It’s a vicious cycle on this board to blame the gm and blame the coach but the answer has always been Woody has to sell the team
The Jets are making progress. I think they have the QB they need and will build around him. Why fans on this board can't be patient is beyond me? I say this as a fan who attended almost every game in 1968.
Amen. The problem is the times we live in. People don't have patience, especially in the New York area. Fans like you realize that it takes time to build a winner. The 2018 season will hopefully continue the process and show some progress. 2019 the Jets should take a big leap. If they don't, then fans can truly start to worry. If they look terrible this year, they can worry too, but I think they will surprise people and have a solid season.
I want to believe in Mac, I really do. I have to remind myself that we are only in year two of the teardown and rebuild (I chalk up Mac's first two years to Woody insisting on "win now"). Here's the thing though - In order to win in today's game you have to: 1. Find your quarterback 2. Protect your quarterback 3. Knock down the other guy's quarterback. It looks like we finally have our guy at QB but nothing has been done yet to address points 2 and 3. Outside of Shell, Mac hasn't even followed his own philosophy of picking up O-line talent in the middle and later rounds. If he somehow swings a deal for a pass rusher and Garcia develops into the player the Pats thought he would be - Mac will look like a friggin genius. Until that happens, the jury is still out.
There's a lot more to the guy's job than getting the OL to perform at an NFL level; the guys currently on board may or may not be capable. Let's look at the other stuff - start with penalties; is anyone here happy with that? How about game planning? How about having a new QB that you want the team to be built around for the next decade? Maybe, just maybe, the coaching staff would put him to the test in preseason and have him throw a pass longer than sixteen yards when there is no penalty for him if he screws it up? Would you rather see if a forty yarder is even feasible while playing a game that actually counts in the standings? How about putting a special teams "hands" group that actually holds onto the ball? Bowles has proved nothing to me; if he fires a coach and replaces him with one who's no better what has been accomplished? What kind of accountability are you seeing that is better than stability? I'm getting old, not quite as old as Hess when he made his speech but I want results now; Bowles has failed to produce them for three years now - he's out of time.
How many more 5-11 seasons are you okay with? How many penalties per game will you abide? How many dropped passes and kicks and muffed punts are acceptable? How much bad clock management and weird red flag usage? Who is calling the plays, interns? You say there is progress here; there's a new QB intown who looks good - what else do you have? Maybe a defensive front against the run. You can't build special teams or a secondary around a quarterback regardless of how he performs. What kind of "patience" should be expected when none of this is new; it's the same old Jets.?
Therein lies the problem. The Jets could be a lot closer to making the playoffs if Bowles was not the coach. He is the biggest hindrance to the entire process. I can live with McCagnan as GM and I believe he should have to option to pick a head coach. he and Bowles were forced upon the Jets as a package. His drafts could have been better but how much of that is Bowles asking for the same thing every year. If the Jets get off to a bad start I can see Bowles getting canned.
I'm pretty sure if Maccagnan weren't scrambling to find our next Franchise QB since dating back to Namath he would've used some of his higher picks on O-Lineman instead of the likes of Petty, Hackenberg & Sam Darnold. And I'd like to know which offensive lineman he should've taken over the likes of Leonard Williams, Jamal Adams, Sam Darnold and Marcus Maye...? Come next offseason we'll have ourselves the most cap space of any team within the league to address our offensive line through free agency along with a potential Franchise QB in Sam Darnold (now) in place in order to draft him a 1st round Franchise LT. It's kind of hard to attack Maccagnan for not drafting offensive linenan thus far when he's been focused on roster turnover through a rebuild, searching for our Franchise QB, solidifying both our WR & Secondary units all while creating us a ton of cap space moving forward. O-Lineman will come this offseason come both free agency and draft. Now that Darnold is here? Maccagnan can scout O-Lineman in which actually fit Darnold's style of play; rather than the other way around (trying to fit a square peg into a round hole).
I'm not calling for MM & TB'S head yet, but should the day come, One thing we have going for us is we have a QB that will make the job of coaching the Jets more attractive. If TB & MM can't get it together after the '19 season with all the cap space we have & our potential FQB, then I say it's time for a change. I think MM has done a good job of quickly turning the team from old players with no future aka Mangold, Revis, Harris, Decker, Marshal to a young team with promise & alot of cap space, in just a year. And cleaned up the locker room of bad blood....aka Mo, Richardson., Marshal. 2019 will be the do or die year for MM & TB.
I agree with what you said and I already stated that this CS is average to below average. This thread is not really about Bowles though, it’s about whether Mac can be trusted with the building of this team. From my perspective, having Darnold not throw a pass 40 yards in preseason is not an issue. We all know he can throw a pass downfield, it’s about development, defenses are not showing their schemes until day one of regular season. Darnold has proven he will get through the learning curve very quickly if given the starting job. Getting back to the OP, looking at the roster that Mac has put together and how he has drafted, he’s done an average to below average job. Other than Leonard Williams, Jamal Adams and Darnold, what other players can been considered an outstanding selection? 3 outstanding players in 4 drafts is not something that I would be happy about if I were an owner who’s trusting a GMs philosophy of building through the draft. The biggest indictment on Mac as a GM is his belief that you can draft lower round offensive linemen and end up with a good oline. That being said, I truly believe that this is a pivotal year for the other drat picks like Lee, Schell, Jenkins, Mauldin, it’s time to become impact players, not just guys who have reached their ceilings, time to break through the glass ceiling and take it to the next level. Can we give the team a minimum of 5 games before we bring out the pitchfork? Opening day is 2 weeks away and we are already getting on top of buildings ready to jump.
