong-un addressing sanity"?
I think Rex did as well. Even tried the team building events at D&B's. These things may work, they may not. I think a financial speaker would be more effective... you play better, you maka more money.
Speaking of Bill Parcells and great coaches... Bill Parcells only had an overall coaching record of 12-19 after his first 2 seasons with NYG as an NFL Head Coach. Didn't have a winning season until his 3rd year as head coach. Won a SB during his 4th year. Chuck Noll only had an overall coaching record of 6-22 after his first 2 seasons with Pittsburgh as an NFL head coach. Didn't have a winning seaaon until his 4th year as head coach. Won his 1st (of 4 SB's) during his 6th year. Bill Belichick only had an overall coaching record of 13-19 during his first 2 seasons with CLE as an NFL head coach. Didn't have a winning season until his 4th year as head coach. Won 1st SB during his 7th year. Bill Walsh only had an overall coaching record of 8-24 during his first 2 seasons with SF as an NFL head coach. Didn't have a winning season until his 3rd year. Won a SB during his 3rd year. Those are only a few examples but you can go on & on regarding All-Time great NFL head coaches; who had losing records after only their 1st two seasons. Todd Bowles on the other hand is entering only his 3rd year as NFL head coach with a record of 15-17 after his first 2 seasons as Jets head coach. I've got to first give Todd Bowles the time to find his quarterback. A chance to build his type of defensive secondary along with having an opportunity to re-build a roster with "his players" alongside of Maccagnan before trying to "run him out of town". If fans had the chance to write their book after only two seasons... All-Time great coaches such as Noll, Walsh, Parcells and Belichick would have been ran out of town by their fan base(s) before even making it to their 3rd year as NFL head coach.
I don't know if any of those coaches had their team quit on them as the Jets did on Bowles last year. I do believe Todd is over his head.
Excellent post! I agree. With the better HCs/OCs (whoever calls the plays) they have a plan of attack. They have options already lined up when the game plan doesn't work of plays don't work. They have ways of setting up the D so that plays will work. They are like chess masters.
You have a point, but fans were more patient when Parcells, Noll, Belichick, and Walsh were rookie HCs. I'm sure that some fans wanted them fired, but the overwhelming majority was more patient. I'd love to speak with someone who was there firsthand observing each of those coaches' first couple of years and find out what their weaknesses were, what they did that gave any hint at their greatness, and what they struggled with or were poor at. I'd also have to see what their rosters were. I do think it totally premature, if not silly to even mention Todd Bowles in any kind of relation to or comparison with those HOF coaches. Bowles benefitted from a career season from Fitz his first year, and last year when Fitz fell back to earth, Bowles was exposed. So far, there's not much positive that I can say about Bowles.
I don't disagree with the nucleus of this post, but you are describing damn near the whole fucking team last year. What was he supposed to do, sit everybody ? I don't like, or dislike, Bowles yet. I see things I don't like, that dumb ass alarm clock conversation for example, but the problems in this team goes way back before Bowles ever got here. This "team" has been quitting at the drop of a hat since before the Sanchez days. Fitz' collapse was just the most recent excuse. A big time blood letting like this is exactly what this "team" needed. Let him clean house and start from scratch like this, then let's see what he's got. Sometimes in this game you can do a lot more with young, hungry, players with a ton of heart, than you can "experienced veterans" with little heart and even less ambition. I'm in wait and see mode.
I disagree. That team did not "quit" on coach Todd Bowles. If anything Ryan Fitzpatrick showed his true colors and literally threw the entire season away with a losing record of 3-8. If anything Ryan Fitzpatrick (himself) gave coach Bowles (and his teammates) little to no chance of winning while throwing only 12 TD's (27th) when compared to 17 INT's (3rd most) & 9 fumbles (5th worst), an awful QB Completion Percentage of only 56.6% (29th) and a laughing stock 6.7 Yards Per Pass attempt (26th) to go along with a disaster QB Rating of 69.6 ranking 30th (dead last). I'm sorry but Fitzpatrick went back to being a career Shitztragic and simply shit the bed in 2016. Ryan Fitzpatrick single handedly threw the season away and flushed 2016's potential down the drain at the same time. But this team did not "QUIT" on Todd Bowles. You may or may not be aware but as a team we went 2-2 during our final 4 games under coach Bowles and throughout the season they actually lost 4 games by 5 points or less (by a combined 13 points). Last years team easily wins 9 games under Bowles without horrific QB play. Just like the year before under Bowles. When his QB (Fitz) actually had a decent QB year. We as a team knocked on the postseason door and at least had a fighting chance. 4 loses last year by 5 points or less. Could have easily been a 9-7 team. But then Fitzpatrick happened.
