kelly Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 -- His young children in tow, Todd Bowles was heading from his news conference to his locker room, the winners' locker room, when he stopped for a moment to talk about a vanquished opponent -- Bill Belichick -- who is not in the habit of losing the kind of mind games he'd just lost to the New York Jets.Asked during the week about his relationship with the man who has owned the Jets every bit as much as Woody Johnson has, Bowles said, "I don't have one." But after the rookie head coach benefited from the rare Belichickian audible gone terribly wrong -- the decision to kick to the Jets after winning the overtime coin toss -- Bowles sounded like a man interested in establishing a future relationship based on achievement, and not on the empty bluster that defined his predecessor, Rex Ryan."He's unbelievably great," Bowles told ESPN.com about Belichick, not Ryan. "I don't know if beating him means too much to my team because it was such a crucial situation for us, but I have the utmost respect for him as a person and as a coach. They are a great team, man. They've clinched [a playoff spot] already, and we're trying to get where they are." Told his no-nonsense, robo-tone approach resembles Belichick's, minus the confrontational edge (for now), Bowles laughed out loud and said, "I hope it's not looks." He said Belichick shook his hand after the Jets' 26-20 victory, told him it was a good game and immediately moved on to the New England Patriots' next and final chance to lock down the No. 1 seed on the AFC side of the postseason bracket."I'm sure they're not going to lose too much sleep over it," Bowles said. "We needed it more than they did. We're just trying to play the game the right way and not get too high over a win or too low over a loss, because that affects you the next week. ... But you can't sit back and exhale until the season's over. I can exhale for two hours and then it's like, 'Oh s---, it's Buffalo on Monday.' That's the life of a coach."It has been a distinguished life for the 52-year-old Bowles, a tough guy from a tough town, Elizabeth, New Jersey, about 18 miles from the MetLife Stadium scene of his best day as a football coach. A day when Bowles strongly suggested he is the perfect antidote to Ryan's buffoonery and, more important, that he is capable of building a program Belichick respects and even admires. The Jets had squandered a 17-3 third-quarter lead to a franchise that has forever tormented them, and all the signs pointed toward the death of the home team's four-game winning streak and the clinching of New England's home-field advantage through the playoffs. It didn't matter that injuries forced Belichick to pull offensive linemen and skill-position guys out of the cheap seats, or that Tom Brady was taking a fierce pounding for most of the game. On fourth-and-9 in the closing minutes, the great quarterback found his equally great tight end, Rob Gronkowski, for a 26-yard catch made next-to-impossible by the fact the Jets' big-hitting safety, Calvin Pryor, tried to saw Gronk in half.Brady threw a touchdown pass to a wide-open James White on the next play, and nobody in the stands wearing a faded Keyshawn Johnson or Wayne Chrebet jersey thought he or she was heading for a happy ending. Even when Belichick ordered one of his captains, Matthew Slater, to defer in the event the Patriots won the overtime toss, those fatalistic Jets fans had to be thinking Belichick was assuming his usual role of Lucy, about to pull the ball away from an always unsuspecting Charlie Brown.Remember, the Jets haven't appeared in the Super Bowl since the year man stepped on the moon, while Belichick is no less a Super Bowl fixture than that ungodly media day. The last time Belichick made an apparently bizarre endgame choice, he was refusing to call timeout in February while staring across the field at his Super Bowl counterpart, Seattle's Pete Carroll, who was melting down at the worst possible time. Bowles didn't have his team near the goal line, ready to two-peat at the Patriots' expense. This wasn't a title game Sunday, even if it felt that way for the Jets. They knew they had to win to protect their playoff hopes. Just as Bowles suggested, they needed to prevail more than the Patriots did.So Ryan Fitzpatrick took the gift-wrapped ball and advanced it 80 yards in five plays. He hit Quincy Enunwa for a big play, Brandon Marshall for a big play and Eric Decker for the biggest play -- a six-yard touchdown pass at the expense of Malcolm Butler, Super Bowl hero -- before the Jets started celebrating New Year's Eve a bit early. "I was a little disappointed," Marshall said. "Before the game, I broke the team