Did you know that the Jets have outscored their opponents 44-14 in the second half of games this season? This includes second half shutouts against the Browns and Eagles, as well as 7 point performances vs both the Colts and Dolphins. I was a big fan of Rex Ryan, as eloquently indicated in my screen name, but I always had 2 major problems with him. The first was clock/game management, which needs no explanation. The second was the lack of halftime adjustments. It always seemed like, especially against good teams, the Jets would "hang around" in the first half, then watch as the other team slowly pulled away in the 3rd and 4th quarters. It appeared to me that Rex would always come into the week with a great gameplan that worked early on but devolved as the game progressed and the other team began to figure it out. This was especially prevalent against New England; as much as you want to hate on Belichick, you can't deny that he's one of the best at halftime adjustments. Rex's failure to adjust to team's in-game adaptions to his scheme was very often a pitfall. At least early on, the team is doing a better job at making in-game changes. One example I can cite is from the week 1 game against Cleveland. When Manziel was put into action, the Jets seemed caught off guard by the change in playstyles and he broke off a couple scrambles/extended plays early on. Though he had a couple more runs, they did a much better job of containing him within the pocket in the second half. I don't mean to turn this into another "Rex sucks, Bowles roolz!" threads, but it really is an encouraging sign, especially for a coach who's only been in charge for 4 games. It's much better to be a second half team than a first half team (games are usually decided by who has the most points at the end of the 4th quarter). All great coaches have the ability to make changes on the fly instead of having static gameplans, and maybe Bowles has that skill.
I agree. Bowles mentioned something about making adjustments after the Philly game. At the 4:10 mark. I thought it was very telling. The way he said it is so the opposite of Rex. No blustery look at me crap. I think he is light years smarter than Ryan.
Or they are still asleep until the second half, they sure seemed to be that way in the Philadelphia game. Oh and we have also outscored them 51-31 in the first half too. I haven't seen anything different in the second half other that their defenses have gotten tired because they have been on the field longer than ours.
I totally agree. Rex's lack of second half adjustments drove me insane throughout the past several years. almost like he was too arrogant to make any changes. It was really difficult to watch week after week, year after year.
I don't know if Rex was arrogant or just incapable of making those adjustments. But it was about as clear as could be that Rex did not do well if he was trying to make adjustments, given the net results. The one potentially obvious (see why I say potentially) exception might have been the Champ game following the 09 season where the Jets were so flat in the first half and played much better in the second. But I think that was more about being flat at first than it was about the game plan or any adjustments. They just played better in the second half, and Pitt went more to prevent. Anyway, so far it does look like Bowles and his CS are making effective halftime adjustments. How refreshing.
Man, it's like you read my mind..... left out the part about Rex's teams committing awful penalties, but that seems to be a habit Bowles is either okay with, or just weening the players of very slowly. I don't know what penalty withdraw looks like, but it must be messy.
Bowles in locker room speech after 14 penalty game "...14 penalties. 6 in the first half, 8 in the second. 14 penalties - we have to clean them up" Rex in post game presser after 17 penalty game (and loss) "I’m proud of the way this team played, Can we play a lot smarter? Absolutely. But I’ll take a team that’ll fight over a team that will sit back and take it every day of the week and bring on the next team."
Everything about this coach and this staff and this team is refreshing. This thread, alongside the sounds of silence thread, speaks volumes about this team. With Mangini it was talk about consistency. With RR it was talk about winning. With this coach, there's very little talk but a lot of positives in the direction of both consistency and winning... and so far that includes winning.
Outside of the Eagles game we also started out fast and outscored opponents in the 1st half as well. But to improve on that in the 2nd half makes it more impressive. Being able to adjust on the fly during the game, make changes and all that, is going to be a key against the Patriots. They do this better than anyone else, going over the plays and adjusting. Part of why we did so well against them in the past since Rex arrived here.
24 unanswered to start the second half, if this keeps up, Bowles has to be a serious coach of the year candidate for his mid game adjustment ability. WOW. With 14 mins left in 4th quarter of week 6, right now outscoring opponents 68-14 in second half.
Consistently dominating the second half of football games is the sign of a very good team led by a very good coach. The blocked punt left a bad taste in my mouth, but I can't say I wasn't impressed with how we stepped on their throats in the 3rd quarter.
Bowles must be showing hostage tapes at halftime. Fix this shit or else. Whatever he's doing, it's working.
