Former DE on Todd Bowles: He's freaking perfect

Former All-Pro and Pro Bowl defensive end Jason Taylor's face lights up whenever he thinks about Jets head coach Todd Bowles.

"He's freaking perfect," the former Redskin, Dolphin, and Jet said on Thursday.

Taylor spent two seasons with Bowles when he was defensive coordinator with Miami, and Taylor said he saw all he had to during that short stint.

"Schematically, forget about it," Taylor told the New York Post. "There's nobody out there that can touch him."

It wasn't just the playbook that impressed Taylor. More so, it was the disciplinary hold he had over his players before they even took the field.

"He's honest, very honest, and he'll tell the players exactly where they are and what they need to do," Taylor said. "He'll have a very focused, disciplined team that won't have a ton of mental errors or penalties. He won't put up with that."

Though the preseason counts just as little for coaches as it does players, Bowles passed his first test with flying colors. When Sheldon Richardson was in high speed pursuit with the cops with a 12-year-old kid in the back seat, he didn't flinch. When quarterback Geno Smith was slugged by his teammate and his face split in half, Bowles acted swiftly and surely, releasing the perp from the premises and keeping a calm face.

That calm demeanor is not something to take at face value, says Jason Taylor.

"Don't mistake the meekness for weakness, put it that way," Taylor said. "He is very chill and laid back it seems, but he is on top of everything."

The most important thing Bowles needs to be on top of is the Cleveland Browns, who the Jets host on Sunday in their regular season opener. His most important test comes when his "chill" translates into results.

Judging by his past, though, Todd Bowles is someone that can be trusted to get the job done, according to one of his former players.

"If Todd's the head coach, I want to play for Todd," Jason Taylor said. "That's the kind of guy he is. I would run through a brick wall for him."

Barkley not making his case vs the Jets

The NFL preseason finale is good for one thing and one thing only: trying to judge who will be around when the season starts and who won't.

Judging by the first half of play in New Jersey on Thursday evening, Matt Barkley may find himself in the latter category when the Eagles craft their final 53 man roster.

That other guy, he just might make it after all.

Barkley's second pass attempt was intercepted and Matt Flynn authored two touchdown drives as the Jets lead the Eagles 17-12 following the first half of business in both team's last go-round before it counts in a week's time.

The major theme of the contest through its first thirty minutes was the inability of the Eagles' pass defense to contain both sides of the field effectively.

Flynn, the presumed No. 2 behind Ryan Fitzpatrick, took the Jets (2-1) down the remaining 54 yards over five minutes following Barkley's mistake, connecting with Chris Owusu for an 18 yard touchdown for the game's first points.

Barkley failed to sustain any possession when given a second chance, so Flynn led New York over 90 yards, connecting with Walt Powell for a 28 yard gain and Owusu on an 18 yard play before dumping off to Zac Stacy for the remaining five yards through a vacant midfield defense.

Tim Tebow would lead the Eagles' two-minute offense over 78 yards to close out the first half, finding Rasheed Bailey for an 18 yard touchdown with 23 seconds left.

New York receiver Walt Powell collected another 21 yard catch and run after the Eagles left the right side of their defense open and Zac Stacy added another 25 yarder on a well-designed screen play on a field goal drive late.

Flynn wasn't perfect on the night, eventually handing the Eagles their next three points after being victimized by Jaylen Watkins' interception at the Jets 4. But Philadelphia (3-0) wasn't to cross the goal line from even that far and Kip Smith kicked a second time.

Jets center stops a N.J. crime spree

While Jets center Nick Mangold makes his living protecting quarterbacks on the gridiron, on Sunday morning he may have thrown the decisive block to end a crime spree in his New Jersey neighborhood.

Mangold placed an emergency 911 call at 5:30 a.m. that morning after he heard his car alarm go off and found his garage door opened. Not long after, police stopped two suspects nearby and placed them into custody.

