Todd Bowles on why Jets didn't make playoffs in 2015

[Gas2No99]

Todd Bowles on why Jets didn't make playoffs in 2015

 

FILE - In this Friday, Aug. 21, 2015 file photo, New York Jets head coach Todd Bowles reacts during the second half of a preseason NFL football game against the Atlanta Falcons in East Rutherford, N.J. New York Jets coach Todd Bowles is a big fan of R&B singer Gladys Knight and now the "Empress of Soul" knows all about it, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015.(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun, File)

 

By Connor Hughes | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

 

It's been a very, very long time since the Jets last made the playoffs. Six years, to be exact. 

And Todd Bowles has an idea on why that streak wasn't snapped in 2015. 

"I don't think we realized how good we were until three quarters of the way through the season," the Jets head coach said on ESPN's First Take Tuesday. "It was belief and trust. As we got to believe in each other and trust each other, we started playing better on the field

"But at that point it was too late. We'd blown too many ball games."

For all intents and purposes, 2015 was actually a pretty good one for the Jets. After finishing 2014 4-12, New York improved their win total by six games to finish the year 10-6. Wideout Brandon Marshall broke nearly ever single-season franchise receiving record (catches, yards, touchdowns, 100-yard games), while quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick snapped the Jets single-season record for passing touchdowns. 

And that's really just the tip of the iceberg: Running back Chris Ivory led the AFC in rushing yards, wideout Eric Decker also had over 1,000 yards receiving, defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson had a career-high 12 sacks ... the list goes on and on.

But for a team playoff-starved, it wasn't enough. And what stings many on the roster the most is the Jets actually controlled their own destiny. But against the Buffalo Bills Week 17, a team playing for nothing, the Jets blew it. The final score? 22-17 in favor of Buffalo. 

"They just beat us," Bowles said. "They came out and played better than us. We have no excuses for that. They beat us. Flat out."

With New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady suspended the first four games of this season, there's a very real chance the AFC East could be up for grabs for the first time in a long time. The Jets, Miami Dolphins and Bills are all pretty equal in terms of talent, which means it could come down to the wire once again. 

The Jets will, once again, conclude the regular season against the Bills. What's Bowles doing to ensure 2016 doesn't end in the same fashion as 2015?

"Hopefully, we can get in before the last game," he joked. 

Connor Hughes may be reached at chughes@njadvancemedia.com.

[jgb]

53 minutes ago, Gas2No99 said:

But against the Buffalo Bills Week 17, a team playing for nothing, the Jets blew it. The final score? 22-17 in favor of Buffalo. 

It's a largely fair article but this statement stuck in my craw. Fact is, Buffalo was playing for the most important thing any Rex team ever plays for: a moral victory.

[SouthernJet]

3 hours ago, jgb said:

It's a largely fair article but this statement stuck in my craw. Fact is, Buffalo was playing for the most important thing any Rex team ever plays for: a moral victory.

ya agree plus fitz one glaring flaw is lack of a arm that can cut thru wind and sadly on that day the winds were 35 MPH + all day and we still almost won

[Jetdawgg]

Fair assessment from TB. No finger pointing.

[Jetster]

1 hour ago, SouthernJet said:

ya agree plus fitz one glaring flaw is lack of a arm that can cut thru wind and sadly on that day the winds were 35 MPH + all day and we still almost won

We really, really missed having Powell that day. We needed hands out of the backfield & Fitz never trusted Ivorys hands, as he was WIDE OPEN on that forced throw to Decker that was picked off.

[ljr]

1 hour ago, SouthernJet said:

ya agree plus fitz one glaring flaw is lack of a arm that can cut thru wind and sadly on that day the winds were 35 MPH + all day and we still almost won

Maybe @ Buff week 2 is actually a good thing ... So we get it out of the way early despite only 4 days rest.

