Bowles delivers ‘take it or leave it’ comments on Wilkerson, Williams

[Ken Schroy]

Bowles delivers ‘take it or leave it’ comments on Wilkerson, Williams   By Brian Costello

Jets coach Todd Bowles grew testy Wednesday when pressed about the play of defensive linemen Muhammad Wilkerson and Leonard Williams. The duo has combined for zero sacks this season, but Bowles gave them a pass. “They’re playing hard, and they’re playing well,” Bowles said. “They’re doing everything we’re asking them to do. I’m not disappointed in those two at all.” What are they being asked to do specifically? “Just play football specifically,” Bowles said. Bowles was pressed on how he can be OK with getting such little production from players who are supposed to be among the best on the team. “Nobody is playing great when you’re 3-3. You’re playing average football,” Bowles said. “It has nothing to do with Mo or Leonard, it has to do with our entire team. I’m not going to sit here and make excuses about two guys when we’ve got 11 guys on each side of the ball. If you want to nitpick, go for it.” He then cut off the questioning. “I’ve made my comment guys,” he said. “Take it or leave it.” Wilkerson said he is not worried about sacks. “It’s Week 6, Week 7, there’s no need to panic about sacks,” Wilkerson said. “Last I heard about this league, it’s about winning and winning games. That’s what we’re trying to do here.”  One of the Jets’ issues in their loss to the Patriots on Sunday was third-and-short and fourth-and-short conversions. On third and fourth downs with less than 3 yards to go, the Jets went 3-for-9 on Sunday. “We just have to execute,” Bowles said. “There’s a guy here or there, that was the difference in the game. We had a lot of third-and-shorts, or some of the differences in the game that we didn’t capitalize on. We have to make sure that happens.”

Typical Bowles, will not criticize any player for anything.

[peebag]

What good would criticizing his players to the press do except maybe cause friction?

[JustInFudge]

Sounds like a guy who knows his favorite player on the team is dogging it and the best player on the team isn’t as good as everyone thought he was. 

[JustInFudge]

1 minute ago, peebag said:

What good would criticizing his players to the press do except maybe cause friction?

In this case, nothing but if Todd actually held players accountable inside the doors it would be a way of driving the point home and hoping for a different result. 

[Beerfish]

Bowles is just awful, a guy who's favorite players on the team are dogs or problems (Sheldon).

He thinks he is protecting his guys but that does not work unless you take the blame yourself.  With comments like these he is either a flat out liar or just accepting poor performance.  It's going to kill me when this guy gets an extension at year end.  People talk about tanking for a better draft pick but I'm about tanking to get rid of a terrible coach.

If he wanted to protect these guys for poor results he'd say something like, "The results we hope for are not there yet and that is on me and our defensive coaches for not putting the players in the bes place to succeed."

[Ken Schroy]

7 minutes ago, peebag said:

What good would criticizing his players to the press do except maybe cause friction?

Parcells would do it occasionally. He was very good at it, and sometimes it is needed.

[JustInFudge]

5 minutes ago, Beerfish said:

Bowles is just awful, a guy who's favorite players on the team are dogs or problems (Sheldon).

He thinks he is protecting his guys but that does not work unless you take the blame yourself.  With comments like these he is either a flat out liar or just accepting poor performance.  It's going to kill me when this guy gets an extension at year end.  People talk about tanking for a better draft pick but I'm about tanking to get rid of a terrible coach.

If he wanted to protect these guys for poor results he'd say something like, "The results we hope for are not there yet and that is on me and our defensive coaches for not putting the players in the bes place to succeed."

2015: Cro is playing fine.  The other 10 guys need to step up.

2016: Revis is playing fine.  The other 10 guys need to step up.

2017: Mo is playing fine.  The other 10 guys need to step up. 

[Ken Schroy]

2 minutes ago, JiF said:

2015: Cro is playing fine.  The other 10 guys need to step up.

2016: Revis is playing fine.  The other 10 guys need to step up.

2017: Mo is playing fine.  The other 10 guys need to step up. 

Bowles is a great defensive guru.

[jpoppy717]

Just now, Beerfish said:

Bowles is just awful, a guy who's favorite players on the team are dogs or problems (Sheldon).