Richard W. Isaacs, 19, of Orange (N.J.), and Leonard Watts, 18, of Newark, face charges including burglary and theft, after being named the prime suspects in a ring of 48 burglaries of unlocked cars in the area of Chatham, a village not far from Florham Park, where the Jets are headquartered.

They, along with three other juveniles, will be charged in what police call a concerted burglary ring.

Ryan Fitzpatrick thinks he can keep the Jets' starting job

If not for Geno Smith getting slugged in the jaw, Ryan Fitzpatrick would have been holding a clipboard on the Jets' sideline to start the regular season. 

But when fist met face in the locker room that day, the Harvard graduate found himself a starting NFL quarterback once again.

That diploma, and the training that comes with it, he feels, could be is his ace in the hole to keep the job.

"Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt about that," Fitzpatrick said, via the Daily News. "So much of the game for the quarterback is the mental side of it. Everybody always talks about my arm and how horrible it is. I promise, you can put on some tape [and see] that I can make all the throws that you wants me to make or that I need to make.

"I see myself continuing to get better rather than declining."

The speculations that follow every player in the NFL has scarcely been approving of him, but he takes heart in his track record of proving people wrong and starting over again. His age is only one of the hurdles he's repeatedly jumped.

"That's been the perception every year," the 33-year-old said. "Somehow I keep sticking around and finding new jobs. So I don't really listen to the perception. I hear it, for sure. I just kind of shrug my shoulders and make sure that I focus on what I can control and focus on getting myself better."

Jets head coach Todd Bowles hinted during training camp that Fitzpatrick could, in theory, take the job from Geno Smith even after he returns from his 6-to-10 week vacation afforded him buy his broken jaw. He sees no reason to take out one quarterback who is performing well to give the job back to another quarterback who has yet to.

In other words, you can lose your job to injury in the NFL.

Jets like what they see in Bryce Petty

Many a season has come and gone since the Jets could hang their hat on a franchise quarterback, so if ever any man takes the snaps under center and looks halfway decent, half the Tri-State area is convulsed into an irrational bout of pleased hysteria.

The other half quietly mumbles, "Here we go again."

It was Bryce Petty who stood in relief of Ryan Fitzpatrick, who stood in relief of Geno Smith when the Jets played their way into a 30-22 victory over the Falcons on Friday night. Petty went 12-for-19 for 168 yards and a touchdown. No turnovers, either.

It was a world of improvement from his first showing, where he looked every bit the rookie.

"I think last week I had no idea what to expect as far as the game goes, as far as myself personally and emotionally, how it would roll and so I felt like coming into this week I would have a better understanding of how things went down and how things worked," Petty said. 

The second time around is much easier, he found.

"I felt a lot more comfortable out there," the rookie from Baylor said. "There was definitely progress as far as where I was last week to this week so that's good."

Petty said the work that remains for him to learn are the intangibles that allow a quarterback to make the leap from Potentially Good to just Good. And that takes work.

"I can't get complacent, I can't get happy about this. I have to get back in there in the film room and go to work," he said. 'I still have to get better at decision making. I think especially situationally in the red zone I have to throw catchable balls that ony our guys can catch and allow us to score points and not put ourselves in jeopardy down there. We're learning."

The Jets are pleased with what Petty has done overall, but not enough to ink him in as Fitzpatrick's backup for the regular season. They signed Matt Flynn to serve that role for the time being, nudging Petty to the third slot. The more the merrier under center, though, for a franchise that could use some options.

Trio of concussions haunts Jets in preseason

The Jets scratched together a 30-22 preseason victory over Atlanta on Friday night, but it was the sudden departure of three of his players that had head coach Todd Bowles concerned.

Wide receiver Jeremy Kerley led a tandem of three Jets that left the field with concussions, Bowles confirmed after the game. Tailback Daryl Richardson and safety Durell Eskridge also left with similar knocks to the head.

Kerley, who had two catches for 38 yards on Friday, also suffered a concussion with the team in 2013. He is competing with Quincy Enunwa this summer for the No. 3 receiver position on the depth chart behind Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker. 

