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David Harris calls Todd Bowles 'perfect guy' for Jets


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David Harris calls Todd Bowles 'perfect guy' for Jets

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- David Harris has spent more than six months in Bill Belichick World, where everyone is trained to believe there's no next week, only this week, and that nothing exists beyond the walls of One Patriot Place.

Harris is a good soldier, and he doesn't mind living by those marching orders. At the same time, he still pays attention to the New York Jets, his team for 10 years. While he was reluctant to discuss the Jets' 5-11 season, he applauded the decision to give coach Todd Bowles a two-year contract extension.

"Yeah, he's a good coach," Harris told ESPN on Thursday in the New England Patriots locker room. "He's the perfect guy, the perfect guy."

 
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Todd Bowles earned high marks from David Harris for understanding football from both sides - players and coaches. Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire

Why?

"Because he knows football," Harris said. "He understands how football works on both sides, coaching and playing. He gets it."

Harris was set to play for Bowles this season, but ownership had other ideas. On June 6, he was unceremoniously released minutes after an off-season practice, a shabby way to treat the longtime middle linebacker. It was a cost-cutting move, executed at a time when the organization appeared to be in tanking mode.

At the time, Harris said he was "blindsided," but he didn't want to revisit that painful chapter.

"My response is already out there," he said.

Harris said he's happy with the Patriots even though he doesn't see the field on a consistent basis. In the regular season, he was inactive for four games and didn't play in two others. He finished with only 177 defensive snaps, roughly three full games of work during his days as an every-down player for the Jets. He probably will be inactive on Saturday night when they face the Tennessee Titans in the divisional playoffs.

"I've been good with it," he said of the limited playing time. "I mean, there hasn't been a need for me to play every snap. I just try to do what's best for the team and try to be ready if I'm called to play. My preparation hasn't changed.

"There was a little bit of an adjustment, but everybody has to buy in. That's why this team is so good. Everybody is on the same page."

 

The Patriots are the top seed in the AFC, only two wins from reaching the Super Bowl. Harris played in two AFC Championship Games with the Jets, but never got to the big dance. Asked about the pursuit of the ever-elusive Super Bowl ring, Harris tried to change the subject.

"I don't want to talk about that right now," he said, shifting into Belichickian mode.

Harris said he signed with the Patriots "because of Belichick and the way he runs his team. They've had 20 years of this and I wanted to be part of it.

"As soon as I got here, everybody welcomed me with open arms," he continued. "We're winning and we have a good team, and that's all you can ask for."

Well, there's one more thing -- a Super Bowl championship -- but he can't talk about that just yet.

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It takes a lot of different qualities to be a good head football coach.  you almost never get a guy that has pretty well all of them.  Many a coach with some very good qualities fails because he cannot or will not address his deficiencies. 

Any of Bowles perceived good qualities are over shadowed by his bad traits.

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1 minute ago, Beerfish said:

It takes a lot of different qualities to be a good head football coach.  you almost never get a guy that has pretty well all of them.  Many a coach with some very good qualities fails because he cannot or will not address his deficiencies. 

Any of Bowles perceived good qualities are over shadowed by his bad traits.

Would you say that we in the area are more aware of his bad traits than the people in the national scope?

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Yeah, right!!! The Jets have never been more stupid and more stuck than under Bowles. BACK to back 5 win seasons, a new low for the Jets we never knew a coach could coach them into! 

You know what really disgusts me? BoWELS and GM guy have set Lord Woody up and plan to extort a bailout out of him! They’ve probably been after Woody’s and our fortunes the whole gd time. 

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1 minute ago, UnitedWhofans said:

Would you say that we in the area are more aware of his bad traits than the people in the national scope?

Of course we are.  If you happen to be watching the Bears play the Lions, and one of the teams is down by 10 with a minute left in the half and 3 timeouts on the board, and just runs up the middle 3 times and punts, you would think, "well that was dumb" and then pretty much forget about it.  So when thinking about that head coach 3 months later, you're looking at the other things he did but not remembering all of the little game-day gaffes because you either didn't care, or more likely weren't watching every play.