[slats]

5 hours ago, Gas2No99 said:

"I don't think we realized how good we were until three quarters of the way through the season," the Jets head coach said on ESPN's First Take Tuesday. "It was belief and trust. As we got to believe in each other and trust each other, we started playing better on the field

"But at that point it was too late. We'd blown too many ball games."

This is a smart message for Bowles to be delivering to his team, whether it's true or not. He's basically warning them to be focused early during the most brutal part of their schedule because, as SAR I says, their chances for the playoffs can be blown well before December. 

[jgb]

1 minute ago, slats said:

This is a smart message for Bowles to be delivering to his team, whether it's true or not. He's basically warning them to be focused early during the most brutal part of their schedule because, as SAR I says, their chances for the playoffs can be blown well before December. 

Uh many here still don't realize how good they were and never will because e-tough guy reputations are now stuck to the position that Fitz stinks and they will ride that horse until it coughs up blood

[Larz]

The jets won 5 in a row to make the buff game meaningful. They all count. 

[Integrity28]

6 hours ago, jgb said:

It's a largely fair article but this statement stuck in my craw. Fact is, Buffalo was playing for the most important thing any Rex team ever plays for: a moral victory.

Tips cap.

[The Crusher]

1 hour ago, slats said:

This is a smart message for Bowles to be delivering to his team, whether it's true or not. He's basically warning them to be focused early during the most brutal part of their schedule because, as SAR I says, their chances for the playoffs can be blown well before December. 

4 day season.  Basically. 4 days

[Integrity28]

1 hour ago, slats said:

This is a smart message for Bowles to be delivering to his team, whether it's true or not. He's basically warning them to be focused early during the most brutal part of their schedule because, as SAR I says, their chances for the playoffs can be blown well before December. 

Agreed. Personally, I think it's true too. Early season losses came on such easy to point to plays. It want like old Jets where we just did everything wrong. You could see exactly where one or two mistakes broke the game out of our favor and we lost.

 

[JiFtheOracle]

6 hours ago, jgb said:

It's a largely fair article but this statement stuck in my craw. Fact is, Buffalo was playing for the most important thing any Rex team ever plays for: a moral victory.

Agreed.  Those back to back AFC Championship games didnt really have anything on the line at all or anything like that. 

[JiFtheOracle]

7 hours ago, Gas2No99 said:

"But at that point it was too late. We'd blown too many ball games."

 

While true, they did blow some games namely a ST's loss to Philly at home and a TJ Yates led Texans on the road but the statement is factually incorrect.  It wasnt too late.  All you had to do was beat Buffalo Week 17 and you're in.  Instead, your game plan was Stevan Ridley.  

 

[Jetsfan80]

7 minutes ago, JiF said:

Agreed.  Those back to back AFC Championship games didnt really have anything on the line at all or anything like that. 

Ancient history my man.  Rex just hired his brother as his defensive coordinator.  He jumped the shark a long time ago.

[jgb]

22 minutes ago, JiF said:

Agreed.  Those back to back AFC Championship games didnt really have anything on the line at all or anything like that. 

t'is a joke

[whodeawhodat]

28 minutes ago, JiF said:

While true, they did blow some games namely a ST's loss to Philly at home and a TJ Yates led Texans on the road but the statement is factually incorrect.  It wasnt too late.  All you had to do was beat Buffalo Week 17 and you're in.  Instead, your game plan was Stevan Ridley.  

 

and he owned that loss.  All good, glad to hear Coach speak honestly.

[JiFtheOracle]

Just now, whodeawhodat said:

and he owned that loss.  All good, glad to hear Coach speak honestly.

Yeah, he owned it..which is great.  But saying that it was too late because they werent clicking till the 3rd quarter of the season is wrong.  In fact, that's exactly when you want it to click and all they had to do was beat a below .500 Buffalo team. 

It's all good, I dont put too much stock into these types of quotes but it's a strange comment.  Everyone knows it's all about getting hot to finish the season and carrying that momentum into the postseason because once you're in, anything can happen.  Especially for a hot team.  The 3rd quarter of the season is when you want it to click and start hitting on all cylinders.  Very few teams are wire to wire in the NFL. 