The Jets' loss, and the reported concussion to Robert Griffin III the night before, again bring to light one of the NFL's pressing concerns in recent years: players' heads getting bashed in. Statements have been made, but no propositions offered and no agreements had, by owners and coaches that the exhibition season should be shortened. Whether that would involve a longer regular season no one has said for certain in favor or against. Until that happens, these questions will remain.

The Jets lost three other players to other injuries on the night: receiver Shaquelle Evans (back), tackle Ben Ijalana (knee), and defensive back Dashaun Phillips (rib). 

Jets guard suspended Week 1

Jets guard Oday Aboushi will be suspended the first game of the 2015 regular season for violating the NFL's Substance Abuse Policy, the league announced on Thursday.

A fifth-round selection in 2013, Aboushi will be eligible to return on Sept. 14, one day after the Jets host the Cleveland Browns, though will be allowed to participate in all preseason games and off-field activities with the team until then.

Aboushi was trying to work his way onto the team's starting roster after starting 10 games last season, a feat that just got much harder with his absence in Week 1. 

"I apologize for my actions and understand the repercussions," Aboushi said in a statement. "This is something I've learned from and I'm focused on moving forward."

Brandon Marshall: Geno Smith did nothing wrong

When the man two straight NFL coaches' polls ranked as the worst quarterback in the league gets punched in the face by one of his own teammates, the normal inclination among his teammates is to voice support for him.

Until now, though, the Jets locker room has largely been crickets after Geno Smith was sucker-punched by former linebacker IK Enemkpali, an injury that will keep him out of play for 6 to 10 weeks.

It didn't help Smith's case that some of his mates actually made some statements in support of Enemkpali, who allegedly punched him over some unpaid debt. 

He finally found a friend on Monday in the form of wide receiver Brandon Marshall.

"I was sitting right there and I would say this without going into too many details because we've already moved past it: Geno Smith did nothing wrong," Marshall said on FOX-TV, per Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. "He did nothing wrong. . . And that's all I'm going to say about that because we have to move forward and I don't want to be a distraction to our team, but Geno Smith did everything the right way."

Compare that sentiment with what one (unnamed, and thus cowardly) teammate who told Daily News that Smith "deserved" what he got.

Marshall, who recently said some unkind things about Jay Cutler, his quarterback in Chicago, said the incident is distracting the Jets from their primary goal -- chucking the Patriots from the pole position in the AFC East.

"People think it's a distraction," Marshall said. "It is. It sucks. It was shocking. I'm very disappointed. I feel bad for the kid, because he was doing really good. But we have to move forward if we want to win. Geno knows that."

Moving forward for the Jets now means putting their offense in the hands of Ryan Fitzpatrick, who the team signed as Smith's reserve this offseason, and who suddenly finds himself the starter Week 1.  

Rex Grossman says he still wants an NFL job

The last time we saw Rex Grossman was in 2014 as an invisible member of the Cleveland Browns. A former first-round pick with the Bears in 2003, Grossman last saw significant time with the Redskins from 2010-13.


He hinted on Wednesday he just might not be through with his NFL career just yet.

"Would love the chance to return to the NFL but I need to get healthy first," he said on Twitter. "Hopeful that the opportunity remains on the table down the road."

That chance he's hoping for may have already emerged.

According to the New York Daily News, that interested party might be the Jets, who on Tuesday found out they would be without starter Geno Smith for 6 to 10 weeks after he was sucker punched by a (now former) teammate, and have reportedly reached out to Grossman.

Smith's absence has propelled veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick to the starting helm, but after that the depth chart gets pretty sparse. Another veteran who can manage a game is a valuable commodity.

Grossman has 56 touchdowns to his credit against 60 interceptions on over 10,000 yards passing.

Jets' Bowles: Fitzpatrick just may keep the QB job

Geno Smith getting his jaw split open just may have been the blessing in disguise the Jets have been waiting for.