We, as Jets fans, see and remember every dumb-as-a-stone thing our Head Coaches do every week.  Furthermore, we, in particular, get to discuss it, vent about it, and ridicule it here for the next 6 days if not longer.  

That's why we are more aware of his bad traits.  

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37 minutes ago, SenorGato said:

Yeah, right!!! The Jets have never been more stupid and more stuck than under Bowles. BACK to back 5 win seasons, a new low for the Jets we never knew a coach could coach them into! 

You know what really disgusts me? BoWELS and GM guy have set Lord Woody up and plan to extort a bailout out of him! They’ve probably been after Woody’s and our fortunes the whole gd time. 

Out of curiosity.

What coach would have won 16-20 games over the last 2 seasons with this roster?  You want to blame someone, blame Mac for being the GM for 3 years and not improving the talent on the roster.

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59 minutes ago, UnitedWhofans said:

Then again, this fits the narrative that I seem to see about Todd Bowles.

He's a great football coach Monday-Saturday. On Sunday, he's a bad football coach

This is the same conclusion I’ve come to also.

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The fact that David Harris took more snaps at linebacker for the Jets in 2016 and cannot get on the field with the Patriots in 2017 tells you everything you need to know about Todd Bowles versus Bill Belichick.

What does it tell you?
BB signed the Jets discarded trash - and couldn’t see the field. Who’s the smart one here?


Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app
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Yeah, BB is paying Harris reserve money ($2.5mm) for being a reserve linebacker. Mike Maccgnan knew that Todd Bowles would have never taken David Harris off the field had he been on the roster. Case in point, nobody saw more defensive snaps than David Harris' over Todd Bowles first two seasons.

Point being, BB knows a backup when he sees one. Todd Bowles does not. 2017 would have been another year of Bowles marching David Harris out onto the field for 90% of the snaps while Darron Lee & Demario Davis sat on the sideline.

Mike Maccagnan's intervention is the only thing that prevented that from happening.

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2 hours ago, UnitedWhofans said:

Then again, this fits the narrative that I seem to see about Todd Bowles.

He's a great football coach Monday-Saturday. On Sunday, he's a bad football coach

Given how many times the Jets were unprepared to play this season, especially on the road, I think that comment's a bit of a stretch. The only thing I commend him for this season was making it clear with Wilkerson that enough's enough

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Players want him to stay as coach, a former player praises him and many analysts applaud him as a coach and think the Jets are right in keeping him.  It's only us, the geniuses of football, that want a different coach.  I manage a call center, what do you do?  :)

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1 hour ago, Ohio State NY Jets fan said:

Not news, just Harris saying the right thing, not exactly a surprise, he also seemed like a class act

and no reason to trash a former coach since Harris will probably be looking for work again next year

big question is; does he go to the HOF with Revis if he gets a * ring too?

i don't think he's hof caliber but he does deserve to be in the jets ring of honor.

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40 minutes ago, prime21 said:

Players want him to stay as coach, a former player praises him and many analysts applaud him as a coach and think the Jets are right in keeping him.  It's only us, the geniuses of football, that want a different coach.  I manage a call center, what do you do?  :)

Many of the worst coaches in NFL history were beloved by their players.  That's hardly an endorsement for Super Bowl potential.  Many analysts have agendas as well and while they are happy to attack lazy or stupid players, NFL coaches, even those who are barely competent, are rarely lazy or stupid.  They are just not effective.  

I don't work in professional football but I am a smart guy (humble too) and I form opinions based on what I observe.  The Jets rarely play better in the second half of any game with Bowles as the HC.  That's an incredibly important data point to me.  I also saw him give up in a few situations this year when I think most HCs would have continued to at least try to score and win.  I think Bowles is afraid to take risks with younger players when veterans are available to him and it seems like Macc has to 'take his toys away' to get him to stop leaning on the vets (i.e. Harris).  I don't know how Bowles is in the film room or the locker room, but to me, he is a very limited coach on Sundays when it comes to tactics and strategy.  And if that is true and persists, that will keep the Jets from having any prolonged success in this league.

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