Jets Season Already Successful

[House Jet]

http://elitesportsny.com/2015/12/02/new-york-jets-year-one-todd-bowles-already-success/

Win or lose the rest of the way, it should be argued that year number one under head coach Todd Bowles has been a success for the New York Jets.

By Jeff Jarboe

After losing four out of their last five games, Todd Bowles and the New York Jetsbounced back this past Sunday with a dominant win against the division rival Miami Dolphins.

The win brought New York’s record to 6-5 and revived their playoff hopes. More importantly though, it’s brought a warmer feeling around the new Bowles’ era. Whether this team makes the playoffs or not, it’s safe to say that year one in the Todd Bowles/Mike Maccagnan era has been a success.

Because this team went 4-1 in their first five games this season and then proceeded to drop four of the next five games, it’s easy for fans and analysts to forget that this franchise is in the midst of a rebuild.

To jog the memories of Jet Nation, this is what their team looked like one year ago today:

 

• Record: 2-10
• Leading Passer: Geno Smith (1,524 yds, 7 tds, 11 int, 57.4 cmp%)
• Leading Rusher: Chris Ivory (641 yds, 5 tds, 4.4 ypc)
• Leading Receiver: Eric Decker (49 rec, 531 yds, 4 tds)
• Total Sacks: 29
• Turnover Differential: -12 (8 taken/20 given)
• Avg. Points Allowed: 26.6
• Avg. Points Scored: 15.8

Insert Mike Maccagnan and Todd Bowles, fast forward one year, and this is where the New York Jets currently stand:

• Record: 6-5
• Leading Passer: Ryan Fitzpatrick (2,476 yds, 20 tds, 11 int, 58.5 cmp%)
• Leading Rusher: Chris Ivory (766 yds, 7 tds, 4.1 ypc)
• Leading Receiver: Brandon Marshall(71 rec, 931 yds, 9 tds)
• Total Sacks: 25
• Turnover Differential: +4 (22 taken/18 given)
• Avg. Points Allowed: 20.7
• Avg. Points Scored: 24.7

(Oh, and the 2014 stats were through 12 games, while the 2015 stats are through 11 games.)

Nearly 1,000 more passing yards, 13 more passing touchdowns, and they’ve maintained production in the running game from Chris Ivory. The turnover differential has vastly improved, the average points allowed has decreased, while the sack numbers have stayed relatively the same.

And most of all, this team has already won four more games than they did last year at this point (and two more games than they won all of last season).

At this point last year every Jets fan and their mother was preparing for a top 10 draft pick, and accepting the fact that 2015 was going to be a rebuilding year.

New York would go on to win two of their final four games of the season, including a promising Week 17 win against Miami, but it wasn’t enough for Rex Ryan to retain his dream job in the Big Apple.

With the once beloved head coach now gone and the not so beloved GM John Idzik let go shortly thereafter, the future of the New York Jets was a mystery.

All the fans could hope for at this point was for a general manager and a head coach who could be on the same page, and use the near $60 million in cap space and sixth overall pick in the draft to build a team for the future.

That is what they got from Mike Maccagnan and Todd Bowles, and it’s become clear through the first 11 games of this season.

Maccagnan filled out the secondary by bringing back Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie, and adding Buster Skrine andMarcus Gilchrist.

He filled the void at left guard with the signing of James Carpenter (who’s arguably been NYJ’s best O-lineman this season).

He added playmakers on offense by trading a fifth and a sixth round pick for Brandon Marshall and Ryan Fitzpatrick, respectively.

He added depth on the defensive line with the selection of Leonard Williams in the first round, and speed on the edge with Lorenzo Mauldin IV in the third round.

The first-year GM took all the money he had and all of the draft picks, and managed to use them in a manner that would form a roster capable of winning now, and preparing for the future.

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The trade for Ryan Fitzpatrick for example, now can be considered the best move of the off-season, but at the time it was Macc’s way of buying short-term insurance on Geno Smith should he fail to get it right in year four (good thinking).

