Todd Bowles isn’t caught up too much on what is happening with other teams, even if one of those teams shares a stadium with his New York Jets.
Across the proverbial town, the New York Giants cut ties with head coach Ben McAdoo on Monday, this after reports that he had lost the locker room in the midst of a 2-10 season. Bowles and his ascendant Jets are 5-7, the polar opposite of the Giants in direction and expectation.
The Giants were supposed to be Super Bowl contenders, a team set to build on last year’s 11-5 record. And after an offseason spent cutting stars and overpaid, aging talent, the Jets were supposed to be pretty bad.
Instead, the Jets are loaded with promise and beaten every expectation this year. So as Bowles took to the podium on Monday following (another) Jets win the day before, he did so with a resume that is looking pretty convincing for him to return next year.
“We all have a job to do and we all have work to do. You treat everybody like grown men, which they are, and there are consequences and repercussions for everything that we do here. We have rules that we go by, and you treat them like men. You put in a hard day’s work, and we take no wooden nickels,” Bowles said. “I don’t believe in beating around the bush. I don’t want anybody to beat around the bush with me. We have our fun but we get our work in. When you don’t work, some excuses are necessary and some things you get away with that are very understandable, and some things aren’t. That’s just how I am. It works for some people. It doesn’t work for other people.”
The Jets went through a tough season in 2016, not unlike the Giants current situation. The Jets were coming off a 10-6 the year before and had their own, very legitimate playoff aspirations.
What instead unfolded for the Jets was a team that was flat and soft, getting rolled over and blown out in a number of games. In light of the news on McAdoo, it was only natural for Bowles to be asked about his Jets future. He dodged the question, saying “I’m not going to discuss my job.”
With that being said, however, he admits to the dismissal of McAdoo stinging a bit as they are both a part of a tight-knit fraternity of coaches in the NFL.
“It’s unfortunate. Every situation is different,” Bowles said. “I can’t control what goes on in that building, but you hate to see a fellow guy get let go. But it’s part of the business we have.”
