Time and time again.....it is proven that the unknown Asst. Coaches -- like OL Coach, QB/WR Coach, OC -- are CRITICAL to a team's success. Look at how Andrew Thomas turned his year around after Columbo got sacked. Look at the job Callahan is doing in Cleveland.
I don't think Cowher will coach over 2-3 years if the Jets hire him. That could actually be great timing. Cowher could groom a young OC to take over when he retires.
"Anyone is better than Bowles." Not saying you said that specifically but that seemed to be the sentiment on this board in 2018 when Bowles was canned, but I guess you can't get any worse than 0-16... At least until there are 17 games.
Problem is we let Maccagnan pick Gase. Bowles was not a bad hire it just did not work out. Lets hope JD has the power to pick the next coach.
Bowles was a bad hire. He did not have a plan to make the organization competitive moving forward and he didn't have the personality to get the best performance out of all of his players on any given day. He looked good the first year because the Jet's standard MO (overpay for free agents) took over for the year and he got extremely lucky that Ryan Fitzpatrick was on an up year when Geno Smith blew out.
It's a shame that 2015 team couldn't get the job done. The AFC was very weak that year and the Jets were a good football team. They would have played @Cincinatti, @Denver vs Ancient Peyton Manning, and @New England, assuming they won each round.
Cincinnati was beatable, but Denver went on to win the SB, so there's no way we would have beaten them.
The Jets have beaten Peyton Manning in a few big games. I think they could have gotten it done in 2015.
Their defense was rock solid but so was our offense. The Denver offense was atrocious that year; it would have been a close game.
You could say that about us beating any team, but the fact is we couldn't even beat Buffalo in Week 17, so saying we would have beaten the SB champs when none of teams they faced in the playoffs did is a stretch.
It's true, but we matched up a bit better than New England at the time because of Fitzpatrick's ability to move around. Of course Belichick is 15x the coach Bowles is so that factors in. And we had a tendency to just come out flat and lose games in the first ten minutes under Bowles. All I think that can be said is that the game would've been competitive. Out of all the games I've ever watched (including the SB that year), I've never seen a pass rushing tandem dominate a game like Ware/Miller did versus Brady in that game. I've also never seen a player get off the ball as fast as Von Miller in that game or the SB either.
And then stuck with the formula and personnel that got them that far, only to see it all evaporate and we'd be right where we are today.
All this talk about how the 2015 team could've fared in the playoffs has me thinking about the 1998 squad shooting itself in the foot in the second half at Mile High. Win that game and the championship drought wouldn't be 52 years and counting.
I've been back and forth with the idea of bringing in Cowher and I've reached the point that I think he would be just what the organization needed. It would be the first time in a while that we would have respected leadership in quite some time. I would just hope that Cowher has enough "ins" still in the league that he could put together a staff that knows today's NFL instead of the NFL he left 14 years ago. One thing I would really worry about is if Cowher has seen Gruden's 10 year deal and would be looking for that type of security. That would scare me. Anything beyond 5 years would make me nervous. IF he would come for a 5 year deal, than I think this organization should MAKE SURE the contracts of Douglas and the coach (Cowher or whoever) line up. So if the coach ends up on a 5 year deal, then extend Douglas NOW another year. I've been critical of Douglas in areas that I thought he could have done better in, but the guy clearly has the right vision of building a team and the worst thing you can have is the coach and GM on different timelines. Having the coach and GM tied together via contract is the way to build this thing the right way.
I'm not even sure that Cowher would want that to be honest. Gruden was ten years younger when he signed that deal. I'm not even entirely sure that Cowher has any sort of interest in this. It might be the type of situation where he'd return with an offer he can't refuse (4 years/$20 million per) or something ridiculous. But I actually don't think he wants to come back at all and this is just Boomer pushing him to want to do it. He is likely relatively set for life financially (estimated net worth of $18 million), works one or two days a week, and just talks about football. The grind of an NFL head coach is ridiculous. He has plenty to lose (although some to gain) in terms of legacy too and has his Super Bowl. It doesn't make sense why he'd want to come back to a total rebuild and not a ready to win team.
Truth. And the ending to that '98 season still hurts. The 3rd quarter hit and they went hardcore SOJ. Best Jets team my near 47 years has seen.
Not sure if it would be good or bad, but it would sure as hell have to be better than what we've got......
Hiring of Bowles was not a horrible hire. He was a good coordinator and seemed ready to take the next step. He did not turn out to be a good head coach. I don't buy being lucky or unlucky. You can say he was unlucky with the horrible roster the GM's built for him. Sam was not a bad draft pick decision he just was not as good as we thought the pick was sound. Gase should have never been hired. There was zero logic in that hire.
