Jets on historic pace for penalties, which explains the tennis balls

[Gas2No99]

Jets on historic pace for penalties, which explains the tennis balls

Coach Todd Bowles is willing to try just about anything to help cure his team's penalty epidemic. In recent weeks, the New York Jets' defensive backs have been holding tennis balls during practice drills.

"Sometimes defensive backs, when they get handsy, you put tennis balls in their hands so they don’t get as handsy," Bowles said. "It’s just a normal defensive-back technique."

If the Jets used a prop to combat each type of penalty problem, they'd be carrying around a lot of weird stuff in practice.

With 81 accepted penalties for 739 yards, the Jets are on pace to shatter the franchise record for most penalty yardage in a season. After 10 games, they're projected at 1,182 yards. The record is 1,078 yards in 1995, Rich Kotite's first season as coach. As I've said many times, you never want to be associated with anything from the Kotite era.

With 81 penalties, the Jets are on a 130-penalty pace, which would fall just shy of the franchise record (135 in 1987). This, too, is an insulting comparison because '87 was the strike year, when replacement players were used for three games.

"The penalties are definitely a frustrating thing," defensive end Leonard Williams said. "We've been putting ourselves in some bad situations with penalties, getting backed up on offense or giving up third-down situations on defense."

Let's take a closer look at the penalty crisis with some not-so-fun facts:

The main culprit: Cornerback Buster Skrine has been flagged 11 times for 96 yards, both of which are the second-most in the league among individual players. His most frequently-called penalty is defensive holding (three times). The tennis-ball drill probably was designed for him.

Main culprits on offense: Guard Brian Winters has accumulated eight calls, a high number for an interior lineman. Tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins has seven, including five holding calls.

Truly a team effort: You can't blame the offense or the defense; the problem belongs to every unit. Of the 96 penalties (including those declined), the offense has 45, the defense 44 and special teams seven. By the way, 96 is the second-most in the league, trailing the Seattle Seahawks(112).

Ouch: When the Jets get flagged, it usually stings. Why? Because they lead the league in penalties that result in first downs for the opponent (35).

Lousy timing: The only thing worse than a penalty is a penalty in a bad situation. The Jets know this all too well because they have 31 on third down (second-most) and 13 in the final two minutes of a half (third-most).

Some good news: The Jets haven't committed a lot of pre-snap penalties -- only 20 (18th-most). This indicates that focus isn't a problem. Hey, it's something.

[Philc1]

But Bowles should get another year!

[HighPitch]

Why is skine still playing for gods sake. I dont thi k ive ever watched a worse player

[Beerfish]

We trade for a guy who lead the league in penalties when he was playing at CB.

Bowles is an awful coach trying to address thing snow that should have been addressed from day 1 and in camp.

I'll say one thing for good ole Mangini taking the team was very disciplined with penalties if I recall.

[Philc1]

9 minutes ago, HighPitch said:

Why is skine still playing for gods sake. I dont thi k ive ever watched a worse player

Skrine is actually a talented nickel CB but he has 0.0 respect for Bowles hence his bajillion penalties

[Philc1]

1 minute ago, Beerfish said:

We trade for a guy who lead the league in penalties when he was playing at CB.

Bowles is an awful coach trying to address thing snow that should have been addressed from day 1 and in camp.

I'll say one thing for good ole Mangini taking the team was very disciplined with penalties if I recall.

No Mangini inherited a roster that was last in the league in number of penalties the previous 3 years

[bla bla bla]

The penalties have been infuriating this season. I'm hoping it's just young players and growing pains, we were 27th in penalties last year and 28th in 2015. 

[Bleedin Green]

So to be clear, we've decided penalties are entirely on the coach and not the players, correct?

Well then, at least Bowles is better than Pete Carroll at their respective jobs.

[CrazyCarl40]

12 minutes ago, Philc1 said:

Skrine is actually a talented nickel CB but he has 0.0 respect for Bowles hence his bajillion penalties

No. He’s downright awful and has never been good. Talented is a stretch. He’s bad and never deserved the contract Macc gave him. 

[Beerfish]

12 minutes ago, Bleedin Green said:

So to be clear, we've decided penalties are entirely on the coach and not the players, correct?

Well then, at least Bowles is better than Pete Carroll at their respective jobs.