After their woeful quarterback got clocked by his (former) teammate, linebacker IK Enemkpali, who was promptly released, Jets head coach Todd Bowles naturally handed the reigns over to backup Ryan Fitzpatrick. 

Smith is expected to be out anywhere from six to 10 weeks, potentially missing a quarter of the season if the latter number pans out. After that, according to Bowles, it's anybody's guess.

He said on Tuesday if Fitzpatrick does the job well, he very well could keep it.

"I'm confident in Ryan," he said. "Ryan's had a good camp. Geno was having a good camp, too, so it's hard to replace a guy when both guys are doing well. But Ryan's been a pro, he's been here before, he has a lot of games under his belt, he knows the system, he knows how to throw the ball, he understands the game."

Bowles also hinted that Smith may not have been completely innocent in the matter that saw him get what the coach called "sucker-punched."

"It takes two to tango. One to throw a punch, but two to tango," he said.

Whoever started it and whoever ended it, it's already cost one man his job. It could cost Smith his. 

Jay Cutler doesn't care what Brandon Marshall says

Bears quarterback Jay Cutler doesn't want to get into it with his former wide receiver.

Brandon Marshall, now with the Jets after two seasons with the Bears, took two opportunities to criticize Cutler's play last season.

"There is a culture in the league that you keep everything in-house," Marshall said. Then he went right ahead and broke that rule.

"[W]hen we are going on 10 years, nine, 10 years in the league, it's time to get it," he said before adding how he was the only one with the "huevos" to hold Cutler accountable for his poor play.

Which, according to Google Translate, means he had an abundance of eggs with which to judge Cutler's play.

Cutler downplayed Marshall's view of things while speaking with ESPN Radio.

"Anytime you get traded or moved to a team there's going to be some issues you are going to deal with or questions that are going to come up," he said.

"That's only natural. All I can say is he's got a lot of good friends on this team and we wish him the best of luck. At this point we've got our own problems and things we are dealing with and we're just trying to concentrate on camp and get everything going in the right direction we need it to go."

Where it needed to go last season in Chicago is precisely where it didn't go. Under Cutler's tutelage, the Bears coughed and wheezed into a 5-11 result. That former chemistry between he and Marshall was missing in action, and the team dealt him to the Jets in March.

Cutler, to whom they owe $125 million, didn't budge. Nor will he when he's trashed by his former friend.

Geno Smith laughs at his futility

Geno Smith threw as many touchdowns as interceptions last season as the Jets compiled a four-win season, what turned out to be the last under head coach Rex Ryan.

Accordingly, an ESPN poll of league executives and coaches nudged his name right at the bottom of their quarterback index.

A poll, incidently, that also came to the same conclusion last season.

"I laugh at that. I laugh at it. It's hilarious," Smith said, via the New York Post.

"It was hilarious last year, too," he added. "It doesn't matter at this point. We've got to work on us as a team. That's why I hate to talk about individual stuff because it's a team game. No matter what they rate me, wherever we finish at the end of the year is most important."

Where the Jets finished at the end of last year found the addition of Ryan Fitzpatrick as Smith's relief man under center. Though coaches have reiterated that Smith is their man to start in Week 1, that they made the move might indicate their willingness to listen to, and not laugh at, polls like these.

Opinions are indeed like noses -- everyone has one. But opinions aren't unfounded. They must be made from something that actually happened that forms them. And Smith did complete only 57.5 percent of his pass attempts in 2014, appearing in four games without throwing a touchdown and tossing 11 interceptions in a 10-game losing streak.

New York posted the worst overall passing offense in football in 2014, the only club not to surpass 3,000 total yards through the air, and completed all of 184 yards every Sunday, also last in the league rankings.

Maybe that poll had a point.

@MrJamesParks

Jets: Chan Gailey says Geno Smith the starter

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- There's one team in the AFC East that feels it has no questions about who will start at quarterback when the regular season arrives.

Jets offensive coordinator Chan Gailey said on Wednesday there will be no competition for the position, according to New York Post. Why not, you ask?

