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So what are the early returns on Todd Bowles as Jets head coach sans game results obviously?
There is a narrative out there in some circles that the Elizabeth, New Jersey-native doesn’t have any more control of the locker room than Rex, based on some of the verbosity of certain players recently.
I think this is hogwash.
That guy just got here.
Rome wasn’t built in a day.
I think following quote from Bowles speaks volumes. He was talking about getting guys to chill out with the social media distractions.
“Hopefully we get that across, but it could take time.” – Todd Bowles.
He’s trying to figure out who are his guys, who are not his guys which guys are buying in, and which guys aren’t buying in.
For goodness sake, the guy has been on the job for five months.
I think another quote spoke volumes about Bowles approach.
“And I rather for us to just work on getting ourselves better as a team, as opposed to just talking on social media, but it’s a player’s prerogative,” Bowles said. “What they have to understand (is) if the coach isn’t happy doing certain things, they are going to have to cut it short.”
This is a powerful quote.
He’s basically saying, we have freedom of speech in this country, so you can tweet or say whatever you want, but if you keep causing distractions with your words, you might be working elsewhere.
I guess the latest social media brouhaha was Antonio Cromartie’s back and forth with former Jets tight end Kellen Winslow.
Winslow went after Cromartie for his comments about Richard Sherman not being the best corner because of how the Seattle Seahawks use him, just on one side of the field.
Winslow went after Cromartie.
He tweeted, “Cromartie is one of the biggest posers i have ever seen and played against. Probably the last guy I would take down an alley with me. Worry about yourself Cro. Stop talkin. Your not even close to the best. You got bad feet and are scared to jam.”
Cromartie then took a shot at Winslow about what happened in the East Hanover, New Jersey Target parking lot, which I’d rather not get into here.
Winslow makes a valid point about Cromartie not being very good at jamming receivers at the line. I don’t necessarily think he has bad feet. I think sometimes he is slow changing direction, but that is more a by-product of his long legs than having bad feet.
Should Cromartie be casting stones at other corners since he’s far from perfect, especially when it comes to jamming and tackling? Probably not.
Bowles spoke to Cromartie. They met. Did meetings like that happen over the previous six years? I don’t think so. The previous coach didn’t like confrontation.
After Todd spoke to Cro, my guess he’s done chirping.
“Todd’s a man’s man,” said Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall.
I think it’s unfair for some people to think Bowles doesn’t have control because of some of this recent social media nonsense.
He’s getting this thing cleaned up.
He’s still separating the wheat from the chaff.
For goodness sake, he’s only been on the job for five months.
In my opinion he has the leadership skills and persona to handle the job.
It’s way too early to be jumping to the conclusions that he can’t handle the Jets’ locker room based on a few quotes from Cromartie and Willie Colon.
June 12, 2015
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