He thinks he is protecting his guys but that does not work unless you take the blame yourself.  With comments like these he is either a flat out liar or just accepting poor performance.  It's going to kill me when this guy gets an extension at year end.  People talk about tanking for a better draft pick but I'm about tanking to get rid of a terrible coach.

If he wanted to protect these guys for poor results he'd say something like, "The results we hope for are not there yet and that is on me and our defensive coaches for not putting the players in the bes place to succeed."

So awful that he's coached the least talented team in the league to a 3-3 record.

[Beerfish]

9 minutes ago, jpoppy717 said:

So awful that he's coached the least talented team in the league to a 3-3 record.

Morton has coached them to that.  Look at bowles baby, the defense, laden with all our high picks, all of our $ resources.  The guys who should be our best players are playing like garbage under his watch. 

25th total defense, 31st in sacks, 28th in run defense, 19th in pass defense and all this vs a relatively weak sched to start the year.

[ScarletKnight89]

What do people want Bowles to do? He needs these guys to play well and lead the defense. Williams hasn't been as bad as people think he has. Wilk has been awful but he's one of the longest tenured players on this team, if not the longest, and I bet he's one of the leaders in the locker room.

[JoJoTownsell1]

23 minutes ago, Beerfish said:

Bowles is just awful, a guy who's favorite players on the team are dogs or problems (Sheldon).

He thinks he is protecting his guys but that does not work unless you take the blame yourself.  With comments like these he is either a flat out liar or just accepting poor performance.  It's going to kill me when this guy gets an extension at year end.  People talk about tanking for a better draft pick but I'm about tanking to get rid of a terrible coach.

If he wanted to protect these guys for poor results he'd say something like, "The results we hope for are not there yet and that is on me and our defensive coaches for not putting the players in the bes place to succeed."

[MDL_JET]

20 minutes ago, JiF said:

2015: Cro is playing fine.  The other 10 guys need to step up.

2016: Revis is playing fine.  The other 10 guys need to step up.

2017: Mo is playing fine.  The other 10 guys need to step up. 

I mean...if this trend holds true, at least we know Mo will off the team next year.

[JustInFudge]

Just now, MDL_JET said:

I mean...if this trend holds true, at least we know Mo will off the team next year.

True.  But wtf?  Why are these vets literally allowed to give zero effort and zero ****s every season with this guy? 

[BurnleyJet]

I don't like it, it sends the wrong signal to the team. It's ok to play soft take plays off and still earn 16 mill per, I'd have benched his ass!

[MDL_JET]

4 minutes ago, JiF said:

True.  But wtf?  Why are these vets literally allowed to give zero effort and zero ****s every season with this guy? 

I mean we have no idea what's being said behind doors or what's thought of each guy or what responsibilities are. And you can't even take into account what he says at these press conferences. He hates the media as much as we do and knows when they're fishing for a certain response, that's when he gets snippy and deservedly so. 

 

[Bleedin Green]

While there's no reason to be happy with their play, anyone who says Bowles should be trashing players to the press are either completely full of crap or totally clueless.  Sure money bet if Bowles was talking about how awful they were to the media, the same critics would be throwing a fit about that.  You don't have to like Bowles, there's plenty of reasons not to, but the arguments against him end up looking idiotic when every single word is played out as a such a great tragedy.

[JustInFudge]

3 minutes ago, MDL_JET said:

I mean we have no idea what's being said behind doors or what's thought of each guy or what responsibilities are. And you can't even take into account what he says at these press conferences. He hates the media as much as we do and knows when they're fishing for a certain response, that's when he gets snippy and deservedly so. 

 

Sure.  We don’t know but considering what we’ve seen historically with Todd, I bet he gives Mo a nice tap on the butt and a get’em next time big guy.  Go Owls! 

[JustInFudge]

Just now, Bleedin Green said:

While there's no reason to be happy with their play, anyone who says Bowles should be trashing players to the press are either completely full of crap or totally clueless.  Sure money bet if Bowles was talking about how awful they were to the media, the same critics would be throwing a fit about that.  You don't have to like Bowles, there's plenty of reasons not to, but the arguments against him end up looking idiotic when every single word is played out as a such a great tragedy.

