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.
Comments