 

[Jetster]

2 minutes ago, whodeawhodat said:

and he owned that loss.  All good, glad to hear Coach speak honestly.

It makes it easier to swallow that loss based on the fact that Revis was playing with a damaged wrist. At least we know why he wasn't jamming Watkins. Even so, we were in the redzone down 2 & Fitz threw a pick. Can't blame the HC for that. I think we handed those 2 wins to Rex on a silver platter. Don't turn the ball over vs a Rex Ryan coached team & you'll win because Rex teams are always heavily penalized. We had 5 TOs in 2 games. Does anyone remember how lucky the Bills were in the 1st game? I think they fumbled 3 times & recovered all 3. 

[whodeawhodat]

1 minute ago, JiF said:

Yeah, he owned it..which is great.  But saying that it was too late because they werent clicking till the 3rd quarter of the season is wrong.  In fact, that's exactly when you want it to click and all they had to do was beat a below .500 Buffalo team. 

It's all good, I dont put too much stock into these types of quotes but it's a strange comment.  Everyone knows it's all about getting hot to finish the season and carrying that momentum into the postseason because once you're in, anything can happen.  Especially for a hot team.  The 3rd quarter of the season is when you want it to click and start hitting on all cylinders.  Very few teams are wire to wire in the NFL. 

 

Absolutely agree in every team sport, need to be hot going into the playoffs.  His point was(I believe), they were hot just gave away too many games early in the season.  It is possible to be both.  To me momentum going into the playoffs doesnt mean you have to go undefeated the last half of the season. A loss here and there may be good to keep your team grounded.

[Scott Dierking]

I like this coaches straight forward approach and ability not to pull any punches. i am sure his players see him in the same way, and that should only bode well.

[JiFtheOracle]

1 minute ago, whodeawhodat said:

Absolutely agree in every team sport, need to be hot going into the playoffs.  His point was(I believe), they were hot just gave away too many games early in the season.  It is possible to be both.  To me momentum going into the playoffs doesnt mean you have to go undefeated the last half of the season. A loss here and there may be good to keep your team grounded.

Fair but you cant win them all and this particular team started 5-1.  I mean, how did he not realize at that point he had a pretty good team?   I posted it many times after the season but since the split to 4 divisions, 85% of teams that start 5-1 make the playoffs.  

The stretch they went 1-4 was right smack dab in the middle of the season. Saying we didnt know till we knew and saying it was too late at that point, is bull sh*t.  Lets be real here.  5-1 to start the season, 5-1 to end the season.  They knew who they were long before the 3rd quarter of the season.  They were a team that should have made the postseason.     

KC started 1-5 and made the playoffs...why wasnt it too late for them? 

 

[PepPep]

2 hours ago, slats said:

This is a smart message for Bowles to be delivering to his team, whether it's true or not. He's basically warning them to be focused early during the most brutal part of their schedule because, as SAR I says, their chances for the playoffs can be blown well before December. 

Agreed. Bowles, like any good coach, knows that everything he says, especially about last season, should be focused on improving his team THIS season. Any kind of criticisms need to be constructive and need to challenge his players. So yeah, his point is you're going to flat out get beaten once in a while, but you can't blow games, you can't let games slip away, because every game matters once all is said and done. If he believes the Jets got flat out beaten in week 17, he's pointing out that had they not blown some games earlier in the season, it would not have mattered. Which is true.   

But I want to point out THIS for all of those that have been screaming about the O-line.

"For all intents and purposes, 2015 was actually a pretty good one for the Jets. After finishing 2014 4-12, New York improved their win total by six games to finish the year 10-6. Wideout Brandon Marshall broke nearly ever single-season franchise receiving record (catches, yards, touchdowns, 100-yard games), while quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick snapped the Jets single-season record for passing touchdowns. 