Ben McAdoo routinely rips 2x Super Bowl winning QB Eli Manning and nobody throws a fit over it. 

[Lupz27]

56 minutes ago, Ken Shroy said:

Nobody is playing great when you’re 3-3. You’re playing average football,” Bowles said

Looky looky Bowles knows NOBODY is playing great because your 3-3, go look at the QB position, and make your change because that's where it all starts if you want to make a move that may make you play better then average, yes it may get worse, BUT we all know that McCown is at his ceiling as a starter right now so if Bowles has any intention on playing better then average football he needs to make some bold moves, and inserting Petty as QB 1 should be the first bold move to try, and achieve this.

[RESNewYork]

This collection of scrubs, underachievers, players put out of position to fail, and a dumb coach just played Tom Brady who was 20 of 38 for 52% completion. 257 yards, his lowest for the season so far. He threw 2 TDs and had 1 pick, and 1 pick dropped. 27 points scored by the #1 offense in the NFL by far which was aided by a controversial PI call that put the Pats in the red zone.

[MDL_JET]

1 minute ago, JiF said:

Ben McAdoo routinely rips 2x Super Bowl winning QB Eli Manning and nobody throws a fit over it. 

A lot of people threw a fit over it. It actually got a lot of media attention, going back and forth if it's good or not then asked Eli about it etc etc. It was kind of a mess, but people got over it. Eli didn't care. It's stupid. 

[MDL_JET]

4 minutes ago, Lupz27 said:

Looky looky Bowles knows NOBODY is playing great because your 3-3, go look at the QB position, and make your change because that's where it all starts if you want to make a move that may make you play better then average, yes it may get worse, BUT we all know that McCown is at his ceiling as a starter right now so if Bowles has any intention on playing better then average football he needs to make some bold moves, and inserting Petty as QB 1 should be the first bold move to try, and achieve this.

Imagine Bowles benched McCown next week after another so so outing in Miami, and benches Mo limiting his playing time to a few snaps. All he has to say to the media is, we're 3-4 and what we're doing is not good enough, we need a spark. Perspective on him would be totally different just from those moves. 

[JoJoTownsell1]

4 minutes ago, RESNewYork said:

This collection of scrubs, underachievers, players put out of position to fail, and a dumb coach just played Tom Brady who was 20 of 38 for 52% completion. 257 yards, his lowest for the season so far. He threw 2 TDs and had 1 pick, and 1 pick dropped. 27 points scored by the #1 offense in the NFL by far which was aided by a controversial PI call that put the Pats in the red zone.

We have an imperfect roster and imperfect coach. No one likes Wilkerson. So everyone freaking out about his production aren't breaking new ground. Bowles is stuck with him and his massive contract. I am sure if the Jets had a replacement that could do a significantly better job, Bowles would start that player. 

As for Bowles not publicly bashing Mo Wilk, I am not sure what some of the SOJFs expect. Bowles is handling it perfectly. He doesn't owe the media the truth. I prefer my head coaches to be like Bellichick, Saban and Popovich. Give the media nothing and treat them with disdain. Does the media or SOJfs think Bowles is happy with Wilkerson's production? 

[JustInFudge]

7 minutes ago, MDL_JET said:

A lot of people threw a fit over it. It actually got a lot of media attention, going back and forth if it's good or not then asked Eli about it etc etc. It was kind of a mess, but people got over it. Eli didn't care. It's stupid. 

So much I don’t recall any of it.

 

[Beerfish]

36 minutes ago, JoJoTownsell1 said:

I do cry at the state of the jets at times, yes that is correct.

[ChuckkieB]

Any way that you peel back the onion, Bowles is a bad coach.  He either can't properly motivate Wilk and/or he doesn't have the guts to bench him. 

[RESNewYork]

12 minutes ago, RESNewYork said:

This collection of scrubs, underachievers, players put out of position to fail, and a dumb coach just played Tom Brady who was 20 of 38 for 52% completion. 257 yards, his lowest for the season so far. He threw 2 TDs and had 1 pick, and 1 pick dropped. 27 points scored by the #1 offense in the NFL by far which was aided by a controversial PI call that put the Pats in the red zone.

