Jason Taylor on Bowles: "He's freaking perfect"

Nice read. Couldn't ask for a better headcoach.

http://nypost.com/2015/09/09/legendary-de-on-todd-bowles-hes-freaking-perfect/

Legendary defensive end Jason Taylor does not need many words to describe what he thinks of Jets coach Todd Bowles.

“He’s freaking perfect,” the former Dolphins, Redskins and Jets defensive end said Tuesday.

Jets fans don’t need perfection. They’ll settle for someone who can pull the Jets out of the abyss the franchise has sunk into over the past four years, the team’s longest playoff drought since 1992-97.

Taylor, who spent two years in Miami with Bowles, said the Jets picked the right guy.

From Xs and Os:

“Schematically, forget about it,” Taylor said in a phone interview. “There’s nobody out there that can touch him.”

To keeping players in line:

“He’s honest, very honest, and he’ll tell the players exactly where they are and what they need to do,” Taylor said. “He’ll have a very focused, disciplined team that won’t have a ton of mental errors or penalties. He won’t put up with that.”

It is hard to evaluate a head coach off of one training camp, but Bowles passed every test this summer. From handling the major crises of Geno Smith’s broken jaw and Sheldon Richardson’s lead foot to not accepting a rash of preseason penalties, Bowles has struck the right note every time.

The true test starts Sunday, of course, when the Browns come to town for the season opener. Jets fans may be hesitant to fall in love with the new coach — each of their last three coaches reached the playoffs in his first season before the love affair went sour with Herm Edwards, Eric Mangini and Rex Ryan.

But it feels as if Bowles is exactly what this franchise needs. He comes across quietly and subdued during his press conferences, but Taylor said not to be fooled.

“Don’t mistake the meekness for weakness, put it that way, with Todd,” Taylor said. “He is very chill and laid back it seems, but he is on top of everything.”

Bowles smiles when asked about his laid-back persona. He admits he probably curses too much when getting his point across in the meeting room.

“They’ve got to understand it’s not just yelling to be yelling, it’s yelling to prove a point,” Bowles said. “Some things are teaching moments and some things are just yelling moments. I just try to be me. I don’t have a set time to do it. I get a feel for the team and I act accordingly.”

What gets Bowles worked up?

Mental errors, penalties, blowing an assignment, lining up in the wrong spot and being late.

“If you’ve got a history and you keep showing me the same thing, then I have a problem with you,” Bowles said.

But don’t expect to see Bowles screaming on the sideline Sunday.
“I yell during the week,” Bowles said. “I get it out Monday through Friday and then Sunday I’m pretty calm. I don’t panic.”

The 51-year-old from Elizabeth, N.J., did not panic either this summer when he found out Richardson, his star defensive lineman, was caught speeding away from cops in Missouri with a 12-year-old in the backseat or when a trainer came to his office and told him his starting quarterback had just been punched in the face by a backup linebacker.

Bowles likes to call them “body blows.” These felt more like Mike Tyson uppercuts.

“Initially it’s, ‘I can’t believe this happened’ and then 30 seconds later it’s, ‘OK, what do we do going forward,’ ” Bowles said. “You have to protect 52 guys instead of one guy. You have to make sure the team is focused in the right direction. You’ve always got to put that first. Then you deal with all the other situations as they come. You don’t make it bigger than it is and you move on.”

When Bowles became the interim head coach in Miami after Tony Sparano was fired in December 2011, Taylor found himself torn. He already had decided to retire at the end of the season, but he thought there was a chance Bowles could get the job full-time.

“If Todd’s the head coach, I want to play for Todd,” said Taylor, who retired when Bowles was passed over as the full-time coach. “That’s the kind of guy he is. I would run through a brick wall for him.”