Westie, I love ya, guy, but waiting for Bowles or Mac to get better is like waiting for Godot. Bowles has shown absolutely no evidence that he is learning and improving. The team is inconsistent, ill-prepared much of the time, he is too passive/conservative and doesn't seem to understand what today's NFL is about, situational football, how to get the most out of his players, how to put them in a position to succeed, how to manage the clock or his time outs. IMO he should have been fired 2 years ago. Mac is only marginally better. He's made some decent moves in FA, some decent trades, and a few good draft picks. He's done a good job with contracts, but little else. Some posters wanted to wait and give Idzik more time, too. If we had never hired Idzik or fired him after one season, we never would have had the debacle in the 2014 draft and could really be in great shape right now. We had a golden opportunity that year to set the team up for the next 10 years as a real competitor. Idzik totally screwed the pooch. Mac's picks have been lousy for the most part. If he had taken Mahomes last year, he would have had a 1st and 2 - 2nd round picks as well as his other picks with which to rebuild the roster this season, instead he had to trade our 1st and 3-2nds to get Darnold. He may have even been able to trade down and add additional picks, and we'd have our full complement of picks for the 2019 draft plus an additional 3rd. He's had several opportunities to draft his future LT and with the exception of Tunsil, opted for other positions. He has failed to find an edge rusher. With the exception of Idzik's one good pick (Enunwa) the cupboard is pretty bare at WR, and the same goes for TE and RB. There is little or no OL depth, never mind that the whole left side of the line is in serious need of upgrading. I've been one of Mac's biggest supporters, but I'm done. I don't trust him to fill our needs or fix our holes with the $100 million or our draft picks. He's missed on too many 2nd-5th round picks, has drafted in a bizarre fashion, ignored the OL and the offense, can't seem to identify WR or CB talent, and seems to have no clue how to build a team. In 2019, even though we have no 2nd round pick, we again have the opportunity to take a HUGE step forward in terms of our roster talent with over $100 million to spend in FA and 7 draft picks. Enough is enough.
Of course it's a temporary fix to get us through the rest of the season. It's not thought to be a permanent solution. It's sending a message to the players, the NFL and future coaches that mediocrity, sloppy play, being unprepared, having no ability to make adjustments, and lack of progress will not be tolerated. As for whom we could hire, here's another thread with a LOT of good names: http://forums.theganggreen.com/threads/lincoln-riley-jim-harbaugh-david-shaw.91391/ We definitely should be on step 7 or 8 by now. With the right hires, we won't be going back to step one, but sometimes one has to take a step backwards to go forwards. We aren't going anywhere with Mac and Bowles. We'll just continue wasting opportunities and spinning our wheels. Yes, we've seen the firing the GM and firing the HC movie before, but that doesn't mean we just stick with the status quo. We can make two significant changes to that movie, however. Before, with the exception of Parcells, we've always hired a novice HC, and over the last 20-30 years or so have only hired former DCs. This time, we could hire a HC with an offensive background, and potentially choose between one of the Harbaughs, maybe Mike McCarthy or other former HCs. While I would prefer one of the Harbaughs, I might take McCarthy over one of the "hot" OCs. I think a big part of our struggles has been always starting with a novice HC who had to learn how to be a HC (on the job training) and they have been operating with an outdated, defense-first, NFL philosophy. One has to have the right people in place in order to succeed, and it's glaringly apparent to most everyone that we don't. Things won't just magically get better or improve. We won't win in spite of our GM or our HC and his sorry CS. We need a GM who has some inkling of how to put together a football team and who has a good eye for talent. We need a HC who know how to develop players; who knows how to put players in a position to succeed and is creative; who knows how to make adjustments when his game plan isn't working; who knows the basics of coaching (getting his team prepared, motivating them, managing game situations, the clock and time outs; who will have the team playing tough, smart, disciplined football. Other teams manage to do that even with the limitations of the new CBA. No, there are never any guarantees in life, but one can't just sit back frozen out of fear of making a mistake. One of the definitions of insanity is when things haven't been working to keep doing things the same way, and expect a different result. It's not gonna happen. If the Jets want a different result (a winner, a playoff team and a champion), they are going to have to make changes, and take risks. Now with Woody and Chris making the football decisions and hires, things may never get better. Woody has proven to everyone how clueless he is. There's still a little hope for Chris. If he's calling the shots, he needs to either fire them and hire a Director of Football Operations and allow him to hire the new GM and that GM to hire the HC, or hire the Director of Football Operations and allow him to make the determination on Mac and Bowles, but I can all but guarantee you that if that man was competent, that his first move would be to fire Bowles, and Mac would probably follow soon thereafter unless Harbaugh was ok with keeping him on to negotiate contracts and running the scouting operation.
Why would we have an extra first to play with? Seems to get mentioned a lot, we swapped 1st's, we didn't give it away.
I didn't say that he'd have an extra first. I said that he'd have the first and 2 - second round picks that he traded to move up to #3 (to take Darnold), and we would have. Yes, we swapped ones, but we wouldn't have been using it on Darnold if we already had Mahomes. He could have used our #1 pick on an LT, edge rusher, RB, WR, a S (Minkah Fitzpatrick or Derwin James) or whatever. He could also have possibly traded down and garnered an additional 2nd and/or 3rd round picks. Sitting at #6 some team may have been willing to trade up for Nelson, Allen, Smith, McGlinchey,or Rosen. It's not likely, but even possible that he could have received that team's #1 pick this season and next in exchange for our pick at #6.