And that's really just the tip of the iceberg: Running back Chris Ivory led the AFC in rushing yards, wideout Eric Decker also had over 1,000 yards receiving..."

Yes, we have a guy in Clady that is an injury risk, yes, Mangold is getting older, yes, Winters is not the best OG (although he improved last season) and Breno had a pretty bad season overall. But as a unit, the Jets O-line did their job. They even looked dominant at times. I think the criticism and concern about the O-line is overblown. This is a veteran unit that is led by one of the best C's in the game and, if healthy, has a Pro Bowl caliber left side. If Winters continues to improve and Breno turns his play around, even by a small margin, this is a formidable O-line. Especially with a vet QB who knows how to get rid of the ball and avoid sacks. I know @Mainejet is ready to have Maccs head for not addressing the O-line in FA and the draft. But THIS season, the Jets O-line should be solid. And who knows how it will be addressed next season or how the younger backups will develop. 

[Jetster]

5 minutes ago, Scott Dierking said:

I like this coaches straight forward approach and ability not to pull any punches. i am sure his players see him in the same way, and that should only bode well.

I think Bowles is feeling the pulse of this team & is seeing a lot of good things very early in camp. I think he knows they are way ahead of where they were at this time last year & sees the opportunity to come out really strong & confident at the start of the season. He's keeping this team grounded but demanding really sharp attention to details now. The offense probably looks so much faster to him than last camp because they aren't learning it but refining it.

Same with the defense other than incorporating the new free agents & rookies.

[Jetsfan80]

57 minutes ago, JiF said:

Yeah, he owned it..which is great.  But saying that it was too late because they werent clicking till the 3rd quarter of the season is wrong.  In fact, that's exactly when you want it to click and all they had to do was beat a below .500 Buffalo team. 

It's all good, I dont put too much stock into these types of quotes but it's a strange comment.  Everyone knows it's all about getting hot to finish the season and carrying that momentum into the postseason because once you're in, anything can happen.  Especially for a hot team.  The 3rd quarter of the season is when you want it to click and start hitting on all cylinders.  Very few teams are wire to wire in the NFL. 

 

And very few teams avoid bad losses for long stretches.  We had won 5 straight games heading into that Bills games, including an emotional and big game against New England.  Had we taken care of business against Philly or Houston, we wouldn't have needed to win a 6th straight.

But sure, if you just want to look at that Bills game purely in a vacuum, you are 100 % right.  We blew it late and were using Stevan Ridley as our gameplan.  But we'd also been put in a position where every game starting in Week 11 was a playoff game, and you can't expect to play perfectly through a stretch like that. 

[Big Blocker]

1 hour ago, JiF said:

Yeah, he owned it..which is great.  But saying that it was too late because they werent clicking till the 3rd quarter of the season is wrong.  In fact, that's exactly when you want it to click and all they had to do was beat a below .500 Buffalo team. 

It's all good, I dont put too much stock into these types of quotes but it's a strange comment.  Everyone knows it's all about getting hot to finish the season and carrying that momentum into the postseason because once you're in, anything can happen.  Especially for a hot team.  The 3rd quarter of the season is when you want it to click and start hitting on all cylinders.  Very few teams are wire to wire in the NFL. 

 

I think you miss the HC's point.  Bowles of course knows that a team can win 6 games in a row.  But in the NFL that is a tall order.  And having to do it to make the playoffs means the team has put itself in a very difficult position. 

Smith Fans here continue to blame Fitzpatrick for losing the season because of his part in the week 17 loss to Buffalo.  Cherry picking that and ignoring his role before, especially in the inspiring five game streak leading up to that loss.  But earlier losses to Philly, the Raiders and Houston, even the loss to NE, were all winnable games that if won would not have put the Jets in position of needing that last game won.  It is clear to me that is Todd's point, and he is right about it and right to say it as the HC.

[jetstream23]

I like hearing the recognition that games in Week 1, Week 4, Week X ALL matter and that you have to treat every game like it will determine whether it will get you to the playoffs.....because, in the final calculus, EVERY single loss was the one opportunity to make the playoffs and be an 11 win team.

