Angry Bowles denies report he’s taking over Jets’ defense
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) » Todd Bowles was clearly angry, even if his voice never rose above its usual low tone.
The normally stoic New York Jets coach vehemently denied a published report saying that he was stripping defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers of some playcalling duties.
“(It’s) 100 percent false,” Bowles said Wednesday. “Completely a lie. If somebody said it, it didn’t come out of my mouth.”
The New York Daily News reported Tuesday that Bowles , according to sources, would call the defensive plays when the Jets face two-minute and hurry-up situations. Bowles is a former NFL defensive coordinator who is also close friends with Rodgers.
New York ranks eighth in overall defense, including seventh against the pass, but has struggled in some key spots in its last two losses to Miami and Cleveland. Against the Browns, Baker Mayfield shredded the Jets in a two-minute situation before halftime. The Daily News reported that Bowles would himself try to improve the defense in that area.
“I have no idea where it came from, so I’ve got nothing else to speak on,” Bowles said sternly. “I haven’t done any of it. I don’t know where it came from. It didn’t happen. It hasn’t happened.”
Bowles added that Rodgers will continue in his current duties of running the entire defense.
It was a surprising display of controlled anger from Bowles, who very rarely shows any emotion during his news conferences.
“I’m pretty much a straight shooter,” Bowles said. “If I’ve got something to say, I would probably say it and it would come out of my mouth. It never came out of my mouth. It never happened. End of discussion. It never happened, it’s not going to happen. If I want to take the play calling or call something on the offense, I have that prerogative to do it as a head coach. I never did any of it.”
That wasn’t the only controversy facing Bowles as the Jets (1-2) prepare to take on the Jaguars in Jacksonville on Sunday.
During his weekly radio spot on WFAN on Tuesday, safety Jamal Adams suggested the Jets weren’t prepared to face Mayfield when Tyrod Taylor left with a concussion.
“To be honest, man, we had to be open to knowing that Baker could come in, but we were prepared for Tyrod,” Adams said during the interview. “When Baker came in, obviously, we didn’t have a game plan for him. But hats off to him. He came in, and he definitely played lights out. And they gained momentum, and we just couldn’t grab it back.”