STABLE FLIP
Jets finding success as Giants spiral out of control
WELCOME to New York football’s Bizarro World.
Up is down. Down is up. The Giants are a franchise in disarray, complete with an outofcontrol player, a coach letting him run wild, brutal losses stacking up and possible wholesale changes coming at the end of the season. The Jets? Suddenly, Gang Green is the model of stability, quietly putting together a memorable season with leadership that looks like it will be around for years.
After six years of the Rex Ryan show and all of the good and bad that came with it, the Jets are about football again.
The circus has moved to East Rutherford, changing its tent colors from Green and White to Blue and Red.
Jets fans should soak up this moment. They have waited long enough for it to arrive. They have endured years of snickering from Giants’ fans at Ryan’s failed guarantees, the Buttfumble and the Tim Tebow fiasco.
But things are different now. Todd Bowles and Mike Maccagnan have done a solid job in Year 1 of their regime, rebuilding the roster and getting the team to 95 with their playoff hopes still alive on Christmas.
Make no mistake, this is still a Giants town. They can still flash their four Super Bowl rings and quiet any argument about the two teams, but right now the Jets are the ones with stability at coach and GM and less needs this offseason.
Perhaps the most refreshing thing about this season has been how the Jets have gone four months without a true contro versy. Even their worst offfield moment of the year benefited them when IK Enemkpali’s right hook to Geno Smith’s jaw put Ryan Fitzpatrick in the starter’s spot. All Fitzpatrick has done since is throw 26 touchdowns, tied for the second most in a season in franchise history, and given the team the stability under center it has not enjoyed since the early days of Mark Sanchez.
While Tom Coughlin is coming under fire for how he handled Odell Beckham Jr. on Sunday, Bowles deserves praise for calming things down with the Jets. The organization has wanted to quiet the noise around it for several years. That led to the hiring of John Idzik and some tense moments with Ryan, when he felt team management wanted to phase him out. After those hiccups, though, the Jets got it right with Bowles and Maccagnan. The duo has struck the right tone and put out any brushfires that have popped up.
Bowles deftly handled the Smith/Enemkpali scuffle by cutting Enemkpali immediately and saying Smith might not get his starting job back. When Smith was healthy enough to play a few weeks into the season, Bowles was emphatic Fitzpatrick was the starter based on how he played in the early season, avoiding any quarterback drama.
Players have praised Bowles for the way he has held players accountable all year, some to the annoyance of Ryan. That was never more on display than when the Jets faced the Giants and Bowles benched star defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson for a quarter after Wilkerson was late to a team meeting.
Even with Sheldon Richardson’s arrest this summer, Bowles struck the right tone. He was upset, but offered support. The discipline for Richardson will come from the court system and/or the NFL. Bowles made his unhappiness with the player clear, but also showed compassion for the person.
So Jets fans, while you are wrestling with playoff scenarios and what the Jets have to do and whom they have to get help from to make the postseason, take a moment and enjoy this.
Ryan’s dealing with a player revolt in Buffalo after the Bills failed to make the playoffs again. The Giants are the piñatas of sportstalk radio for once. And your Jets are preparing for a showdown with the Patriots riding their first fourgame winning streak in five seasons.
Welcome to Bizarro World. Enjoy your stay.
Coach Todd Bowles spent Sunday studying film of his team and the Patriots, the Jets’ next opponent, not focusing on the teams the Jets are fighting with for a playoff spot.
He did not see the Steelers’ dramatic comeback win over the Broncos that hurt the Jets’ postseason chances. The Jets now need help to make the playoffs. If they win their final two games to finish 115, they need either the Steelers, Broncos or Chiefs to lose a game. If they go 11 to finish 106, they need one of those teams to lose both of its games.
“You’ve got to win the last two games and just hope for the best,” Bowles said Monday on a conference call. “That’s all you can do. We don’t know what our chances are. We don’t control our own destiny. We can just control the two teams we play against.
“We’re just going to try to win those two games and make positive steps going forward, and if the football gods deem that we’re worthy, and somehow we win these last two games, maybe we will, maybe we won’t. You can’t worry about it because you can’t control it.”
The Jets face the Patriots at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, followed by a trip to Buffalo to see Rex Ryan’s Bills in Week 17. The Jets downplayed their first meeting with the Patriots this year, but this one feels huge.
“There is a different feeling about the game,” Bowles said. “It’s not necessarily the Patriots, it’s just about the position we’re in as far as giving ourselves a chance to make the postseason. We’ve got to give ourselves a chance. It doesn’t matter who we were playing this week. It would be an important game and a big game for that reason.”
The Jets suffered a few injuries Saturday night that all sound relatively minor. LB David Harris has a back contusion and is daytoday, Bowles said. Harris had Xrays that showed no structural damage. Bowles said he is just sore. TE
Kellen Davis also has a sore back and is daytoday. CB Dee Milli
ner suffered a hamstring strain. He also is considered daytoday.
Bowles did not see the Giants-Panthers game, but heard about the Odell Beckham Jr. drama. He would not touch that one.
“It’s not my fish to fry,” Bowles said. “I’m just getting ready for New England.”