Content available exclusively for subscribers
What would you do?
I asked Todd Bowles a question after the game about his job security.
New York Post columnist Mike Vaccaro ran the quotes in a Tuesday column.
Here is what Vaccaro wrote:
“The question was blunt, and it was put before Todd Bowles in the aftermath of a long, miserable day in the Windy City, and it essentially went like this: Have you been given any assurance about your job status beyond this year?
“‘I don’t talk about my job status,’” Bowles said.”
My question was a little more nuanced then that.
My question was, “Since you are starting a rookie quarterback, and that can be a roller coaster ride, where were given assurances from ownership that if you started the rookie it wouldn’t impact your job security?”
I think that is a very fair question.
Starting a rookie quarterback usually leads to a losing record.
And Bowles went 5-11 the previous two years.
Let’s say he goes 5-11 again, which could happen.
How many coaches can survive three straight 5-11 seasons? Look, I don’t have any data on this, but my gut would tell me not many.
Well let’s put it this this way, coaches with bad records like that, probably survive a lot in high school and lower level college programs, but in the NFL and Power Conference college football, it’s probably very unusual.
Look, this isn’t a fire Bowles column.
It’s more me wondering if a head coach, who perhaps needed to win this year after two 5-11 seasons, could afford to go with a rookie starter, which might lead to another 5-11-type season.
I know it’s not cool to say this in the media, but as far as I’m concerned, Josh McCown gave the Jets a better chance to win this year. He went 5-8 as a starter last year on a below average team, and should have been 6-7, but a cornerback, who is beyond reproach, almost single-handedly blew a 14-point second-half lead in Miami.
McCown looked good this spring and summer, but had no chance of winning the job once Darnold was picked.
I’m not disrespecting Darnold, who I like as a prospect, but McCown gave them a better chance to win this year. I know that isn’t cool to say in the dumbed-down 2018 media scene, but I believe that wholeheartedly.
And clearly the Jets thought McCown gave them a good chance to win this year; they gave him 10 MILLION BUCKS to play this year.
My point here is simple – if you are a coach who has to win this year after a back-to-back 5-11’s wouldn’t you go with the signal-caller who gives you the best chance to win?
Hey, maybe Bowles doesn’t have to win in 2018. Christopher Johnson is a heck of guy, but he’s not a fire-breathing owner. And last off-season he called Bowles “quite extraordinary.”
So maybe Bowles doesn’t need to win this year.
In my worldview he does, but I don’t own the Jets.
And the Jets have done well at the gate this year so far, clearly because fans wanted to check out the team’s shiny new toy and potential franchise QB. Perhaps the strong gate will fade down the stretch if the losing continues, but so far they have done well at the turnstile and with Sam Darnold jersey sales.
All I know is I was the coach, and I felt I needed to win this year, I wouldn’t start a rookie QB.
Unless the owner was on board with it, and knew it could end up being a rough season with the kid learning on the job.
That is why I asked the question.
October 31, 2018
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Thursday.