Todd Bowles’ Job In Jeopardy As Woody Johnson Exits Early
Woody Johnson has been known to be impulsive as the owner of the New York Jets. When the fans of the team hired a plane to fly overhead with a banner demanding he fire their GM at the time John Idzik, he responded by doing just that in the offseason.
And now, with both local papers calling for Todd Bowles’ job, Woody Johnson may have tipped his hand as to what he may do in the offseason. As reported by the NY Post, Johnson was seen exiting last night’s loss to the Miami Dolphins early.
“There was still a minute of football to be played, but Jets owner Woody Johnson had seen enough. Johnson strode quickly out of MetLife Stadium, barely breaking stride with TVs overhead showing his team still on the field in mop-up time.”
The Jets fell to the Miami Dolphins 34-13 and once again were embarrassed on national television. Previously, the team fell to the Indianapolis Colts on Monday Night Football 41-10 and again early in the season to the Arizona Cardinals 28-3. All three losses had the New York papers demanding blood in the form of Todd Bowles’ job despite the fact it’s only his second season as head coach and he posted an impressive 10-6 record last year.
Column: Why Woody Johnson is the biggest barrier to the @NYJets success: https://t.co/TDgJBaSjMO pic.twitter.com/rxV6o9FgwU
— Manish Mehta (@MMehtaNYDN) December 8, 2016
“Bowles’ game management skills put the Jets at a competitive disadvantage nearly every week,” Gary Myers of the NY Daily News wrote immediately following the Colts debacle. And he wasn’t done there.
“I don’t see him growing into this job. He has divorced himself from the offense, the downfall in the six years of Rex Ryan. Bowles has no feel how to handle his quarterbacks – he decided before Monday night’s humiliating 41-10 loss to the Colts that Bryce Petty would start the final four games of the season even if Ryan Fitzpatrick beat Indy 45-0.”
Meanwhile, Mike Vacarro of the NY Post echoed Myers’ thoughts.
“Coaches get fired for games like this, and Bowles ought to get fired for a game like this because this was the inevitable culmination of what we already have seen from these Jets: shamefully porous defense and shockingly inept offense. Sprinkle in a no-show effort? It’s a sadly easy call.”
But not everyone feels like Bowles should be fired. Rich Cimini of ESPN feels Bowles has been dealt a tough hand with a lack of talent surrounding him due to injury.
“If owner Woody Johnson still is mulling Bowles’ fate, he should eliminate this game from his evaluation. Forget it. Hit the “delete” button. It shouldn’t matter. The remaining two games shouldn’t matter, either. The Jets are what they are: a team that’s too old and too young, a mix of overpaid veterans and NFL wannabes just up from the practice squad.”
Jets coach Todd Bowles needs to take a stand, bench Sheldon Richardson https://t.co/qVb1Ih3saJ #Jets pic.twitter.com/4KBXIyrpER
— ESPN New York (@ESPNNewYork) December 18, 2016
Still, it’s hard to call anything from this season as a success for Bowles, and it would be understandable if Johnson decided to part ways with the second-year coach. In fact, just today, one of his top defensive stars Sheldon Richardson faces team discipline after a Snapchat video surfaced showing Richardson go off on a profanity-laced rant. This kind of behavior could further demonstrate to Johnson that Bowles has lost the locker room and that he won’t make it past this season.
“When we play like that, it all falls on me,” Bowles said after the latest loss. “It starts at the top. I have to do a better job and they have to do a better job, but it starts with me.”
It may very well start with him getting fired at the end of the year.
[Featured image by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images]