Then, the selection of Bryce Petty in the fourth round of the draft provided long-term insurance by adding a young arm who could take over for Fitzpatrick in a few years.

Maccagnan’s selection of Lorenzo Mauldin IV in the third round was also extremely important because of his value both now and in the future.

Heading into the off-season one of New York’s biggest weaknesses on defense was their lack of a speed rusher on the edge. Florida’s Dante Fowler Jr. and Clemson’s Vic Beasley were two names linked with the Jets in mock drafts, but neither deserved to be picked before big Leonard in the first round.

Though it would have been nice to have a potential three-down edge player like Fowler or Beasley, Macc’s knew all the team needed from his edge rusher right now was the ability to come in on third down and bring speed into the front seven.

Mauldin gave him that, and so Maccagnan drafted him with the hopes that his head coach would be able to take his raw speed and potential and turn him into a legitimate pass rushing threat down the road.

It’s only 11 games into his rookie season, but so far it looks like Todd Bowles has number 55 well on the way to becoming a starting outside linebacker in this league.

Why? Discipline.

Todd Bowles has provided this team with the discipline that they lacked all those years with Rex.

It’s unclear how much chemistry the rookie head coach has built with his team up to this point, but what has been made clear is that they respect him. They respect his defensive mind, and they respect the fact that he came to New York to win.

According to ProFootballTalk, Bowles reportedly “went off” on his team following their Week 11 loss to the Houston Texans.Muhammad Wilkerson mentioned his coach’s outburst on WFAN later that week; via ProFootballTalk:

“Coach Todd, after the game, went off on us and told us, ‘Losing is not acceptable,’” Wilkerson said. “He yells at us when things are not going as they should on the field, and they’re not looking the way he expects it to be. He definitely gets on us,” he followed.

That is what I’m talking about. Finally, the Jets employ a coach who will hold his players accountable when they make mistakes. A coach whose only goal, week in and week out, is to win football games.

Should the Jets have more than six wins at this point in the season after starting out 4-1? Absolutely, but the wins will come.

It’s his first year on the job and he’s already managed to maintain a winning record for the majority of the season with a brand new roster. That speaks volumes about his ability to lead a team.

Record aside, it’s become clear through the first 12 weeks of this season that the New York Jets have bought into Bowles’ winning culture.

I’m not counting them out by any means–with five weeks still remaining in the season, the Jets are very much in control of their own destiny–but should they miss out on the playoffs, year one in the Bowles/Maccagnan era would not be a failure.

It would be (and already has been) a big step in the right direction.

[House Jet]

Thought it was a nice article to lend some perspective to where this team is at and where its headed. Besides, its taking forever for sunday to get here and I needed some new material to read. 

[The Crusher]

You look forward to Sunday's?  Geesh.

[AFJF]

All depends on what expectations were coming in to the season.  Right now they're about a game worse than I expected them to be.  Hoped they'd play to their full potential which would've put them around ten wins.  They can still get there, but still a long way to go.

[House Jet]

You look forward to Sunday's?  Geesh.

call me crazy haha

[nyjunc]

No it isn't, long way to go.

[UnitedWhofans]

I think they need to get 1-2 more wins before we can call the season a moral victory. 4-12 to 6-10 is better, but the double digit losses stigma is still there,

But they are getting some younger talent up and competing.

[House Jet]

No it isn't, long way to go.

Like AFJF said, all depends on your expectations. Although I'm not gonna lie and say that I'd be satisfied even if we dont make the playoffs, isnt it true that 31 teams are unsuccessful each year? I'd say in terms of progress this year we have been pretty successful. We will have towait to find out if this team can distance themselves from 31 others.

[prime21]

The issue with our team is that we went from such a horrible team with no leadership to a great team on paper and the expectations for many was we are instantly a playoff team.  Most of us have been around long enough that in football paper teams mean nothing.  If this was  full rebuild then its a success but we are balanced enough that we can contend for the playoffs so each loss brings rage especially if we look bad in the loss.