I had high hopes for the current regime when they arrived, but neither Bowles nor Macc gives me much confidence going forward. The former still makes boneheaded decisions during games while the latter still hasn't addressed the biggest needs sans QB in 4 years. LT, Edge, and Impact talent on offense still need to be filled. Being a step up from Idzik is not good enough. Rounds 2-4 are where good GM's find talent and so far he has only gotten Maye and Herndon.
Love you too, NC! I'm not disputing anything you've written here but what in the Jets history says they will do any of things you say they should do? It could just as well be deja vu all over again, and more likely than not, it will be. We've both been screaming for the Jets to draft a FQB first and foremost and now we have a great candidate in Darnold, the most important piece of the puzzle. That means we're on the right track. I'm not saying give them a carte blanche for the next 5 years, but one more year to see if he gets the ship righted is better than starting over with a new FO and CS in my mind.
Thanks. While there may not be anything in their history to say that they'll get it right, surely they aren't blind AND stupid. They have to see how unprepared and inconsistent the Jets are. Bowles is not going to get any better. They saw what happened with the Rams when they got rid of Fisher and hired McVay. The offense has been the problem. They would be hard-pressed to screw this up. Almost any new HC who has an offensive background will be better for Sam than Bowles and Bates. Have you looked at the list of potential HCs? Even if neither Harbaugh, nor McCarthy are available, there are good young OCs in John DeFilippo, Eric Bieiemy, Matt LaFleur, Dan Campbell, and Pete Campbell, and from the college ranks there's David Shaw, Lincoln Riley and Chris Peterson. Even Todd Haley would have to be better for Sam than Bowles and Bates. Precisely because we have Sam, we can't risk ruining him with another year of Bowles and Bates. They're awful. Sam has already regressed, and we simply cannot risk ruining him with the clueless Bowles and Bates for another year.
No. He has not. I don't need to remember his first year when there is no indication he contributed to any of those W's. 23 - 34 speaks for itself. No progress has been seen during his tenure. There is no more time to be borrowed; next year is two years too late. Are you related to the guy?
It’s fucking time. We got our franchise QB Let’s move into the 21st century with an offensive coach. Enough already. It’s fucking time.
The problem right now is a series of bad drafts and an injury wave. Barring a mid-season turnaround, which is always a possibility, I think the Jets need to do a good evaluation of what went wrong this year and then take steps to fix the problem. Bowles can't escape responsibility for the results but he is coaching a roster that isn't deep enough and that can't stay on the field reliably. Usually that situation is a result of a multi-year failure to get players in the draft.
Was a terrible game but you must not remember the butt fumble. If you forgot, maybe my avatar will dring back memories lol
As I posted before, I think all coaches makes mistakes. Bowles' mistakes are magnified because the Jets just don't have the talent to overcome them. Right now the Jets are pretty good defensively, and I just feel that with the coming draft, the FA money, and a year's experience for Darnold, they should be able to improve enough offensively to win. I thought Mac had a pretty decent last draft with Darnold, Sheperd and Herndon, given that he didn't have a 2. Analyst after analyst said it's extremely difficult to win in the NFL with a rookie QB. Maybe the expectations were too high after that blowout win in Detroit, but Darnold is struggling now as many people thought he would his first year. Now it's up to Mac to put better players around him and hence make this Sam's team. I feel that was one of the problems with Sanchez is that he came to a veteran team so that it never felt like it was Mark's team. However, with Darnold, taking his lumps and newer and better players joining the roster, it can become Sam's team. The most successful teams have an identity that starts with the QB and Mac has the opportunity to build that kind of team around Darnold. I say give them one more year, if the Jets end up losing again next year, I'll be the first on the board calling for their heads.
According to ancestry.com no, not related. There's been no progress because there's been no talent. Given the talent level on the Jets over the past 3 years, I think 23-34 isn't so bad. If you're going to bash him for loses, then you have to give him credit for wins, you can't have it both ways.
Sorry Westie, but just winning isn't enough. They need to be able to compete for the SB, not necessarily next year, but by the year after, and Bowles has shown he isn't a good enough HC to do that. As for Macc, so far he hasn't produced the "groceries" sufficiently to do that either. Most successful teams - the ones who consistently contend - retool in less than 4 years. Moreover, it's been over 7 years since their last playoff game, and while Macc and Bowles were not here then, where is their sense of urgency to get things fixed? Macc acts like he has a decade to get things ironed out, and Bowles coaches like he's Coach For Life. When you're going down the wrong road, continuing in the same direction isn't going to get you to your destination.
I don't think you can tell one way or the other whether a FO/CS combo can win a SB at this stage. At this stage, the emphasis has to be about putting a winning team on the field and making the playoffs. Once that's accomplished, you can re-evaluate whether the management team is SB worthy. Of course, being given a golden opportunity to improve as Macc will have this coming season, if he doesn't get the job done then I say it's time for him to go.
Well if you haven't seen enough evidence that Bowles STILL makes the same mistakes he did as in Year 1, I don't know what to tell you. Add to that, he's now second-guessing himself, as shown by his decision last week to finally go for it on 4th down, EXCEPT that in this case he shouldn't have. It's clear that he's heard all the questions about his lack of aggressiveness on 4th downs was echoing in his brain. He has absolutely NO feel for offense...if he did he wouldn't have made Bates his OC, nor allowed him to continue the lousy play calling he's done. As for Macc, you want to gamble and hope that he goes against form and actually makes good use of the $100 million and the draft picks, but what's Einstein's definition of insanity? "Doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results". The only way I would want to keep Macc is if they hire a Pres. of Football Ops over him that can oversee him.