New York Jets: Todd Bowles will be back unless things fall apart completely

The New York Jets will bring back head coach Todd Bowles for 2019 unless the season completely falls apart, and that could happen over discipline.

The New York Jets sit with a 1-2 record and the Jacksonville Jaguars next up on the schedule. With that, a lot of different narratives start to come out of various factions of the Jets fan base.

We talked about debunking the theory that the Cleveland game was one of the worst in team history. Another topic that has come up is a rather popular one.

At the end of last season, the Jets extended the contracts of Todd Bowles and Mike Maccagnan through the end of the 2020 season.

With the losses, there are fans out there that once again want Bowles gone. Some have even gone so far to post the question of who will be the Jets coach next year.

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Can we set this straight please? Unless this season falls apart, Todd Bowles will be your head coach in 2019, Jets fans.

This is your reality. Protesting it will not change it.

2018 is not about wins and losses. Not even a little bit.

Christopher Johnson has not put a playoff mandate on his coach and general manager.

They have a brand new quarterback, in case anybody forgot. He is 21 years old. There are going to be bad games like Thursday night in Cleveland.

2018 is about getting Sam Darnold game experience. Let him have his highs. Let him make his rookie mistakes. He clearly doesn’t make the same mistake twice.

Give Darnold a chance to get as much game experience as possible.

The Jets have through the year 2022 to compete and make a run during Darnold’s rookie contract. They will have a lot of money under the cap in 2019. It is about preparing to put together a competitive team for 2019 and beyond.

Besides anything else, the team will not be interested in forcing Darnold into learning a new offense unless absolutely necessary.

It’s understandable that fans want a lot of wins. It has been a long time since we have had a playoff appearance. Even 2015 seems like decades ago. But even so, as long as they make progress we are stuck with Todd Bowles.

Next. Statistical takeaways from the Cleveland game. dark

The exception to this theory is if the team falls apart. It doesn’t have to be a collapse via the record. There is another way.

It can happen with one word: penalties.

The penalties have gotten worse under Bowles. In 2015 they were called for 96 accepted penalties (per NFLPenalties.com). In 2016 it went down to 93.

In 2017 they were near the top of the league with 119. So far in 2018 they have been called for 20, which puts them on a pace for over 100 once again.

The Jets haven’t just committed penalties. They have committed bad penalties. Pre-snap penalties and defensive penalties that have continued drives have been the worst.

The Isaiah Crowell unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was one of the worst. We aren’t going to discuss it, you all saw it. Clearly, the push ups that Bowles made them do in the preseason didn’t make an impact.

Lack of discipline is a problem. It shows that they aren’t hearing the message of the coach. If the penalties don’t clean up, that could be a reason to think about making a move.

It’s a stretch, but something for the no more Bowles movement to think about.

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