Photo: Yardbarker
The New York Jets came into last season with expectations of making the playoffs.
After all, the year before they missed out on the postseason following a gut wrenching loss to the Bills in Buffalo on the final Sunday of the regular season. Veteran quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick was back in the fold following an off-season of “will he or won’t he” return, and much to the surprise of many, Muhammad Wilkerson was signed to a long- term contract extension (five years – $86 million, $54 million guaranteed). So, the Jets were ready for flight, right? Well, in a word…NO!
The season kicked off with a one point loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, in part due to a missed kick (Nick Folk missing the first PAT of his 11 seasons). The “Danger Ahead” signs were evident following this week 1 defeat. Darrelle Revis picked up where he left off the previous year (he got torched by A.J. Green to the tune of 12 catches and 180 yards). His play, and sadly his effort level, dropped precipitously week after week. By season’s end Expedia.com, Trivago, and other travel booking websites were featuring weekend getaways on Revis Island.
Photo: Scoopnest.com
The team started out 1-5, then righted the ship a bit midway through the campaign to get to 3-5. But week 9 in Miami is where things really took a turn for the worse. Defensive ends Sheldon Richardson and Muhammad Wilkerson were suspended for the 1st quarter of the Dolphins game, for what head coach, Todd Bowles said was a “coaches decision”. Well, we found out after the tough loss the real reason was that both players were regularly late, or had the tendency to miss team meetings. Supposedly, it happened “all the time,” and that it was “definitely” Richardson and Big Mo more than other players on the team. From there on out, the green and white won just two more games, finishing 5-11. Jets fans far and wide were disgusted with the team, the general manager, the owner, and yes, the head coach. Bowles is emotionless on the sidelines, to the point where you don’t know if his team is winning or losing. He was obviously not pleased with how the season unfolded either, but when giving an impromptu state of the Jets press conference at the owners meeting on Tuesday, he had this to say when asked about the punctuality problems from his pair of players:
“You’re going to always have tardiness with players. That’s part of it. Sometimes you’re late for work. It’s not life-threatening. Those guys after that were sharp, and we didn’t have a problem with them after that. Sometimes your alarm clock is not going to go off. It’s not going to be the end-all, be-all of football.”
Photo: HNGN.com
Really Todd? Being on time for anything to me is page one, and Bowles’ cavalier attitude towards something as basic as being a good/reliable teammate, bowled me over! This remember from a man coming off a season in which his team lost by margins of 20, 21, 25, & 38 points! Seems to me he should put an alarm clock in each of his player’s lockers, because they clearly do not know what time they should start playing.
And that is My 2 Sense for this week.
