A Dan shame
Timing didn’t work for Jets to land Quinn, but no telling if it would’ve changed Gang’s fate
Two years ago, the Jets had zeroed in on two candidates in their search to replace Rex Ryan as head coach — Dan Quinn and Todd Bowles.
Both were NFC West defensive coordinators, who were hot head-coaching candidates. Both had wowed the Jets’ decisionmakers in their interviews. Both were Jersey guys, which was less important than their coaching acumen, but a nice touch to the hire.
As everyone knows, the Jets decided togo with Bowl es. Quinn landed with the Falcons. Two years later, Quinn is going to the Super Bowl and Bowles is trying to figure out what went wrong in a 5-11 season.
The knee-jerk reaction to the Falcons win in the NFC Championship game over the Packers on Sunday from many Jets fans on social media was, “Same Old Jets. Picked the wrong coach.”
But that is a simplistic view. For one, Bowles does not have Matt Ryan or Julio Jones on his roster. They can certainly make a coach look better. The Jets hire also was complicated by the fact Quinn’s Seahawks were in the playoffs and ultimately went to the Super Bowl during the hiring process. There also was a feeling in league circles Quinn preferred the Falcons because of the presence of Matt Ryan.
The Jets and Falcons had both men at the top of their wish lists. Bowles was actually scheduled for a second interview with the Falcons the day after his second one with the Jets. But he ended up canceling his trip to Atlanta when the Jets made him an offer.
“You never know with these things,” Bowles said in August 2015 of his decision. “I didn’t know anything until it came down to the wire. I kept both eyes open. [The Falcons] have a great organization. I think we have a great organization here. I’m very happy where I ended up at. ”
You have to wonder if Bowles still feels that way, watching the Falcons get to the Super Bowl with Ryan, while he is still searching for a quarterback entering his third season as Jets coach.
Jets fans can ponder if they might have had a different coach had the Seahawks lost in the playoffs that year instead of going all the way to the Super Bowl, where they lost to the Patriots.
The Jets interviewed Quinn on Jan. 2 during Seattle’s bye week. A contingent that included owner Woody Johnson and advisors Ron Wolf and Charley Casserly talked to Quinn in Seattle. The group was impressed and he jumped to the top of their list. A day later, Quinn interviewed with the Falcons.
On the same day Quinn interviewed with the Falcons, Bowles’ Cardinals lost to the Panthers in the playoffs, freeing him up for interviews. He talked to the Jets on Jan. 7 and then the Bears, 49ers and Falcons over the next three days.
At the same t i me, the Je t s zeroed in on Mike Maccagnan to be their new general manager. The Jets’ brass, including Maccagnan, was ready to fly to Seattle if the Seahawks lost to the Panthers in the divisional round on Jan. 10. Sources say they were not going to hire Quinn on the spot, but rather conduct a second interview. ESPN reported at the time the Jets were ready to hire Quinn. Even if it was just for a second interview, there is a good chance Quinn would have gotten an offer at the end of it.
No one knows if Quinn def ini te ly would have ta ken t he job had the Jets offered. He was viewed as a natural f it because he grew up in Morristown, just a few minutes away from the team’s Florham Park headquarters, but there also was a strong feeling that he wanted the Atlanta job.
The Jets brought Bowles back for a second interview and hired him on the night of Jan. 13. Some view this as the Jets “settling” for Bowles rather than waiting for Quinn, but they truly liked both candidates and made the decision to hire Bowles rather than wait for Quinn. The Falcons waited for Quinn, hiring him three weeks later.
If the Falcons beat the Patriots in two weeks, Jets fans will lament Quinn as the one who got away and the story of Quinn over Bowles will go into the lore of the misery of Jets fans, fair or not.