You don’t have to be Vince Lombardi to know Ryan Fitzpatrick played extremely well on Sunday against the Patriots.
But even with his noble performance, the Jets endured another loss and now at 3-8, the best the team can do is .500 and that’s if they sweep the next five games.
Fat chance.
So if the rest of 2016 is now garbage time for Gang Green, shouldn’t it be about player development and that means to start Bryce Petty?
Well no, according to coach Todd Bowles.
“We’re all fighters,” he said. “We’re all trying to win every game, whether we’re trying to get to 8-8 or whether we’re trying to be 16-0. We’re trying to win ball games and we’re trying to win. It’s not about Bryce and it’s not about Fitz, it’s about our team trying to win ball games. Right now, Fitz is our starter. He gives us a good chance to win. Bryce is getting better. He got a lot of experience against the Rams. He’ll get some more experience as times goes on, just not right now.”
We have been through this story last week and will probably be going though this every week until Bowles either starts Petty or the season ends. Bowles is acting like a coach, who is fearful for his job and at 3-8 with his Jets looking horrible at times, you can’t blame us for believing this.
However, there’s one way for this problem to be solved. Owner Woody Johnson needs to come out and say both Bowles and general manager Mike Maccagnan are safe for 2017.
And frankly both should be given another chance.
Last season they were a revelation and the Jets went 10-6 on the season. They didn’t go to the playoffs, but were in it up to Week 17.
So if the Jets brain trust earned some money in the bank last season, then this year they spent it. So Johnson needs to give them the dreaded vote of confidence and stick to it.
Then Bowles may be more willing to start Petty for the rest of the season and make these games about the future, rather than trying to win useless games.
In fact at this point, Bowles is hurting the Jets chances with going for it, because the more they win now, the farther down in the draft they will pick.
That’s not to mean they should throw games, but going all out with veterans right now goes against the big picture, even if the coach spins it as a learning experience.
“That’s only positive if you learn from it and we turn around and win ball games, which we expect to do,” he said. “It’s a positive, meaning that you keep fighting, but you have to keep fighting and you have to become smarter at the same time and only then will we get better. We’re working on that every day, we’re fighting going forward and we’ve been through adversity before and we’ll come out of this one.”
It’s not Bowles fault that he doesn’t see next season on Week 12. He’s the coach and his job is to win every week, especially when he may hear footsteps behind him.
But that can all erased if Johnson comes out and just says both Maccagnan and Bowles will be back next season.
Then the Jets can start building for the future and do the right things for the long term outlook of the franchise.
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