 

4 minutes ago, JoJoTownsell1 said:

We have an imperfect roster and imperfect coach. No one likes Wilkerson. So everyone freaking out about his production aren't breaking new ground. Bowles is stuck with him and his massive contract. I am sure if the Jets had a replacement that could do a significantly better job, Bowles would start that player. 

As for Bowles not publicly bashing Mo Wilk, I am not sure what some of the SOJFs expect. Bowles is handling it perfectly. He doesn't owe the media the truth. I prefer my head coaches to be like Bellichick, Saban and Popovich. Give the media nothing and treat them with disdain. Does the media or SOJfs think Bowles is happy with Wilkerson's production? 

Mo is playing with a  Grade 1 AC joint sprain in his shoulder. He gets pain shots before games. I have no idea if that is a serious injury but maybe it's affecting his play. 

[Augustiniak]

6 minutes ago, MDL_JET said:

Imagine Bowles benched McCown next week after another so so outing in Miami, and benches Mo limiting his playing time to a few snaps. All he has to say to the media is, we're 3-4 and what we're doing is not good enough, we need a spark. Perspective on him would be totally different just from those moves. 

true, but that's not what he is likely to do.  he defers to veterans, he doesn't rattle them.  mccags is the one who cuts them.  bowles coddles them.  and considering there are only a few vets left on this roster, there is just no way bowles is going to bench either wilk or mccown for a while.  bowles has already exceeded expectations (which were too low, based on the media's take) and has made a case to keep his job to next year.  that's where his focus is, keeping his job, and when we all realize this it's clear mccown will start until he is injured, or the jets are definitely out of the playoffs.  bowles has to deal with the lockerroom fallout if he benches these guys, but mccags will do the right thing this offseason and bail on mo.

[JoJoTownsell1]

1 minute ago, ChuckkieB said:

Any way that you peel back the onion, Bowles is a bad coach.  He either can't properly motivate Wilk and/or he doesn't have the guts to bench him. 

First off, do you think Von Miller needs motivation from his coaches? When you pay a guy like Mo big bucks, it's assumed he should be able to self-motivate. We're not talking about some rookie.  

Second, it's tough for any coach to bench the highest paid player on the team, especially when there may not be better options behind him. You just throw him out and hope he turns it on. 

[Warfish]

Bowles is a Defensive Coach who has yet to produce a decent, much less elite, defense, despite most of the Jets investment being on that side of the ball.

Bowles is a players coach whom the players walk all over, dog it, and underperform under, especially on Defense.

Bowles wouldn't know offense if it ran him over.

Bowles should work for Macc, not directly for the owner.

These reasons are why I have doubts about Bowles future here.

[Bleedin Green]

19 minutes ago, JiF said:

Ben McAdoo routinely rips 2x Super Bowl winning QB Eli Manning and nobody throws a fit over it. 

McAdoo is criticized for every single he does.  He may very well be even more despised than Bowles.  That's pretty much the worst comparison you could have provided.

[JoJoTownsell1]

3 minutes ago, RESNewYork said:

 

Mo is playing with a  Grade 1 AC joint sprain in his shoulder. He gets pain shots before games. I have no idea if that is a serious injury but maybe it's affecting his play. 

If Mo was dominant last year and was having a few bad games this year,  then MAYBE I'd buy the injury excuse. But its very conveinent that Mo has stopped playing well the day after he hot his FAT contract. 

[Miss Lonelyhearts]

Wilkerson stole money. I dunno what anybody expects Bowles to do or say about it.

I liked Williams as a prospect and I like him as a player but what you're seeing now is what you didn't want to hear after the draft. Williams is an average athlete for the position by NFL standards and guys like that don't just come in and set the league on fire. Williams will be fine and this is why there is obviously still hope for Adams too, but if you're starting to connect the dots between using high draft picks on non-elite athletes at non-premium positions and the overall (and much longer term than can all be chalked up to Macstupid) talent deficiency of the roster, welcome. Thanks for catching up.

[Fantasy Island]

51 minutes ago, ScarletKnight89 said:

What do people want Bowles to do? He needs these guys to play well and lead the defense. Williams hasn't been as bad as people think he has. Wilk has been awful but he's one of the longest tenured players on this team, if not the longest, and I bet he's one of the leaders in the locker room.

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