Palladino: Jets Are Fading, But Panic Is Not In Bowles' DNA
By Ernie Palladino
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Losing four out of five is never a good thing, even if that fifth one was a complete and utter dud like the Jets' effort during last week's no-show in Houston.
But they shouldn't panic. And if it's true that a team takes its character from its head coach, the Jets won't because Todd Bowles won't.
That characteristic is not in his DNA.
More than halfway through his rookie season, Bowles has hardly looked like an excitable guy. He's not going to be quick to run to the wholesale change market, searching for the quick fix to what appears to be a sinking ship.
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The fact is, the Jets haven't sunk yet, and nobody knows that better than their head coach. At 5-5, they remain very much in the wildcard picture with the Bills, Steelers, Texans, and Chiefs heading into this next home game against the Dolphins. The last five games aren't terrible, at least on paper, save for the Dec. 27 home game against a Patriots team that could enter the playoffs undefeated.
So Bowles will be the last guy to pull out the life rafts. All he needs to do is find a few solutions to an offense that has stalled and a defense that can't seem to make a key stop lately. If the odds lie somewhere in the Jets' recent history, well, he won't. But this is a new year, a new era, and the unassuming Bowles has quietly gone about resolving those issues.
The first thing he did was cut Quinton Coples.
While jettisoning a former first-round pick may seem like the ultimate panic move to some, it really wasn't. Coples, not fast enough to chase down ball carriers or cover receivers outside, didn't really fit into Bowles' 3-4 scheme as an outside linebacker.
His playing time had diminished to almost nothing. He wasn't needed in his natural position on the defensive line, and he was probably out after this season, anyway. So Bowles made the move.
The one move he didn't make, however, may be his most important. He's sticking with Ryan Fitzpatrick at a time it would have been easy to switch to Geno Smith. He nver gave it more than a passing thought.
Just as IK Enemkpali saved the Jets' overall outlook with a well-placed bop on the beezer in training camp, so might Bowles have saved the rest of the season with this decision.
Going with Smith would have been the worst thing Bowles could have done. Untrusted by his teammates, deservedly shunted aside by the coaching staff, Smith doesn't even remotely resemble a winning quarterback, let alone a cavalry leader who can will anyone out of a rut.
Fitzpatrick won't pull this team through by sheer will, either, but at least he'll give the Jets a chance. Sure, he had a couple of horrible interceptions down the stretch Sunday. And he had thrown a few ducks earlier this season, too.
But the guy knows what he's doing, and Bowles has faith in him.
Now, he'll have to find a fix for a defense that has allowed big plays and stopped getting turnovers. The front seven hasn't mounted a consistent pass rush, and both Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie got lit up Sunday. The takeaways, a veritable flood in the first quarter of the season, have slowed to a trickle.
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On Bowles' end, he'll continue to search for solutions. He's too calm, too methodical a personality to panic. That should filter down to the locker room.
If the Jets do pull out of this morass and make the playoffs, the calm decisions and adjustments the even-keeled Bowles makes now will have much to do with it.
It won't be because he pushed the panic button.
Now is not the time for that.
Follow Ernie on Twitter at @ErniePalladino
