Woody Makes Bowles Decision

[JetNation]

By Glenn Naughton                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  @AceFan23

From the very beginning, Woody Johnson and the Jets got it right this time around.  A head coaching search that began before the season ended was one that led them through a list of what many considered to be the top candidates available.  Johnson took the initiative and sought the advice of  two respected football men in Charley Casserly and Ron Wolf, both Super Bowl winning general managers in their own right.

Atop the Jets list were a pair of defensive coordinators who also happened to be New Jersey natives.  Dan Quinn of the Seattle Seahawks and Todd Bowles in Arizona with the Cardinals.  Both earned high praise from current players and insiders familiar with their work, and both are said to be ready to make the leap and run their own team from top to bottom.

Quinn was the Jets top choice with Bowles being a close second in the early running. Both candidates were interviewed, and the Jets appeared to be willing to wait out the Seahawks’ post-season run so they could make an official offer to Quinn.  However, the ouster of John Fox in Denver had an immediate impact on the coaching landscape.  Even with Peyton Manning’s future being undecided, many view that job as the most desirable.  To take over a team that will possibly be led by a Hall of Fame quarterback along with one of the top defense’s in the league would be tough to contend with.  Most teams looking for a head coach are facing a rebuild, while the Broncos are just one year removed from a Super Bowl appearance.  With this being the case, once Fox was out of work, Woody Johnson and the Jets went to work.

Bowles was scheduled to meet with the Atlanta Falcons today while the Jets had Panthers’ defensive coordinator Sean McDermott ready to sit down and interview for their vacancy.  At mid-day however, it was learned that the Jets, who had already met with Bowles on January 7th, asked him to come in for a second interview before heading to Atlanta.  Cutting off another potential suitor was the first sign that the Jets were serious.  Bowles agreed to come in, and as day turned to night, there were no reports of Bowles departing the facility.  The writing was on the wall when the Jets cancelled their interview with McDermott.  A short time later, we learned that Johnson, Bowles, and new General Manager Mike Maccagnan were heading out to dinner together.  The Jets had their guy, and unlike they’ve done so many times in the past, they weren’t going to let him leave town without a deal.  At just after 7pm, Bowles sent a message to ESPN’s Josina Anderson:

Josina Anderson

Verified account

‏

@

JosinaAnderson

11h

11 hours ago

I just got a text from Todd Bowles, “Im taking the Jets job.”

Given the fact that Quinn was such a heavy favorite to land the deal, one has to wonder if the Jets knew something about his intentions that wasn’t public knowledge.  Quinn of course is represented by former Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum.  If his camp was unwilling commit to the Jets off the record, then the Jets made the right move.  Had they waited on Quinn, they risked losing Bowles to the Falcons, and would have been left holding the bag if Quinn bolted for Denver.  All speculation of course, but Johnson’s past is littered with questionable hires and a fairly laid-back approach, but not this time.  The owner sat in on every interview that was conducted.  Each interview lasted a minimum of three hours.  Johnson got feedback from Casserly and Wolf, decided which candidates he was comfortable with, and did what had to be done to get a deal before losing out and having to settle for the best of what was left.

Nobody knows how this will play out for the Jets moving forward, but these were some bold moves on the part of an owner who is often criticized for not being bold enough.  Kudos to Woody, he had to make a splash after a 4-12 season, and he stepped up and got it done.

Training camp can’t get here soon enough.

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[Villain The Foe]

Take that Atlanta! 

[Savage69]

 All these quotes are taken from articles dating back the last year or two.

When asked about facing his old team the Philadelphia Eagles:

"I've been on the front page, good and bad," Bowles said. "It's a players' game. I love the Xs and Os part of it. I love the scheming, I love teaching. But it's a players' game. They are out there working and they should get all the credit. My satisfaction is seeing them succeed. They deserve that because they do all the blood, sweat and tears."

 

When asked about the trouble he experienced inheriting the Eagles defense:

"If a player has a bad year they work hard to come back, and it's no different for a coach," Bowles said. "No matter what the situation is, you think as a coach you are good enough to turn anything around. We didn't get it done, I didn't get it done, the players didn't get it done, the staff didn't get it done. That's all it was."

On his coaching style:

"They will tell you that I snap," Bowles said with another laugh. "I'm not a yeller or screamer, but if you tick me off enough ... there are certain things that bother me that I can't tolerate. Like going over something 50 million of times and when you walk on the field and I just told you something and you go out there and forget it, I have a major problem and we are going to have a chat."

 

Calais Campbell on Todd:

"People had a lot of bad things to say about Todd because of the (Philadelphia) situation last year," Campbell said. "I think he showed what he can do with us. He puts us in the best position, makes our job easy for us. He's a genius. The second halves of games, the adjustments he makes, no one has been able to figure it out."

 

Dockett on Todd's Coaching Style:

"Todd is more about putting his players in place to make plays, he's not basing a defense around a certain scheme," defensive end Darnell Dockett said. "He'll sit down and ask questions like, ‘Are you good at this?' ‘Can you do this?'

 

Bowles on the importance of turnovers:

"Turnovers limit offensive possessions and turnovers gets your offense the ball back as soon as possible, and turnovers change games," Bowles said. "Stopping somebody is great, but if we can emphasize turnovers and get the ball back as much as possible, that's more damaging to an offensive team than anything else.
"There are a lot of teams that finish in the top five in defense and still aren't very good in turnovers. Turnovers are the key to winning ballgames."
"I think it is beneficial to us because he puts his trust in us and believes in what we are capable of doing. We just want to make him look good at what we are doing."

 

On changing the scheme:

"We have 4-3 guys and we do play 4-3 during the ballgame," Bowles said. "We don't stay in just 3-4. It's a matter of having the right people outside doing the right things at the right times. Some of those (linebackers) are inside guys that can't play outside.
"(The scheme) will be mixed up a little bit more."

 

On mid-game adjustments

"He came in at halftime and said, ‘You know, we are going to tighten our coverage up and bring pressure and we are going to make them beat us over the top,' " safety Rashad Johnson
"That shows the kind of confidence he has in the secondary that he said tighten up because we're not going to let them dink and dunk us the rest of the game.
"It's just the confidence level he has in us and the trust we have in the plays he's calling. They had two good drives but we have such a mature group, we didn't even blink. We knew we would figure out what they were doing to us."

There’s a chess match before the game, during the game, and at halftime," Bowles said. "We made some minor adjustments. We just made more plays than they did. In the first half they made more plays than we did."
That’s simplifying it a bit too much, however. "He doesn’t do a lot of yelling and screaming like a typical coach," defensive end Frostee Rucker said. "He’s an educator. They always say it trickles down, and the captain, the quarterback of our defense, is Todd. "He can dial the game up and make sure we are technically sound, and before you know it, we’re right where we need to be."

 

On Blitzing

"They consider five people going a blitz these days," defensive end Calais Campbell said. "I don't consider that a blitz. I don't think Todd considers that a blitz. That's just our ‘under saw' type of look. As far as actual blitzes go, we mix them up a lot. Bring a lot of different guys. To me, five is just a five-man rush."
"(The blitzing) hasn't been as effective as I thought," Bowles said. "Some of them work out well, some don't. You see things, you try to take advantage. You try to put guys in position to make plays."

Do you play to win the game?

"You've got to play for the win or you play for the loss," Bowles said. "We were playing for the win."