If player A takes an ungodly stream of penalties

and

IF Coach B keeps trotting him out there and  if Coach B fails to correct penalties

then

Fault = Coaches

player A defined as "Skrine, Buster"

Coach B defined as "Bowles, Todd"

Goto Start

[ASH1962]

you can't hold tennis balls with your arms folded

[Jetster]

33 minutes ago, HighPitch said:

Why is skine still playing for gods sake. I dont thi k ive ever watched a worse player

Bowles is a Parcells disciple but if Bill Parcells was coaching this team, there is no way in hell he'd keep trotting Skrine out there! His azz would be at the end of the bench.

[Jetster]

20 minutes ago, bla bla bla said:

The penalties have been infuriating this season. I'm hoping it's just young players and growing pains, we were 27th in penalties last year and 28th in 2015. 

Uh, Skrine, Winters & ASJ aren't rookies for god sakes.

[rangerous]

33 minutes ago, bla bla bla said:

The penalties have been infuriating this season. I'm hoping it's just young players and growing pains, we were 27th in penalties last year and 28th in 2015. 

you can't get penalties if you don't cover guys either.  but you are right that this is troubling.  maybe you can say it's the young guys but then skrine and winters have been around long enough to know better.

[bla bla bla]

31 minutes ago, Jetster said:

Uh, Skrine, Winters & ASJ aren't rookies for god sakes.

I agree 32% of our penalties are from those 3. Skrine will be gone after the season and I'd like to believe Winters will have less penalties with a competent center but that is to be seen. ASJ his penalties are bad but at least hes been a positive player on this team overall.

[Jetsfan80]

Penalties don't always come from a lack of discipline.  Sometimes they come from a team just not having a lot of talent, and having to commit penalties in order to keep QB's from getting killed or WR's from burning them.

Skrine does need to be benched.  But are we going to bench Winters and ASJ too?  There aren't replacements coming through that door.  Bowles is working with what he has.  Which is not much.

Bowles may suck.  But the ultimate blame should fall with the guy that's giving him the crappy groceries.  

[CrazyCarl40]

2 hours ago, bla bla bla said:

I agree 32% of our penalties are from those 3. Skrine will be gone after the season and I'd like to believe Winters will have less penalties with a competent center but that is to be seen. ASJ his penalties are bad but at least hes been a positive player on this team overall.

So at your job, do you get to tell your boss that you only suck because the guy next to you isn’t pulling his weight too? Or do you have zero personal responsibility in all situations?

[The Crusher]

3 minutes ago, Jetsfan80 said:

Penalties don't always come from a lack of discipline.  Sometimes they come from a team just not having a lot of talent, and having to commit penalties in order to keep QB's from getting killed or WR's from burning them.

Skrine does need to be benched.  But are we going to bench Winters and ASJ too?  There aren't replacements coming through that door.  Bowles is working with what he has.  Which is not much.

Bowles may suck.  But the ultimate blame should fall with the guy that's giving him the crappy groceries.  

No personal attacks!!

[Beerfish]

17 minutes ago, The Crusher said:

No personal attacks!!

I almost made a bad comment about buffets in my last post, I think I dodged a mod ban.

[The Crusher]

26 minutes ago, Beerfish said:

I almost made a bad comment about buffets in my last post, I think I dodged a mod ban.

The worse buffet I ever had was still pretty damn good.

[Beerfish]

12 minutes ago, The Crusher said:

The worse buffet I ever had was still pretty damn good.

I ALWAYS make the mistake of wanting to sample too many things rather than the things I know I will like and loading up on them.  (Gee I thought I would try dried kale and quinoa on sprouts...)

[SenorGato]

I do not understand any of the ASJ love I’ve seen this season. 

[SenorGato]

4 hours ago, Beerfish said:

If player A takes an ungodly stream of penalties

and

IF Coach B keeps trotting him out there and  if Coach B fails to correct penalties

then

Fault = Coaches

player A defined as "Skrine, Buster"

Coach B defined as "Bowles, Todd"

Goto Start

Who is Bowles not playing in favor of the three veterans piling up penalties? 

[Beerfish]

Buster shrine takes a tons of penalties and gets his ass roasted on a regular basis.  I mean I know we can't start anyone but a vet, even if he is pure terrible or dogging it because that is the way Bowles rolls.