I can see both sides of the issue, and am still torn. On one hand, I like Cowher, he was a winner, would give the team some instant respect, and you and others could be right that he is just what we need following the mess that was Adam Gase and the 0-16 record. He could be what was needed to get the Johnsons to step back and let Douglas and he run the team as well. OTOH, he wasn't that great a coach. I remember a lot of questionable decisions and negative things being said about him when he retired, and when talk first started about the Jets trying to lure him out of retirement. He's been away from the game a long time. Even though he's been an announcer, it doesn't mean that the game hasn't passed him by. He could just be keeping his negative opinions about the way the game has changed, evolved to himself. Does he have contacts and know good young assistants in the NFL that would gladly come and be on his staff, and will he be able to put together a really good CS? He was a defensive coach and liked the ground and pound approach. Has he changed that philosophy with the changing times in the NFL, or will he try to emulate Tennessee? I could be wrong, but think he was pretty conservative. I don't remember his being very innovative other than thinking Slash could be his starting QB. If that's so, then I'm not convinced he'd go for the young, innovative, creative types as his coordinators. I would think he would want experienced men whom he knows and trusts. We've been saying forever that the Jets are always behind the curve in the NFL and late to the party with changes. Would hiring Cowher just continue that even more? Would we be happy with a conservative and boring offense where Lawrence's talents were perhaps not put to best use/wasted? What would the org chart be? Would Cowher and Douglas be peers? Would Cowher get too much input on personnel and the draft and would Douglas wind up reporting to Cowher? Would Cowher report to Douglas? I can't see Cowher accepting that, but imo, that's the way it should be. Cowher could come in here and want to win immediately. More than likely he isn't going to have patience for completing a rebuild the right way, particularly if he only plans to coach for around 3-5 years. He probably would have zero interest in losing a bunch of games and tarnishing his career W-L record while Douglas builds through the draft. If that is true, then I don't want Cowher. I want this team built for sustained success, not a one or two year window and then back to mediocrity. I am tired of the Jets hiring rookie HCs and failing, but that could be because of the hiring itself and the lousy GMs which for the most part have provided little or no talent for those rookie HCs and been a big part of the reason those rookie HCs failed. We've certainly seen recently that rookie HCs can do well with the successes of McVay, Kingsbury, Matt LaFleur, Frank Reich, Dan Quinn (at first), Brian Flores in Miami, and even Zac Taylor to a degree. Most Jets fans over the last 25 years have complained about the coaching carousel that the Jets have had and the lack of stability. Well, with a young up and coming HC and Douglas, we could have that stability for the next 10-20 years. That could still happen by hiring Cowher and his grooming his successor, but that may not work out, as his coaching tree has been less than successful so far. * At least it should be a desirable job by the time Cowher retired, however. With the GM and HC contracts tied together, how would that work? What if Douglas is the one who hires Cowher, and Cowher can't adjust to the new NFL and doesn't do well with today's young players (which is a real concern for me), yet Douglas builds a great roster? Do you fire him for making a bad hire in Cowher, or keep him and give him a second chance at hiring the HC? I can see hiring Cowher working out, but I can also see it being yet another cluster f*k by the Johnsons. I can easily see the Johnsons falling in love with him, thinking that he is the answer, hiring him, and putting him in charge, and have Douglas report to him. Then Cowher proceeds to undermine what Douglas has been doing, push to win now, Douglas getting fed up and quitting, then Cowher be given total control over personnel or allowed to hire someone who would do everything that Cowher wanted and it fail miserably. Cowher's wife Kaye did die. He remarried in 2014, and when he sold his house in Raleigh in 2018, he announced that he was moving to New York. If he lives in New York now, then that could be part of why he is interested in coaching the Jets. I found more former Cowher assistant coaches who later became HCs: Bruce Arians: Indianapolis Colts (2012), Arizona Cardinals (2013–2017), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2019–present) Dom Capers: Carolina Panthers (1995–1998), Houston Texans (2002–2005) Chan Gailey: Dallas Cowboys (1998–1999), Buffalo Bills (2010–2012) Jim Haslett: New Orleans Saints (2000–2005), St. Louis Rams (2008) Dick LeBeau: Cincinnati Bengals (2000–2002) Marvin Lewis: Cincinnati Bengals (2003–2018) Mike Mularkey: Buffalo Bills (2004–2005), Jacksonville Jaguars (2012), Tennessee Titans (2015–2017) Ken Whisenhunt: Arizona Cardinals (2007–2012), Tennessee Titans (2014–2015)
That was a brutal loss. The Jets would have mopped the floor with Atlanta that year if they got past Denver. Making the loss even more brutal.
