If you thought the Jets would be 3-2, going into the week against New England, people would have called you either crazy or maybe a member of the Johnson family.
But here they are with the same record with the big bad Pats and coach Todd Bowles is looking at New England as a serious threat, no matter how beatable they looked this season.
“Well, they’re scary because they’re still winning,” said coach Todd Bowles. “They are still the same Patriots. You have to knock them off the ladder. They are kings of the division right now, they won the Super Bowl. We have to come out and work on us and play hard and go into the game and try and compete and win.”
You have to hand it to Bowles, because he is the one who put this impressive streak together. The Jets were supposed to be terrible, because they jettisoned their big names and decided to go young.
But instead, it was Bowles loading with the roster with his types of players and play his type of football.
Yesterday in Cleveland, the Jets were outplayed by the Browns, but still were able to win their third game of the year. That’s a sign of a winning team and a well-coached on at that.
A year ago, Bowles was in the process of being run out of town, because the Jets were expected to contend. They won 10 games his first season and were supposed to take the next step.
However, Bowles kept his job, because then owner Woody Johnson believed in keeping the course and let Mike Maccagnan and Bowles to build on their plan.
Then this season, it looked like a down season, but Bowles kept the team together and united them in Week 2 in Oakland.
“We spoke about it after the game, and obviously we played hard, but by no means the score does not indicate what occurred,” Bowles said. “But we came together, and the fight was there, the belief was there and the effort was there, and guys understood what we had to do to start winning and try to start winning. I think they came together as a team on that day.”
And they haven’t lost since. Football is very different than say baseball, because there’s so many moving parts. You don’t need top talent, but just good parts believing in each other.
Bowles knew this and kept the course.
Now, there are still 11 games left and the Jets may just fall by the wayside. There’s a number of good teams they have to play. But is they win say five of the 11 games, they are 500. Or if they end up 7-9, you have to consider that a win and a season to grow upon.
Either way, the Jets are interesting and based on what else is happening in New York, that’s very important. At 3-2 the Jets are relevant again.
They have Todd Bowles to thank.
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