Bowles sticks with Josh at quarterback
As the Jets enter their bye week at 4-6 following Sunday’s demoralizing and sluggish loss at the Bucs, Todd Bowles’ future with the franchise remains uncertain. In many ways, the third-year man will be coaching for his job over the season’s final six games, three of which are against division leaders.
So it’s no surprise Bowles isn’t thinking about the Jets’ long-term plan at quarterback. In a conference call Monday, Bowles said he’s “not coming up with a scenario right now” as far as when he would want to get a look at either backup Bryce Petty or third-stringer Christian Hackenberg this season.
“We’re going to play the games and we’re going to try to win each one and take them one at a time,” Bowles said. “Josh will be our quarterback, and then we’ll go from there.”
Earlier in the call, Bowles said Petty and Hackenberg would only play “if something happens to” McCown. He later clarified that meant an injury.
McCown, meanwhile, isn’t even considering the prospect of losing his job down the stretch.
“My approach is that I give my all to the role that I’m in, and if that changes, then I will adjust accordingly,” the 38-year-old signal-caller said. “But I don’t really pay attention to what outside opinions are or any of that stuff. My role right now is to serve this team as the starting quarterback. I’m going to do that as best I can.”
In his meeting with the media after a Week 2 loss at the Raiders, acting owner Christopher Johnson said he will not be judging Bowles on wins and losses this season, but rather on how much improvement the team displays over the course of the year.
There’s no question the Jets have shocked many in football, even with their ugly defeat against the Bills this weekend. Bowles has exceeded expectations with a roster of young, unproven and castoff players. But these next six games are most crucial.
The Jets return from their bye to face the 6-3 Panthers and 6-3 Chiefs in back-to-back weeks at home. Then in Week 15, they travel to New Orleans to take on the Saints, who are the hottest team in football after winning their seventh straight game Sunday in a beatdown of the Bills. Gang Green concludes the season at the Patriots.
If Bowles can rally this team to overcome the Bucs performance and play competitive games against superior opponents over the final six weeks, he should make a strong case to keep his job. But if the Jets allow the problems they experienced in Tampa to worsen and fester — penalties and inept offense, primarily — Bowles could be in trouble.
Either way, Bowles needs to give himself the best chance to be competitive in the rest of these games, and he believes McCown still provides that.
McCown wasn’t great against the Bucs, but he’s still putting together a career season. The offensive struggles Sunday were more related to offensive line penalties early in drives that set the unit back and forced a slew of third-and-longs.
“I’m pleased with how I’m playing,” McCown said Monday. “Some of the things that I’ve set out to do for myself personally, with different markers that I want to hit and things that I’ve been looking for as far as playing good football and stuff like that, I feel really good about. Obviously there’s things that we can always do better and want to do better, but considering coming together with a new group and everything, I’m just really proud to be a part of it and feel really good about the things we’ve been able to do.”
With his touchdown pass to Robby Anderson in garbage time Sunday, McCown set a career-high with 14 TD passes this season. He’s the oldest player in NFL history to set a career-high in touchdown passes.
“That number needs to be a lot higher, to be honest with you,” McCown said.
This part can’t be denied: The journeyman has been one of the major reasons the Jets have overachieved, and he isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. His stated goal is to play all 16 games this season.
“More than anything, just glad I’ve still been given the opportunity to go out and play and have the health and the ability to continue to do it,” McCown said. “One of the reasons I wanted to come here was because of the opportunity to play, and continue to better myself as a player.”