Todd Bowles praises Jets for not panicking
Head coach Todd Bowles of the New York Jets looks on from the bench against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on Dec 6. 2015 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Credit: Mike Stobe
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Unlike the Jets’ previous coach — Buffalo’s Rex Ryan — Todd Bowles’ style when answering questions is to speak plainly and give short answers.
That’s not to say Bowles doesn’t mean what he says when he says it. Yesterday, while praising his team for coming back to win last Sunday’s game against the Giants, Bowles said he was pleased the Jets didn’t “panic” — a word he said he didn’t want to use to describe his team . . . right before he used it again to describe his team.
“We panicked at the end of some ballgames and we got all of that straightened out and started playing better,” Bowles said when asked about the Jets’ recent offensive improvement.
When asked to clarify just when he felt the team had panicked, Bowles said: “I don’t want to say panic, that word of ‘panic,’ but we didn’t execute down toward the stretch and they were the same plays we ran the first three quarters. We had a couple games like that, whether it was offense or defense, where we didn’t execute correctly. This was the first come-from-behind win that we didn’t panic and we showed poise.”
Remember Ridley?
Stevan Ridley, the former 1,000-yard rusher the Jets signed from the Patriots in the offseason, has not been a factor since returning from a knee injury on Nov. 12.
Ridley has rushed for 4 yards on 12 carries in four games. In his first three games, he carried nine times for zero yards before he upped his average by gaining 4 yards on three carries last Sunday. Ridley also has one catch — for a 5-yard loss.
“Getting him up to speed . . . that’s a slower process than I think any of us thought it would be,” offensive coordinator Chan Gailey said.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
