Todd Bowles Needs to Shoulder Blame for Historic Loss to Browns

BROWNS 21 - JETS 17

When it’s all said and done with, Todd Bowles career as head coach of the New York Jets might just be summed up by one horrible night in Cleveland, Ohio.

Throw out the fact the Jets are a young football team. Throw out the fact that this team is rebuilding.

The fact is the Jets got embarrassed by one of the worst football teams in the history of the sport on Thursday night. The Cleveland Browns hadn’t won a game in 635 days entering Thursday. They have a head coach who has a total win-loss record of 1-35-1 over the last two-plus years.

And yet, the Jets found every which way to get out-coached, and out-played, and out-smarted in an epic meltdown on the banks of Lake Erie.  That all falls on the head coach.

Up 14-0, the Jets were taking it to the Browns. While Sam Darnold wasn’t playing well, the Jets dominated the line of scrimmage with a dominant running game, and a stifling defense. Browns quarterback Tyrod Taylor was running for his life throughout the first half before he was knocked out with a concussion.

Then in came Baker Mayfield, and the feeling at First Energy Field changed. Mayfield came in with a swagger that the Jets couldn’t stop no matter how hard they wanted to.

The most damning thing about the Jets 21-17 loss was the halftime report by Erin Andrews, who said that Todd Bowles didn’t feel the need to make any adjustments with Mayfield in the game. That was a horrible strategy. The Jets had no game plan for Mayfield. They weren’t ready for what was coming and it showed.

Mayfield was 17 of 23 for 201 yards and no interceptions.  The Jets didn’t get many gloves on him, and allowed the former Heisman winner to pick them apart with quick 10-12 yard throws throughout the night.

Where the Browns dared to dream, and Mayfield was willing to be the conductor leading an orange and brown brigade, the Jets played and coached scared. 

Where the Browns coaching staff was willing to let Mayfield by Mayfield, the Jets didn’t allow Sam Darnold to be himself, because they were too worried about what would go wrong. And, a lot went wrong for Darnold on Thursday.

Darnold never got into a rhythm.  He was hurt by drops, overthrows, and underthrows and was under constant pressure all night.  He had only one nice pass the entire game, a 10-yard out to Jermaine Kearse on a key third down that kept the Jets lone scoring drive of the third quarter alive. Other then that that he was throwing off his back foot and forcing passes into tight coverage.

Hence the problem, again with the Jets coaching. Jets Offensive Coordinator Jeremy Bates was not creative. He was too conservative; relying too heavily on screen passes and gave up on the running game of Isaiah Crowell and Bilal Powell too early.  To sum it up he put his young quarterback in a horrible position of having to win a game in complete and utter chaos. 

Not to mention a lot of the same mistakes Darnold made in Week 1 continue to prop up 11 days later. It is a small sample size, yes. And Darnold is only a rookie, yes. But the forced throws, the lack of rhythm, and indecision that we have seen on a consistent basis is becoming alarming. You have to hope this coaching staff isn't hurting his development. 

Everything that happened on Thursday was an exercise in bad coaching. Allowing a 14-0 lead to escape like air coming out of a balloon can’t be tolerated. Failing to adjust even more so. At 1-2 and with the Jaguars starring at them in 10 days, Todd Bowles seat as Jets Head Coach just got a whole lot warmer.