Take nothing for granted.  Play every game like a playoff game.

[JiFtheOracle]

2 hours ago, Big Blocker said:

I think you miss the HC's point.  Bowles of course knows that a team can win 6 games in a row.  But in the NFL that is a tall order.  And having to do it to make the playoffs means the team has put itself in a very difficult position. 

Smith Fans here continue to blame Fitzpatrick for losing the season because of his part in the week 17 loss to Buffalo.  Cherry picking that and ignoring his role before, especially in the inspiring five game streak leading up to that loss.  But earlier losses to Philly, the Raiders and Houston, even the loss to NE, were all winnable games that if won would not have put the Jets in position of needing that last game won.  It is clear to me that is Todd's point, and he is right about it and right to say it as the HC.

They were 5-1.  85% of teams make the playoffs that start 5-1.  Acting like they found out who they were in the 3rd quarter of the season is crazy talk.  Statistics say they were playoff bound after 6 games.  

I have no idea what Fitz has to do with any of this.

Bowles was wrong and is wrong.  It should have been apparent come week 7 that this team was playoff bound.  And if his b.s. about finding themselves too late was real, that's wrong too because they werent too late.  All they needed was one more win.  What I heard, was an excuse for choking away a golden opportunity.  

[maury77]

lol, I had no idea Ivory led the AFC in rushing last year, some fan I am. 

[SouthernJet]

56 minutes ago, maury77 said:

lol, I had no idea Ivory led the AFC in rushing last year, some fan I am. 

we would have heard it a lot by announcers in wildcard game if we made the playoffs  

[jamesr]

85% making the playoffs still means 15% - about 1 in 7 - don't make it. So that's hardly a lock in my book.

What is often overlooked is if we had held on in that first Patsie game, we'd have won the division. That one game, even that last quarter of the game, was the difference between division winner and sitting at home come January.

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk

[SouthernJet]

34 minutes ago, jamesr said:

85% making the playoffs still means 15% - about 1 in 7 - don't make it. So that's hardly a lock in my book.

What is often overlooked is if we had held on in that first Patsie game, we'd have won the division. That one game, even that last quarter of the game, was the difference between division winner and sitting at home come January.

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk

we screwed up the GB game with dumb call at end of 1st half. Interception in endzone when we had lead on road and just very little time left. milk clock, get a FG instead of changin momentum and giving ball back to GB for I trhink a score,,we could fhave killled clock or added points with FG (we were in range) or via the run. But a lob into endzone on road with lead and in FG range,,,damn..kill clock , add to lead and keep momentum... wasnt worth extra 4 points to take a big risk,,anything can happen on a pass to endzone,,tip, bounce off pads, etc..

[Jetster]

1 hour ago, jamesr said:

85% making the playoffs still means 15% - about 1 in 7 - don't make it. So that's hardly a lock in my book.

What is often overlooked is if we had held on in that first Patsie game, we'd have won the division. That one game, even that last quarter of the game, was the difference between division winner and sitting at home come January.

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk

That was a killer. Brandon had it right on his hands & it all slipped away. That game sucked, we already didn't have Powell I believe & the 1st play on offense & Ivory loses 5 yards & hurts himself. 

[RoadFan]

 

1) Special Teams  and Bobby April

Buffalo game reasons

2) RZ interceptions (Fitz)

3) Benching Ivory for Ridley. (coaching decision)

4) Not adjusting the coverage on Watkins. (coaching failure)

That said.  I am still very optimistic about Bowles based on the entirety of his first season. Just learn from your mistakes, coach.  Rex never does.

 

 

 

 

[joewilly12]

3 hours ago, maury77 said:

lol, I had no idea Ivory led the AFC in rushing last year, some fan I am. 

Ironically he reeled off a 58 yard run in the Buffalo loss yet was put on the sidelines after and we were told he was injured.