AMEN brother! I know this already and so do most Jets fans , but unfortunately let's be real, it's not happening. The problem starts at the root which is the owner, yes, but just like the Mets with the Wilpons, that's unfortunately the least likely position we will see change. To address a different issue , everybody is saying don't anoint Sam yet , he's not our franchise QB yet , slow down, etc... My response to you is a resounding "I Know!" Of course we don't know if he's the guy or not, but when you move up to draft the consensus Best available QB at 3 overall, you invest and plan and scheme around him As if he is Joe Montana , why would you do anything less? You don't draft a guy at #3 (and move up to get him) to say... "oh let's wait and see" , that's ridiculous. You plan as if he is the guy , and you build around him accordingly, you don't go in with a tentative attitude to your #3 overall pick. I don't get what point you guys are trying to make by saying "hold your horses" Do you not give him weapons ? Do you not give him an O-line? Do you not give him playmakers? Hell, even John Elway needed Terrell Davis to get over the hump. Give Darnold everything you can , why wouldn't you??? Worst comes to worse if Darnold sucks then you still have a good offensive line with some explosive playmakers and then you can throw Mark Sanchez out there and make him look good. My biggest point is Mac has drafted NO ONE on the offensive side of the ball Who made a damn of a difference , and now we are relying on him to build around our "potential" franchise QB. I'll give him Robby Anderson (undrafted) otherwise he has drafted nobody on offense so far, Nobody. Yea, so we don't know how good Darnold really is yet, does that matter?
I agree , in Bowles first year he had a defensive line any coach would dream of , I thought it should have been by far the best in the league , and they totally underwhelmed. That was a huge indictment and week 17 in Buffalo with the playoffs on the lay and Rex coaching for nothing but vengeance and you shit the bed, that has been the story for Bowles ever since. I can't wait until he's gone, however , are you sure our talent has gotten better? I am not, I really don't know. I'll retract my statement about firing Mac this year if we go 5-11 but I'm still skeptical about whether he has a cohesive plan or not .
Both Bowles and Maccagnan report directly to Woody. Bowles doesn't report to Mac. And that's sad. Mac should have the ability to fire/replace the HC if he feels it's necessary. Mac kills himself to acquire the best players he can and then hands them off to Bowles to develop into great players (that Mac will be recognized for). It has to be frustrating for Mac to see his new toys put on a shelf and not coached/developed all in favor to coaching up and playing the vets. Especially the later round picks. How much time does Bowles spend putting his arm around some young kid coaching him up, getting him ready to play? If I were Mac and I know a great HC that would coach up my draft pics, I drop Bowles off at the nearest buss stop and bring in my new guy. I'm not gonna look like a shit GM just because Woody's hand picked HC cant seem to coach anybody.
So a GM can provide a H.C with nothing but crap, just to then in return fire his head coach for looking bad? Nice to know and quite hypocritical. Because the same can be said vice versa with Maccagnan making Bowles look like a shit head coach with two busted QB's drafted in Petty/Hackenberg and two career loser QB's in Shitzpatrick/McCown as "prized" Free Agents... Or busted draft picks in everyone's whipping boy in "Darron Lee" and/or Devin Smith, Lorenzo Mauldin, Bryce Petty, Christian Hackenberg etc etc and guys like Leonard Williams & Jamal Adams fell right to him (not impressed). And how has Maccagnan made Bowles "look good" while refusing to address both Offensive Line and outside/edge pass rusher? A H.C can only coach the talent his GM provides him. And not the other way around... Todd Bowles deserves Sam Darnold plus next offseasons #1 available cap space more than any Head coach, because thus far; Maccagnan has done a shit job @ making his head coach "look good" throughout all of his roster turnover consisting of roster purge. And this is all coming from someone who absolutely loves Maccagnan and his direction he has my team in, but I won't sit here and lie as if Maccagnan has made Bowles "look good" throughout this complete rebuild of a roster purge. Maccagnan & Bowles are in this thing together. Just like Idzik deserved to be fired for doing what he did to Rex Ryan's Jets career.
Sometimes I really do not get this fan base. For years people have been screaming for a rebuild and purge the roster. Mac did that. For years people have been saying to keep taking a QB until you find one, he did that. He signed Fitzpatrick as a stop gap. Tried Petty. Tried Hack. Signed McCown. Signed Teddy and drafted Darnold. Now people are asking if we should trust Mac to build around Darnold? He has done everything we have asked for. We are a younger team. We are a much more talented team. We have a deeper roster. We have a talent group of Receivers and Tight Ends. We have a very talented secondary. Let's let everything play out before we start chopping heads. Do I trust Mac? Why wouldn't I? What has he done to not gain your trust? Mac took on this franchise at a terrible point. We were riddled with terrible contracts destroying our cap. We had holes everywhere, and we had ZERO options at QB long term. In the short time he's been here, he has made this franchise much more competitive and has led this franchise in shedding itself from the "circus" we have all seen in the past. He came here with a lot of things he needed to achieve on his list. Let's let him do his work as he's been doing and see how it plays out. The biggest thing was finding a franchise QB. It seems, in my opinion, he has found one. Now let's watch him build around him.
This is what people mean when they say it’s impossible to rebuild in New York. Everyone loves the concept but no one wants to put up with the losing seasons. Mac has done exactly what he should’ve. Bowles exceeded expectations with a terrible roster. Kudos to Chris Johnson for allowing this to play out and getting us to the verge of the horizon, hopefully he doesn’t pull the plug right before we get there. I think Woody getting appointed was the best thing that ever happened for us. No way he would’ve been this patient.