"Because Geno's the starter," he said.

Which reminds us how Jets G.M. Mike Maccagnan said the opposite in March after the club traded for former Bills starter Ryan Fitzpatrick, who played for Gailey when both were with Buffalo. But with Fitzpatrick out of camp for the time being as he nurses a broken leg, there really isn't much else to do right now.

A former West Virginia standout, Smith has tallied 25 touchdowns against 34 interceptions in his two professional campaigns, passing for 5,571 yards, though did secure the Jets' all-time mark for rookie passing yardage (3,046). He's lost 7 of his 16 total fumbles, but apparently the Jets still like what he can provide. Which, up to now, hasn't been much.

Jets sign RB Ridley

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - Running back Stevan Ridley and the New York Jets have agreed to and signed a one-year contract on Wednesday, according to NFL Media.

No salary figures have been announced for the 26-year-old, who the team will hope bolster a Jets rush attack that finished last season 3rd in football (142.5 ypg) despite a four-win campaign that found head coach Rex Ryan lose his job.

A third-round pick from LSU in 2011, Ridley featured in the Patriots' backfield, tallying 2,817 yards and 22 touchdowns in that time before tearing his ACL and MCL in Week 6 against the Bills.

He will compete against runners Chris Ivory and Chris Johnson. Johnson was shot in an incident in Florida last month but is in stable condition.

Jets interested in LB Mays

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - After signing two veteran linebackers this week, the New York Jets don't look to be through bolstering their defense, and to that end, the team is interested in signing a third, Joe Mays, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.

Mays, a seven year veteran coming off one season with the Chiefs, visited the Chargers this week as he tests his free agency market. 

He began the regular season in 2014 on injured reserve after a wrist injury in the preseason, though was activated on Nov. 8, appearing in eight contests for the Chiefs (9-7), collecting 20 combined tackles.

The Jets added Jamari Lattimore on April 1 and Erin Henderson six days later, and veteran corner Darrelle Revis to a five-ear, $70 million deal in March in an effort to fortify a defensive eleven that last season placed 6th overall in football, but dead last in interceptions (6). 

Jets pick up Erin Henderson

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - After sitting out last season, linebacker Erin Henderson will re-start his career with a new team: the New York Jets.

Undrafted out of Maryland in 2008, Henderson will pick up a base salary of $745,000, according to Dom Consentino of NJ.com. 

He sat out last season after being released from Minnesota following two arrests for DUI in November 2013 and again on New Year's Day, 2014. Henderson would plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge and was suspended four games by the league.

The 28-year-old linebacker admitted himself into treatment last season to deal with his substance problems. He visited the Chiefs and 49ers before the Jets agreed to take a chance on him.

Jets: DL Wilkerson no-show at workout

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - First-year Jets coach Todd Bowles started his team's inaugural workout without who many consider the best talent on his roster.

A source close to the team confirmed to ESPN that Muhammad Wilkerson, entering the final year of his rookie contract, will wait for a new deal by sitting out the voluntary workouts.

Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports said on Twitter that Wilkerson "might not be around for a while."

Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan met with the defensive lineman's agent in late February, and the two sides have been talking for almost a year, though no numbers have been agreed on for the New Jersey native.

"Obviously, the agent and Muhammad have their perspective," Maccagnan said. "We're going to have our point, and at the end of the day, hopefully find a middle ground we're both comfortable with. Muhammed is a very good player. I'd like to keep him a Jet."

There has been no indication that Wilkerson will be absent for the team's whole offseason program, however. June 9 marks the team's first mandatory event, their second minicamp.

Though he would never consider a holdout, as he said last season, a 4-12 campaign for which he was paid only $1.2 million on what became one of the league's most active offseason clubs, spending $90 million in guaranteed money.

Wilkerson has emerged as one of the best 3-4 linemen in football. A 30th-overall selection by the Jets in 2011 out of Temple, he has racked up 237 tackles and 24.5 sacks, adding a safety, an interception, and seven forced fumbles.

