Anyone else think this was a decision made by Mac and Woody? Maybe they assured Bowles he wont get fired if he goes the route of seeing what Geno and eventually Petty have in their game? I think Bowles does not want to play Geno because he knows the team does not respond to him as much as Fitz
Johnson said Bowles made the decision and he supports it. At least that what he says... http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2016/10/woody_johnson_backs_decision_to_bench_ryan_fitzpat.html
Can't see any argument to not do this. Fitz is a joke that will be gone at the end of the year, Petty needs to get himself back in game shape, Hackenberg is years away from even being considered (if there wasn't a real possibility that throwing him in now would ruin him forever I would go with Hackenberg right now over Fitz). The season isn't quite over yet, so you throw Smith in to see if there is any hope. If they are 1-9 or 2-8 at the bye, you pull the plug and let Petty start against New England with an extremely limited game plan, and go from there. If they are 3-7 you consider keeping Smith in until they lose that eighth game (which will probably be immediately), and then go to Petty for the rest of the year.
WOoohoooo! One more step closer to wring petty ! To answer the OPs question, I do think this move came from upstairs. Assured his job for next year to see what we have in the young bucks
If that's the case Bowles should not be the head coach anymore. But I don't think it is. I have no reason not to believe Bowles are his word. Clearly the Jets didn't think TOO highly of Fitz coming into this year based on their offer to him. And he's now struggled mightily in 4 straight games. Benching him is an easy decision. Also the "team doesn't respond to Geno" thing is ludicrous. What does that even mean? If the QB plays well, the team will love him, if he doesn't, the team won't like him. Will starting Geno mean the players won't play as tough? If so, that's not a Geno problem, that's a problem for those players and this would be a good way to weed them out and cut them from the team.
Damn right. It was way PAST time to bench Fitzpatrick. Always marginal to begin with, he thought he was pretty hot stuff skipping all the spring practices. Probably spent every day replaying the audio from Todd "toilet" Bowles LAST year proclaiming "IF Fitzpatrick comes back, he's the starter!" Todd Bowles does NOT know talent (or the lack of it) when he sees it.
I agree. He deserves one last chance before we let him walk out the door. I don't expect much, but maybe he has a 2015 Kirk Cousins run in him. You never know in this league. The talent has always been there, just a matter of things finally clicking. My guess is he will continue to underwhelm though.
Thought we were done with this when he wanted to bring in Tebow and hired a consultant to get Mac and Bowles here.
The arm has been there, the ability to read defenses and go through progressions has never been there. If he can't stare down his target he won;t throw it and will usually get sacked.
On the plus side if Geno shits it early then we might see BP in week 8. Sadly he can probably get us to the bye 2-2 or even 3-1 and then the earliest we can expect Bryce is after the Pats game.
There is no way Tard Balls wants Geno as his QB. But sometimes a change is needed. So regardless of who made the decision for him, it is greatly appreciated.