down and I said, 'When we win, don't act like you won the Super Bowl.' And we won, then everyone stormed the field. Freaking fireworks goes off. I guess they enjoyed the moment." For good reason, too. This was only the fifth time the Jets have won at least 10 games in a season since Brady became New England's starter early in 2001; Brady and Belichick have reached double figures 14 times over the same period.The stadium-wide talk afterward centered on Belichick's coin-toss call; Slater, curious about the first-possession-touchdown-ends-the-game rule, kept asking his coach if he was sure he wanted to go through with it. "I think he was looking at me like, 'Are you concussed?' " said Slater, who could've chosen his words more carefully given the current climate around the league and in movie theaters near you.Oh well. The Jets later committed an unforced error of their own, retweeting Belichick's quote on the gambit ("We thought that was the best thing to do.") and adding the word, "Agreed." The Jets have no business tweaking a coach who has dominated them and repeatedly has validated his decision to run away from them after Bill Parcells quit way back when. They had every right to pump up their own coach for leading them in a poised and dignified way. Bowles hired the right offensive coordinator, Chan Gailey, to get the most out of Fitzpatrick, who arrived in New Jersey with a career record of 33-55-1. Under Bowles, Marshall became the first Jet to catch 100 passes in a season, and Bowles' defense has played at the same high level reached by his Arizona defense. The Jets also have shown a resilience not seen in Ryan's final four years, a resilience embodied Sunday by Enunwa (who overcame a critical drop) and by Fitzpatrick (who overcame his strip-sack fumble that gave New England a touchdown).Marshall said Bowles inspired this culture change after the loss in Houston dropped the Jets to 5-5, when he ripped into his team for blowing opportunity after opportunity. The coach cut an underperforming player, Quinton Coples, a former first-round pick who had played loud music on the flight home, and then lit into his team again. Calvin Pace, 13-year NFL veteran, said those post-Houston speeches were the angriest he has seen Bowles in the regular season. "He's not a vocal guy," Pace said, "but when he speaks, his message comes across and speaks volumes. We knew that he meant business, and it changed us."Pace called Bowles' hot-and-heavy training camp "hell," which would be a fairly accurate description for what the Jets will experience if they lose a playoff berth next weekend at Ryan's place. But win, lose or draw in Buffalo, Bowles accomplished something Sunday that can't be destroyed in three hours of Week 17 football.He has set a tone of consistency and professionalism that was supposed to be the trademark of their losing friends next door, the Giants, the same consistency and professionalism he showed as a championship player in Washington. "We haven't arrived yet," Bowles warned.But he has, the tough guy from Elizabeth. The rookie coach just beat a Hall of Famer at his own game, and when it was over, Bill Belichick said a lot while saying little. He called the Jets "well-coached." He said Todd Bowles' players "did their job." > http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14446516/todd-bowles-poise-no-nonsense-approach-exactly-new-york-jets-need-nfl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly Posted December 28, 2015 Author Share Posted December 28, 2015 Not great company for Todd Bowles ? Bowles became the third coach in Jets history to win 10 games in his first season. The other two? Eric Mangini and Herm Edwards. Neither made it out of the wild-card round that year. > http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly Posted December 28, 2015 Author Share Posted December 28, 2015 Offense The Jets rolled up 428 yards, moving the ball at will against the Patriots. Outside of a lull in the fourth quarter, the offense was clicking. QB Ryan Fitzpatrick (26-of-41, 296 yards, three TDs, one fumble) missed some throws, but made them when the team needed it. WR Brandon Marshall (eight catches, 115 yards, two TDs) was a monster as usual. WR Eric Decker (three catches 47 yards, one TD) had a quiet game, but was wide open for the game-winner in overtime. WR Quincy Enunwa (two catches, 69 yards) had the play of the day with his 48-yard grab in OT. Grade: B+ Defense For the most part, the Jets defense controlled the game, but a late lapse allowed the Patriots to tie the game. Tom Brady (22-of-31, 231 yards, one TD, one INT) was under constant pressure and threw an interception to Darrelle Revis. The Jets did a solid job against TE Rob