New York Jets: Todd Bowles proves incompetence with penalty decision

New York Jets fans are calling for the head of head coach Todd Bowles. With one decision against the Patriots, he proved his complete incompetence.

New York Jets fans are absolutely ready to say goodbye to their much maligned head coach. Todd Bowles has garnered the ire of Jets fans for weeks and months now. The consensus was he should have been fired before the bye and are just playing out the string until Black Monday.

We can break down his mistakes from now until we all are too tired to talk about it anymore. There have been decisions, game management and just about everything else. The general feeling is that Bowles is in over his head.

This came into focus in the game against the Patriots on Sunday. There is one decision that has already been panned by most of the reporters but deserves repeating. One call Bowles made showed the world how incompetent as a head coach he really is.

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The decision we are talking about is the penalty that Bowles decided to accept prior to the Gronkowski touchdown.

Let’s go back to the scenario and set the stage. It’s third and two from the Jets 24 yard line. The Jets are up 7-0 at this point.

Tom Brady drops back looking Julian Edelman deep down the right side, but misses him and the pass falls incomplete.

The flag falls, and the call is offensive pass interference on James White.

The choice becomes to decline the penalty and make it fourth down, or to accept it and it becomes third and 12.

Bowles takes the penalty and on the ensuing play, Brady hits Rob Gronkowski for the tying touchdown.

Next. Three takeaways from the latest loss. dark

OK, sometimes decisions go wrong. Let’s hear what the coach had to say, per the team press release:

"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."

Well, thanks for the math class coach. Yes, twelve is a bigger number than two. Maybe one day we can all be grown up and figure that out just like a football head coach.

But no, coach, this is a fatally flawed idea.

Let’s see. First of all, you are giving them two chances if you accept the penalty as opposed to one. We can all do the math and tell coach that third down and fourth down equals two plays, while just fourth down equals only one.

And yes, Bowles might be right and they would have gone for the fourth down. OK, would he have taken a deep shot on fourth down? Not likely. It was the first quarter and you were winning. There was no need to take that penalty.

Besides anything else, why would you give Tom Brady two bites at the apple? Make him either get it on fourth down or take the field goal. It absolutely should have been a no-brainer. If you can have fourth down, you let it go to fourth down!

Third and 12 being longer than fourth and 2 is not a reason. Bowles is in over his head and it needs to end. It should have ended by now but it absolutely must end on Black Monday.

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