I would rather wait until the end to declare what the season is but we are in December and we are battling for a playoff spot.  One year ago we were down in the dumps so I can say I am excited to be relevant this December....although its early December.

 

 

[Jetsfan80]

I'd feel pretty lousy about the season if we were to end up 6-10.  Our future could very well be very bright, but I wouldn't call it a successful season at all.  Teams who weren't supposed to compete do so all the time in the NFL.  Right now we're 6-5 and in the playoff hunt.  Expectations are raised from the Rex era.  We should act like a playoff team. 

This is especially true given that a 6-10 finish would mean getting swept by Buffalo and New England, and also losing to both the f*ckin Cowboys and Giants (who owned us under Rex, Mangini AND Herm, and beat Parcells too; we've allowed 34 points per game to them in our last 4 meetings with the Giants since 1999, and haven't beaten them since 1993).  No thanks!

[shuler82]

If the Jets roster was the same in 2015 as it was in 2014 I would agree. But it's not. And after bringing in the FAs the Jets did, I don't think there were many fans predicting anything less than a .500 season. Is that a success? I guess it's at least not a failure

[GREENBEAN]

All I see is two less turnovers than last year with one less game. lol

I hate turnovers and while I'm obviously happy our D is actually creating some this season it still sucks that we are that high in INTs. 

Either way I can't help but feel disappointed after the offseason we had. If we made the playoffs I would feel better even if we lost game one I think. 

Adding the "best player in the draft" at DT and having two less sacks is also disappointing as well. I thought they would be wreaking havoc. 

Let's hope for improvement on the back end of the season in that dept. 

[nyjunc]

Like AFJF said, all depends on your expectations. Although I'm not gonna lie and say that I'd be satisfied even if we dont make the playoffs, isnt it true that 31 teams are unsuccessful each year? I'd say in terms of progress this year we have been pretty successful. We will have towait to find out if this team can distance themselves from 31 others.

if we lose the rest of our games and go 6-10 there's no way you can call this season a success on any level.  had we been 1-10 and won our last 5 to get to 6-10 then we could spin it.  Expectations are great but they change in this league quickly as teams get good and bad in a hurry.  I don't think it will be a failure if we miss the playoffs but if we don't compete it will be a failure.

[LIJetsFan]

The issue with our team is that we went from such a horrible team with no leadership to a great team on paper and the expectations for many was we are instantly a playoff team.  Most of us have been around long enough that in football paper teams mean nothing.  If this was  full rebuild then its a success but we are balanced enough that we can contend for the playoffs so each loss brings rage especially if we look bad in the loss.

I would rather wait until the end to declare what the season is but we are in December and we are battling for a playoff spot.  One year ago we were down in the dumps so I can say I am excited to be relevant this December....although its early December.

 

 

The thing I remember most going into the season is yes, most of us fans liked us on paper but the rest of the media/talking heads still had the fish and that other NY team ahead of us in the division.  I love when our team sticks it to the media.  That is at least one other way to spell success.  

[Scott Dierking]

The stench of the previous regime is mostly gone, the Jets players and coaches are being held accountable again, and the Jets have all the appearances of a professionally run franchise. 

That is one positive step. I will take it.

[Jetsfan80]

All I see is two less turnovers than last year with one less game. lol

I hate turnovers and while I'm obviously happy our D is actually creating some this season it still sucks that we are that high in INTs. 

Not all interceptions carry the same weight.  I can't find the numbers on pick sixes Geno threw last year, but I did find some articles about them:

 

Denver pick 6:  http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/geno-smith-late-pick-costs-bettors-picked-jets-article-1.1972066

Minnesota pick 6:  http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24872733/jets-qb-geno-smith-throws-pick-six-on-first-play-vs-vikings

There may have been more than just 2.  And I do know he threw 5 of those in 2013, leading the league in that category. 

 

In addition, several of Geno's picks have occurred when we were deep in opposing territory, thus directly taking points off the board.  So when Geno threw picks, it either ended up as points the other way or prevented us from even getting a field goal.