Gronkowski (four catches, 86 yards), but allowed him to get open on fourth-and-9. The Patriots only went 1-for-10 on third down. Grade: B Special teams There were no explosive plays either way on special teams. K Randy Bullock made both of his field-goal tries, including a 49-yarder. P Ryan Quigley put two punts inside the 20 and averaged 47.8 yards per punt. Grade: B Coaching Todd Bowles has done a tremendous job getting the Jets to turn their season around in this five-game winning streak. He did not make this game too big for his players by playing into the Patriots rivalry. On defense, Bowles and defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers mixed up coverages and found ways to pressure Brady. Chan Gailey continues to push the right buttons on offense, finding ways to get more than just the star players involved. Grade: A > http://nypost.com/2015/12/27/jets-report-card-todd-bowles-earned-a-before-game-started/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GimmeShelter Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 Great article. Thanks for posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly Posted December 28, 2015 Author Share Posted December 28, 2015 –- Calvin Pryor's face lit up like a kid opening up his gifts on Christmas morning. Meanwhile, Brandon Marshall thought there had to be a mistake. How could the New England Patriots possibly want to kick off after winning the coin toss to start overtime against the New York Jets?"There was some confusion there," Marshall said. "So when they won it, my first reaction was, 'Stop them.' Then I saw the kicker. Once they said they wanted to kick off, I saw the kicker say, 'No, no. We want to receive.' So I thought there was a big miscommunication there. Then it was our ball and I was like, 'What the hell?'" Following their 26-20 overtime win, the Jets were still pretty stunned at the Patriots' decision to kick instead of receive. But they were thankful for having received what turned out to be a late Christmas gift from their division rival."You really want to kick the ball?" Pryor said, remembering his reaction at midfield during the coin toss. "I don't know but I am glad they chose to kick the ball." Some of the Jets' veterans said they have learned over the years not to be surprised by anything Bill Belichick does."Nothing surprises you about the Patriots and strategy and what they think," quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said. "We were excited to get the opportunity to get the ball and have a chance to put them away." Fitzpatrick and the Jets' offense needed only five plays to go 80 yards and score the game-winning touchdown. The Jets say that no matter what Belichick opted to do, they were confident that they were going to do what needed to be done in overtime."You got a Tom Brady. I can see in hindsight, stepping back a little, why he would do that," linebacker Calvin Pace said. "But either way for us, I felt good about if the defense were going out, I felt good we would have stopped them. And the offense did it, they went down and scored a touchdown." Pace said he was not insulted that Belichick might've thought the Jets would not be able to score a touchdown and then would not have been able to stop Brady from winning the game."No, I don't take it as a slap in the face," Pace said. "I just think he looked at it as he's got a guy who has won games, in Tom Brady, over and over, who has led drives like that, so I can see why he did it." Marshall, though, was still scratching his head after the game trying to figure out the Patriots' strategy."After the game, [Patriots offensive coordinator] Josh McDaniels came up to me, my old ball coach in Denver," Marshall said. "I asked, 'What were you guys thinking?' "He explained to me the situation a little bit," Marshall said with something of a smile. "But I didn't believe him." > http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/57465/jets-stunned-to-receive-late-christmas-gift-from-pats-in-ot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly Posted December 28, 2015 Author Share Posted December 28, 2015 -- New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick stood by his decision to kick off at the start of overtime in Sunday's 26-20 loss to the New York Jets, a move that backfired on the team. "I clearly thought that was our best opportunity, so that's why we did it," Belichick told reporters on his standard day-after-game conference call. "I didn't like the way it worked out, but to me, that was the right decision for our team at that time."Asked how much the team's strong defensive performance in the fourth quarter was a factor in his decision, Belichick said, "Look, the bottom