[JetFaninMI]

4 hours ago, Jetster said:

Bowles is a Parcells disciple but if Bill Parcells was coaching this team, there is no way in hell he'd keep trotting Skrine out there! His azz would be at the end of the bench.

Elvis "toast" Patterson sez hello.

[section314]

11 minutes ago, JetFaninMI said:

Elvis "toast" Patterson sez hello.

On an entirely different subject, can Michigan ruin Wisconsin's season this week? Maybe the game they finally put it all together?

[JetFaninMI]

4 minutes ago, section314 said:

On an entirely different subject, can Michigan ruin Wisconsin's season this week? Maybe the game they finally put it all together?

I think it will come down to the defense. After 3 wins against the bottom rung teams in the big 10 Michigan is riding high. They are running the ball pretty well but that has come against some suspect defenses. Wisconsin has the #1 rated defense in the country and after what they did to Iowa it doesn't look good. After Iowa did a number on Ohio State the previous week I thought the Badgers were going to get exposed in that game but their D came up huge and held the Hawkeyes to 66 total yards and 0 for 13 on third down. Big #'s against a good offense. Wisconsin turned it over 4 times in this game including 2 returned for pick sixes by Joshua Jackson. So they held their offense to 0 points. No easy task there.

The 2 picks bother me as Wisconsin's QB is turnover prone but their defense is just too good. With an inexperienced QB AND FG kicker I think Michigan keeps it close and if they were playing at home I would think differently but I see Wisconsin winning it in the second half. Wisconsin has a chip on their shoulder and wants to prove they belong in the playoff discussion. That and their red zone defense will be enough to beat a game Michigan team. Bagders 38 Wolverines 14.

[section314]

2 minutes ago, JetFaninMI said:

I think it will come down to the defense. After 3 wins against the bottom rung teams in the big 10 Michigan is riding high. They are running the ball pretty well but that has come against some suspect defenses. Wisconsin has the #1 rated defense in the country and after what they did to Iowa it doesn't look good. After Iowa did a number on Ohio State the previous week I thought the Badgers were going to get exposed in that game but their D came up huge and held the Hawkeyes to 66 total yards and 0 for 13 on third down. Big #'s against a good offense. Wisconsin turned it over 4 times in this game including 2 returned for pick sixes by Joshua Jackson. So they held their offense to 0 points. No easy task there.

The 2 picks bother me as Wisconsin's QB is turnover prone but their defense is just too good. With an inexperienced QB AND FG kicker I think Michigan keeps it close and if they were playing at home I would think differently but I see Wisconsin winning it in the second half. Wisconsin has a chip on their shoulder and wants to prove they belong in the playoff discussion. That and their red zone defense will be enough to beat a game Michigan team. Bagders 38 Wolverines 14.

Good points, probably right. Live in Jersey, Rutgers fan. The Wisconsin QB is a Jersey guy. The kid who QB's for Rutgers has 2, that's right,2 TD passes this year. Had something like 30 yards passing last week vs. PSU.  At least the Jets and Rutgers have something in common.

[The Crusher]

1 hour ago, Beerfish said:

I ALWAYS make the mistake of wanting to sample too many things rather than the things I know I will like and loading up on them.  (Gee I thought I would try dried kale and quinoa on sprouts...)

I shovel stuff onto my plate until the manager screams, "Uncle!"

[Jetsplayer21]

Dam, I was hoping the jet coaches shot tennis balls at the team with a rapid machine ha

[jetrider]

Bowles should stuff a pair of tennis balls in his shorts to learn not to punt with 3:00 left down by two scores.

Just a normal Head Coach technique.

[joewilly12]

Todd Bowles is a moron. 

[Philc1]

9 hours ago, CrazyCarl40 said:

No. He’s downright awful and has never been good. Talented is a stretch. He’s bad and never deserved the contract Macc gave him. 

Macc overpays everyone.  That said Skrine being a penalty machine is Todd Bowles’s fault

[Philc1]

4 hours ago, SenorGato said:

I do not understand any of the ASJ love I’ve seen this season. 

Decent TE who looks like prime Tony Gonzalez compared to the trash we have had at the position last 30 years

[SenorGato]

23 minutes ago, Philc1 said:

Decent TE who looks like prime Tony Gonzalez compared to the trash we have had at the position last 30 years

Meh, doesn’t even seem that

Cousins to Eifert or maybe even Graham in 2018, please!