All good work he is more than willing to improve upon, provided he's paid.

Jets: Johnson not pleased with release

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - Rejection comes to all of us, and men, when faced with it, have one of two options to express their reaction to it, that of the humble gentleman or the spurned and vengeful lover, thick or thin with accusations.

After having his option declined following one particularly below-average campaign, former Jets tailback Chris Johnson on Monday chose the latter.

"I think I went into a situation where I was told one thing and it was another," he told Rich Eisen on his radio show.

Johnson, signed to New York after six seasons with Tennessee, intimated that it was team general manager John Idzik, who along with head coach Rex Ryan was fired following the season, interfered with playing time decisions that affected his output.

"Basically, it was a situation where I was going there to be the guy or whatever," he added. "And it was still said both guys [Johnson and Chris Ivory] were gonna get playing time but, you know, I think it was after the second game or something like that, it just switched over and I was getting less and less playing time."

Johnson, one of seven tailbacks in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a single season, will be a free agent for his second straight offseason. Last season was by far his worst performance, suffering a career-low 155 rush attempts and 663 yards, notching a single touchdown.

"Throughout the whole thing, I think last year, with that organization, I think a lot of the stuff was out of Rex's hands," Johnson said. "A lot of the things that we were doing I think it was out of Rex's hands. Don't nobody know, but it was a situation."

New York, despite finishing with only four victories against twelve defeats, did finish the regular season ranked third in football in rushing yards (142.5 ypg).

Jets: Todd Bowles hired as head coach

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - The New York Jets hired Todd Bowles as their head coach on Tuesday, according to ESPN's Josina Anderson, to whom Bowles confirmed the hiring via text message.

Bowles, for the last two seasons the defensive coordinator for the Arizona Cardinals, was selected as the Jets' eighteenth coach in franchise history two days after former boss Rex Ryan was hired by the team's AFC East rival Buffalo Bills to the same position.

The announcement came four hours after the team hired Mike Maccagnan as their general manager. He and Bowles spent Tuesday together at a lunch with owner Woody Johnson and other team officials to discuss the offer.

The hire came as a surprise as in recent days reports and other speculation hinted the Jets were interested in Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, though league rules kept them from speaking with him until his postseason duties ended. Seattle hosts Green Bay in the NFC Championship this weekend.

New York fielded a a four-win team that found only one victory in their division.

Black Monday: the Jets

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - The inevitable became actual on Monday as the New York Jets fire head coach Rex Ryan and general manager John Idzik after a four-win season.

Ryan finished 46-50 with the Jets, being hired in 2009 and taking the franchise to two AFC Championship Games in his first two seasons, in which he went 9-7 and 11-5 respectively.

But New York is yet to finish a winning season since then, ending 2011 and 2013 with 8-8 records and have missed the postseason for four straight years.

Idzik served on the Jets' board of directors for two years, replacing Mike Tannenbaum in January 2013, after six seasons as vice president of football operations for the Seattle Seahawks.

"After extensive thought and reflection about the current state of our football team, this morning I informed Rex Ryan and John Idzik that they will not be returning for the 2015 season," Jets chairman and chief executive Woody Johnson said in a statement. "Both Rex and John made significant contributions to the team, and they have my appreciation and gratitude for their efforts and commitment. Over the years, Rex brought the Jets a bold confidence and a couple of great postseason runs, which all of us will remember."

New York began the 2014 season with a victory over Oakland, but lost their next eight contests before a Nov. 9 win over Pittsburgh. They won two of their last three games.

Second year quarterback Geno Smith took much of the blame for the team's recent performance, finishing with 13 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Rex Ryan replaced Smith in Week 9 for Michael Vick, though he returned three weeks later.

Ryan, always given to bursts of confidence, avowed on his hiring that he would not "kiss Bill Belichick's rings" in reference to the Jets' division rivalry with New England. Ryan's Jets finished 4-9 against the Patriots during his tenure, including a victory in a playoff contest in 2012.