line is field position -- good field position, you don't have to take it as far; you get a stop, need a field goal [to win]. So it was really more of a field-position consideration, similar to other overtime games we've been in, regardless of which way it went, whether it was the Denver game from a couple years ago or the Denver game from this year, where we had the ball, got stopped, gave it to them in good field position -- they ended up scoring a touchdown, but didn't have very far to go to get into field-goal range." Belichick said there was a discussion on which side the Patriots wanted to defend, but it was only in the context of what they would decide if the Jets won the toss and took the ball."Honestly, it didn't really make any difference, there was almost no wind in the game. That wasn't a big consideration," he said. "What I didn't want to do was defend a goal and have them choose to kick off. So we chose to kick off, and I don't know exactly what happened out there at midfield, but we obviously didn't have the choice of goals. They did. But we talked about that on the sideline, because that could have been our choice had the coin toss gone differently." Belichick also detailed how he informed referee Clete Blakeman of his decision before the toss."For that exact reason; so there wouldn't be any confusion about what was going on," he said. "That's why when I was asked after the game 'Was there confusion on the play?' I don't think there was any confusion. Clete came over to me after the toss and said, 'You got what you wanted here, right?' I said, 'Yeah, exactly.' "It seems like much ado about nothing for me. I don't really understand what the issue is. What are we talking about here? What should have happened that didn't happen, or whatever? I don't know." > http://espn.go.com/blog/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4789186/one-day-later-bill-belichick-stands-by-decision-to-kick-off-at-start-of-ot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 BOWLES KNOWS HOW TO HIRE A STAFF Was Chan Gailey on the media's various "hot" coaching lists? Nope, but that didn't matter to Todd Bowles. Clearly, the first-year coach knows what he is doing in New York. Best coaching jobs (Insider) > http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetCane Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Belichick ordered one of his captains, Matthew Slater, to defer in the event the Patriots won the overtime toss, That's the most likely scenario. Defer, and then the Jets elect to receive, and Pats choose which goal they wanted to defend. He wanted to defer, not say "kickoff". JMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljr Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Offense The Jets rolled up 428 yards, moving the ball at will against the Patriots. Outside of a lull in the fourth quarter, the offense was clicking. QB Ryan Fitzpatrick (26-of-41, 296 yards, three TDs, one fumble) missed some throws, but made them when the team needed it. WR Brandon Marshall (eight catches, 115 yards, two TDs) was a monster as usual. WR Eric Decker (three catches 47 yards, one TD) had a quiet game, but was wide open for the game-winner in overtime. WR Quincy Enunwa (two catches, 69 yards) had the play of the day with his 48-yard grab in OT. Grade: B+ Defense For the most part, the Jets defense controlled the game, but a late lapse allowed the Patriots to tie the game. Tom Brady (22-of-31, 231 yards, one TD, one INT) was under constant pressure and threw an interception to Darrelle Revis. The Jets did a solid job against TE Rob Gronkowski (four catches, 86 yards), but allowed him to get open on fourth-and-9. The Patriots only went 1-for-10 on third down. Grade: B Special teams There were no explosive plays either way on special teams. K Randy Bullock made both of his field-goal tries, including a 49-yarder. P Ryan Quigley put two punts inside the 20 and averaged 47.8 yards per punt. Grade: B Coaching Todd Bowles has done a tremendous job getting the Jets to turn their season around in this five-game winning streak. He did not make this game too big for his players by playing into the Patriots rivalry. On defense, Bowles and defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers mixed up coverages and found ways to pressure Brady. Chan Gailey continues to push the right buttons on offense, finding ways to get more than just the star players involved. Grade: A > http://nypost.com/2015/12/27/jets-report-card-todd-bowles-earned-a-before-game-started/ with how Specials has been this year I'd have to move their grade on Sunday to A as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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