Bowles Sinks Jets Chances in 27-13 Loss to Patriots

PATRIOTS 27 - JETS 13 

When it rains, it pours. Such is life of the New York Jets in 2018. Another week, another lopsided loss in the division as the Jets dropped their fifth in a row in a 27-13 loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday.  

What was most troubling about this loss? It played out the way most people expected.

After a slow start, the Patriots ran all over the Jets with rookie running back Sony Michel gashing Gang Green for 133 yards, while James White added 73 yards of his own on the ground.

Meanwhile, the Jets offense was stuck on neutral for much of the afternoon. While he played better than he did against Buffalo, Josh McCown struggled to spark the Jets offense, as New York managed only two field goals after jumping out to a 7-0 lead.

In fact after that opening touchdown for the Jets, New York managed only two more dives of 50 yards or more for the rest of the game. One of those drives ended in a field goal. The other ended in a turnover on downs when Jermaine Kearse dropped a touchdown pass on fourth down.

When asked about the offensive executive, Sunday, head coach Todd Bowles could only state the facts, the Jets didn’t make enough plays offensively. “We left some plays out there,” Bowles said. “It was up and down, obviously. We didn’t score enough points. I’ll have to see the film to assess it.”

However this game will best be remembered for what Bowles did to sabotage his own football team when he decided to accept an offensive pass interference penalty against the Patriots on third and two. Had Bowles declined the penalty, the Patriots would have faced a fourth down, and would have likely kicked a field goal to cut the Jets lead to 7-3.

But, nooooooo. Not with Todd Bowles. Bowles instead accepted the penalty, and gave New England new life with a third and 12. What happened? Tom Brady happened. Brady hit Rob Gronkowski for a 34-yard touchdown to tie the game.

When asked about the penalty afterwards Bowles said, “Third-and-12 are better odds than fourth-and-two and we knew they were going to go for it because they typically do on fourth-and-two. We had a better chance at third-and-12.”

First of all, how does Bowles know that Belichick is going to go for it on fourth-and-two at the Jets 24? It’s still early enough in the game that kicking the field goal is the higher percentage play for New England. It’s not like the Jets have a dynamic offense at this point in the year, so chasing points wouldn’t make sense for a Patriot team that played the game close to the vest anyway. Giving New England new life on third down made absolutely no sense, and is another reason why Bowles’ in-game management has come under intense criticism this season.

Reporters again asked Bowles abut the play, and again he defended the obvious gaff.

“No, third-and-12 were good odds for us. We’ve been pretty good at third-and-12. We knew they would have gone for it on fourth-and-two. We figured if we backed them up we had a chance (for them) to kick a field goal and it didn’t work out.”

Ummm, it was already fourth down, coach?

The Jets would never again see the lead. Even though the Patriots struggled to produce points themselves, New England grinded the Jets out. By the late stages of the third quarter, the Jets defense, which had been on the field for extended periods of time, was gassed.

The Patriots needed only four plays to take the lead for good when Brady hooked up with Julian Edleman on a 21-yard strike to make it 20-13 with 1:52 to go in the third quater.

After the Jets went three-and-out on their next possession, Brady marched the Patriots 80-yards on 10-plays for a Sony Michel touchdown to put the game out of reach. Of course, the Jets helped out with two huge penalties, including a roughing the passer penalty on Leonard Williams that moved the football to the Jets one-yard line.  

When asked about his team’s effort, Bowles was effusive in his praise for his team.

“Well, we’re going to fight every week. We fought the Buffalo game. We just didn’t play smart. We fought this game and we didn’t execute in the second half, so we’ve got to go back to the drawing board and we’ve got to finish the ball game.”

Did Todd Bowles just say the Jets “fought” in the Buffalo game?

Unfortunately for Bowles, the Jets not only failed to execute in the second half, but they didn’t play their smartest football of the season either. Instead Sunday’s loss was another case of a team that was out-coached and out-played by better competition.