That's what has befuddled me as well. I could see where Mangini's style wouldn't sit well with players. I could even see where Rex Ryan bloviating could wear thin...but the lack of effort displayed last night, in front of a national audience no less, is mind boggling. Bowles doesn't have the most dynamic personality, but he is an ex-player, so you'd think that would account for a something with the players he's coaching. He's handled discipline issues and media relations very well in my opinion. Last nights performance was an embarrassment for the team and it's fans. Even the game announcers were clowning the Jets from the opening drive. There needs to be some accountability What are the odds that he is the head coach of the NY Jets at the start of next season?
It is a cultural issue with this team. It starts with Woody Johnson. He by all accounts is uninvolved and a ghost. As long as he has his green cash cow with one of the top markets on the country, don't expect any changes. I've always wanted to just pick the brain of a player like Mangold. My guess is these players feel betrayed by Fitztragic and the shit QB situation. What's the point of putting your body on the line when the QB throws 4 pics a game?
Maybe it's when he decided that "Fitz gives us the best chance to win" was handed to him on stone tablets, after the 6 pick game in KC. This was on top of the long holdout, and some of the comments Fitz made. Maybe the rest of the team didn't look on Fitzpatrick as a team player, and didn't like it when Bowles kept going to him, even when it was clear a change needed to be made.
I have seen some bad teams... Richard Kotite, etc... but those awful teams cared. the guys played hard. Never seen anything like this.
Now Bowles is backing off his claims about the team's effort. It took him a day to realize that the players not showing up to play is an indication of a bad head coach
I'm just guessing, but my guess is that it's several things. First, is his refusal to discipline Mo and Sheldon for skipping meetings and being late. That probably caused other players to lose respect for Bowles. Second, I think it's his lame game plans, inability to manage the game (timeouts and the clock), inability to make adjustments, and his defensive decisions/alignments (like playing Sheldon at OLB). Third, I think it's his refusal to hold players accountable for their play on the field. Fitz can go out there and throw 6 picks in a game and not get benched. DBs can continuously make mental errors and there are no consequences or repercussions. Players can play sloppily, commit dumb penalties and there are no consequences. Four, it's his lack of communication. His postgame conference last night was a prime example. He said the plan has been to start Petty the last 4 games all along, yet neither Petty nor Fitz knew anything about it. Five, it's his lack of vision or plan for the team and what their identity is. Six, it his inability to teach and develop young players. It's your guess as to which is most crucial, and which of these things are actually factors. It could be some, all or none. Maybe they just don't like his passive demeanor.
Bingo! I couldn't believe he didn't realize that when a team blatantly quits on a coach it's not all the players that are going to get fired, it's the coach. Of course, he was perfectly willing to look like a total jackass by insisting that Petty was always going to start the last four games, leaving himself open for the obvious question of why he then wouldn't have started Petty in yesterday's game against a lousy defense. I think he is just so over his head at this point all he wants is for the season to end so he can go home.
Bloviating - great description of Rex Ryan. I suspect that it is a combination of factors as others have mentioned, but I want to dial in on the lack of dynamic personality. Bowles exudes no passion on the sidelines or in front of the media. On Monday night the only time the D looked interested was after Bowles visibly chewed them out. I think they stopped the next Colts drive quickly. It's the first time I can remember him doing this in two years, but then they came out flat again after. Now I'm not advocating a return to Rex's bluster or Mangini's discipline, I actually quite like the fact that Bowles is pretty flat, win or lose. Finding negatives in wins and positives in defeats is a good trait for a coach, but you've got to have passion. You've got to fire your players up. Bawl at them when they fuck up, pat them on the head and enjoy it with them when they do well. Without passion the players can coast along at 90%. And 90% just won't get it done in pretty much any pro sport.
I've seen teams play well behind a shitty quarterback. It's got to be more than that. That game Monday night was a total shit show...even in the pathetic pantheon of NY Jet shit shows. They actually, collectively as a team, managed to out butt-fumble the butt-fumble game. I don't know what's causing this team to be such a clusterfuck...maybe they should blow the whole thing up as others have stated. Woody may not be the main problem, but he sure ain't helping things.
Woody only cares about the last part. Monday nite hurt his pride as he had the VPE_OTUS in his personal suite and his team shit the bed again. From all reports, Woody was pissed upon departure. Anyone that is not self employed knows that the one thing you never, ever do is embarrass the big boss. Bowles may well be in cya mode and I still think he had no other choice but to play Petty the last 4 games. He's gonna take a lot of heat for not starting the transition 4 games ago. The "best chance to win" suddenly became the "best chance to get my ass fired". The team otoh, does not live in a vacuum. They knew going in this was not gonna be the game where the Jet Fanbase was gonna turn out in droves to support them. I also suspect they knew why but could not come out publicly and say it as that would go against the HC's public position. When they saw all the empty seats, I figured they all mentally checked out right then and there. They certainly looked as if they were going thru the motions. Once Petty came in, the game was already out of hand and the Jets had already quit so for all intent and purposes the game became a scrimmage with the Colts. That explains "Air Gailey" definitely. Not a bad idea after throwing your young Qb into the deep end of the pool to let him do what he does best. Kid looked like a young, unpolished Farve out there just cutting loose play after play. The upside to that is with practice and experience Petty will start to make those throws.