Fitz's picks, for the MOST part (not all, I'm aware), have more or less been on "jump balls" to one of our big receivers.  I don't think he's had a single pick 6, and at most I believe 1 or 2 of his picks were deep in opposing territory, if any.

[JiFtheOracle]

2 things:  

1. The season isnt over and after starting 4-1, I would consider this season a failure if they dont make the playoffs.  78% of teams that start 4-1 have made the playoffs over the last 25 years.  To be part of the 22% that misses the playoffs when you consider some of the losses and how they happened, would not constitute a successful season.

2.  Why does everyone compare this year to last year in these types of conversations?  This not the same team.  It's completely different.  And so is the league. The AFC was completely different and much more difficult to make the playoffs last year.  Only 5 teams didnt win at least 8 games.  This season, that number could be as high as 9.  Totally different season, totally different team.  There is no comparison.

 

 

[peebag]

Geno's sitting on the bench, so yes.

[ChuckkieB]

The Jets signed and traded for some high priced veteran players like Revis, Cromartie, and Marshall  who aren't getting any younger and are "win now" players. I think coming into this year, many fans, myself included, had expectations that this team would be  a playoff contender, and they are.  Anything less than an 8-8 record would be a huge disappointment IMO.

[House Jet]

if we lose the rest of our games and go 6-10 there's no way you can call this season a success on any level.  had we been 1-10 and won our last 5 to get to 6-10 then we could spin it.  Expectations are great but they change in this league quickly as teams get good and bad in a hurry.  I don't think it will be a failure if we miss the playoffs but if we don't compete it will be a failure.

You're definitely making a fair point. I'd be pretty pissed if we ended up 6 and 10. Although being the optimistic guy that I am, I could probably rationalize an 8-8 finish with hopes for the future. I think anything but an all out collapse will give this season a positive vibe. So for example, if we did go 8-8 and our young guys show promise and we are competing then I'd say its successful to some degree. 

[whodeawhodat]

New CS, new system.  I think that gets overlooked by a lot of folks since fitz played in the system a few years ago on offense.  1st year HC and I like what I see.  Will I be disappointed if we lose out? Hell YES! There are bright spots to the season though and it seems like a large portion of Macs signings were stop gap signings to keep us in the mix while hopefully (fingers crossed) building for the future.  To say we are a win now team, I dont think it is accurate.  This team does not get blown up next year or the year after but there are measures in place to cut without mortgaging any future of this team.  The reverse can be said as well, we did not buy this year(a lot of FA spending) while handcuffing ourselves for years to come.  Maybe I just said the same thing twice..

[AFJF]

2 things:  

1. The season isnt over and after starting 4-1, I would consider this season a failure if they dont make the playoffs.  78% of teams that start 4-1 have made the playoffs over the last 25 years.  To be part of the 22% that misses the playoffs when you consider some of the losses and how they happened, would not constitute a successful season.

2.  Why does everyone compare this year to last year in these types of conversations?  This not the same team.  It's completely different.  And so is the league. The AFC was completely different and much more difficult to make the playoffs last year.  Only 5 teams didnt win at least 8 games.  This season, that number could be as high as 9.  Totally different season, totally different team.  There is no comparison.

 

 

I can't help but laugh when people say "This was a four win team last season"....it's insane.  If they'd added a middling CB and an O-lineman then fine, but they spent tens of millions on top-tier talent while bringing in a guy who many considered to be the best defensive mind in the NFL.  If you gotta spend that kind of money and bring in that kind of coach to get an additional two wins, then what's the point?

[drdetroit]

Dumbest article ever.

 

 

if we lose twice to the pats, twice to Rex and get our ass handed to usby the Giants -  really successful year

[Jetsfan80]

I can't help but laugh when people say "This was a four win team last season"....it's insane.  If they'd added a middling CB and an O-lineman then fine, but they spent tens of millions on top-tier talent while bringing in a guy who many considered to be the best defensive mind in the NFL.  If you gotta spend that kind of money and bring in that kind of coach to get an additional two wins, then what's the point?

Yep.  I think most of us, at the beginning of the season, felt that 8 wins was, on paper, about right in terms of expectations.  Crazy things always happen in the league and the games have to be played, but it had the feel of an 8-win roster.  And not an illegitimate 8-8 season like in 2013, when we were outscored by more than 90 points on the season and the advanced metrics suggested we should have won 5-6 games. 

When we started 4-1, all of a sudden the expectations heightened to where the playoffs were very possible.  But after coming back to earth, 8 wins still feels about right.  Thus 6 wins would be legitimately disappointing. 

[JiFtheOracle]

I can't help but laugh when people say "This was a four win team last season"....it's insane.  If they'd added a middling CB and an O-lineman then fine, but they spent tens of millions on top-tier talent while bringing in a guy who many considered to be the best defensive mind in the NFL.  If you gotta spend that kind of money and bring in that kind of coach to get an additional two wins, then what's the point?

Agreed.  It's completely illogical.  The talent influx was ridiculous and that doesnt include the maturation process of a guys like Pryor and Marcus Williams and to an extent, Winters.  New starters: Fitz, Marshall, Carpenter, Williams, Revis, Cro, Skrine, Gilchrist.  That's 8 new starters.  Not to mention the amount of guys that get reps who are new to the team or were injured last season. This is not the same team in the slightest bit.  Nothing about the 2014 Jets has anything to do with the 2015 Jets.  And I was told firing Rex Ryan was an automatic 2+ wins, so again, I have no clue why people seem to think last year is relevant to this year.  

 

[Jetsfan80]

And I was told firing Rex Ryan was an automatic 2+ wins, so again, I have no clue why people seem to think last year is relevant to this year.  

If only we could have finished off Buffalo the first time around, we'd have a shot at a sweep that would directly have lead to those 2 wins.  Really wish we could have that one back.

[T0mShane]

If only we could have finished off Buffalo the first time around, we'd have a shot at a sweep that would directly have lead to those 2 wins.  Really wish we could have that one back.

Kellen ******* Davis.

[Savage69]

Kellen ******* Davis.

That was a terrible play call plus the Bills didn't beat the Jets they beat themselves..

[SAR I]

Thought it was a nice article to lend some perspective to where this team is at and where its headed. Besides, its taking forever for sunday to get here and I needed some new material to read. 

Good post, Maccagnan and Bowles took a 4-12 team and transformed it into an 8-8 team while being handcuffed with cap rules, the Rex Ryan malaise, and old players with fat contracts.

Nicely done.

SAR I

[AFJF]

Good post, Maccagnan and Bowles took a 4-12 team and transformed it into an 8-8 team while being handcuffed with cap rules, the Rex Ryan malaise, and old players with fat contracts.

Nicely done.

SAR I

How were they handcuffed by the cap rules that every other team in the NFL has to adhere to with more space that 28 or 29 other teams?

[Jetsfan80]

That was a terrible play call plus the Bills didn't beat the Jets they beat themselves..

Had it been the other way around, the Bills would have been the ones beating themselves.  Just an ugly, ugly game with no deserving winner.  We still should have gotten it.  Regardless of how poorly we played, we had 2nd & 3 at their 8-yard line with the chance to get the go-ahead score.  Worst loss of the season by far.

[Savage69]

Had it been the other way around, the Bills would have been the ones beating themselves.  Just an ugly, ugly game with no deserving winner.  We still should have gotten it.  Regardless of how poorly we played, we had 2nd & 3 at their 8-yard line with the chance to get the go-ahead score.  Worst loss of the season by far.

And we are the Number 1 red zone scoring team so far this season.. https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/red-zone-scoring-pct

[New York Mick]

That's a great loser attitude.

The team hasn't done sh*t but beat crappy teams and has zero chance of making the superb bowl and a awful looking future. 

[RutgersJetFan]

This is kind of bullsh*t. The Jets have games left against the Giants, Pats, and Bills. Sorry, but they need to win some of those games. Sweeping the Fish is fantabulous, but if they get swept across those three it's certainly going to be one hell of a kick to the taint.

[faba]

Grade is incomplete-