Tag: Todd Bowles

Jets-Bengals special teams battle among things to know in Week 13

Special teams and field position could play a huge role in the Jets’ Week 13 game against the Bengals.

The Jets and Bengals are heading in opposite directions. With every win, the Jets move closer to a record that takes them out of running for the best draft prospects but closer to competency in the AFC. The Bengals, though, look destined for the top pick in April and an unknown future in 2020.

The Week 13 matchup, then, is a crossroads for the two teams. The Jets can prove their win streak isn’t a fluke – despite it coming against the 0-11 Bengals – while the Bengals can prove how dedicated they are – or not, if they win – to tanking. Whichever outcome occurs won’t affect the AFC playoff picture in any real way, but it could play a huge role in the futures of the Jets and Bengals.

Here are four things to know for the Week 13 matchup.

(Emilee Chinn-Getty Images)

Battle of special teams

Special teams and field position can be critical components to a football game and Week 13 pits two teams with great units against each other. The Bengals rank first in Football Outsiders’ special teams DVOA, while the Jets rank third. 

Once again, Brant Boyer turned the Jets into one of the better special teams units in the league, and the Jets rank first in kick coverage DVOA. But the Bengals, meanwhile, are first in kick return DVOA and average 28.9 yards per kickoff return – second in the league. On punts, the Jets average the second-most yards per return (10.1) while the Bengals allow the fifth-fewest yards per return (5.3). Special teams may seem boring, but it could very easily swing this game one direction or another.

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Andre Robers takes more shots at Jets

After not being offered a contract following a career season, ex-Jet Andre Roberts pulls no punches when comparing the Bills and Jets.

Former Jets wide receiver and kick returner Andre Roberts still has some hard feelings toward the organization.

Roberts is still upset that the Jets did not attempt to re-sign him following one of the best seasons of his career. He hopped on the 17 Weeks Podcast with fellow Bills WR Cole Beasley’s and didn’t pull any punches about Gang Green.

“It’s so much better than being in NJ,” he said of playing for Buffalo. “The organization is better from top to bottom,” he said.

With Roberts returning kicks, the Bills lead the league in kick return average. Roberts is third in the NFL in that category. Buffalo is averaging 8.5 yards more per kick return than the Jets.

It’s not just returning kicks either, as Roberts is the ninth highest-graded punt returner in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus.

In his first and only season with the Jets, Roberts led the NFL in kick return yards and was a first-team All-Pro selection for the first time in his career. He was selected to his first Pro Bowl and was named to the AP All-Pro first team.

Roberts racked up 324 punt return yards and 1,174 kick return yards — both career bests. In Week 16 against the Green Bay Packers, Roberts returned a kick 99 yards for a touchdown and posted a career-high 215 total return yards in his best showing of the season.

It’s no mistake to say the Jets miss Roberts returning kicks. Letting him go was one of the more head-scratching decisions that Mike Maccagnan made this past offseason when the Jets former general manager was still in charge.

New York has not seen enough production from Trenton Cannon, Vyncint Smith or Ty Montgomery to make an impact in the return game this year.

Roberts also shined the light on the culture and power structure between the Jets and Bills. He pointed out that Bills head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane actually speak to one another, where it was apparent that Maccagnan and Todd Bowles rarely did. Instead, they both directly reported to CEO Christopher Johnson.

The disparity in the two teams can be seen in their records this year. The Bills are 7-3, while the Jets are 3-7. Roberts is correct and instead of merely labeling him as bitter, the entire Jets organization might want to look in the mirror before they allow another Roberts to slip through the cracks.

Buccaneers land on ESPN’s list of most improved defenses

See why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers found a spot on ESPN’s list of most improved defenses of 2019.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense entered the 2019 season looking to right the ship after ranking near the bottom of the league last season.

With new defensive coordinator Todd Bowles aboard, Tampa Bay has transformed themselves this season, turning out one of the NFL’s best rush defenses. The secondary has been a totally different story, but overall, Bowles has this team headed in the right direction — speed bumps aside.

Today, ESPN listed the Buccaneers’ defense as the league’s fourth most-improved this season.

Here’s part of what they had to say:

(DVOA: defense-adjusted value over average.)

“Intriguingly, this is almost all driven by a huge change in run defense DVOA. The Bucs have, by far, the best run defense DVOA in the NFL at -35.0%. Last season, they were at 3.0%, which was the second worst in the NFL… [Todd] Bowles has run an aggressive pass defense, blitzing at a 47.7% rate on dropbacks that has almost doubled the rate Tampa ran last season. Of course, that has barely touched the Bucs’ bottom-line pass defense DVOA, but their coverage players haven’t been very good, and Vernon Hargreaves was actually released. Vita Vea deserves a lot of praise for his role in buffing this run defense.”

Tampa Bay has all the pieces in place, it’s just a matter of putting it together on the field. Bowles has done a good job of making this unit respectable again, at least in the run game.

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Sam Darnold credits Jets locker room for bouncing back after 1-7 start

Jets quarterback Sam Darnold gives credit to the players in the locker room for responding from a 1-7 start.

Jets quarterback Sam Darnold praised the locker room for how the team has been able to bounce back from a 1-7 start to the season.

The Jets could’ve easily mailed it in for the season after the first eight games, but Adam Gase has done a good job keeping the team together and playing hard. While Darnold is giving Gase credit for that, he believes the players in the locker room are the ones continuing to put in the work and trying to win every week.

“We got such good guys in the locker room,” Darnold told reporters. “The coaches do a great job of making sure that we all stay together and they do a great job to continue to work hard and gameplan, but everyone in that locker room is set on winning.”

Under former head coach Todd Bowles, effort was sometimes a problem. It didn’t necessarily happen over a long stretch of games, but here and there you’d see the Jets clearly not care about a game. It’s good to see that this hasn’t yet been a problem under Gase, despite all the issues that he’s had with players so far in his first season.

As for the players, there’s definitely a belief among them that they can win football games consistently. But with the amount of bad luck the Jets have had with injuries, it has made it more difficult to win games.

Now that the Jets are getting some players healthy again, you’re starting to see glimpses of this team playing well. Obviously, the last two games have been against the bottom feeders of the league, but you still have to go out and execute.

If the Jets can continue to build on these wins, there should be some more confidence heading into next season.

5 reasons why Jets won’t fire Adam Gase after 2019

Jets Wire breaks down four reasons New York has for keeping Adam Gase in 2020.

Adam Gase is going to get another chance to get things right at One Jets Drive in 2020.

Christopher Johnson reaffirmed his faith in Gase on Wednesday, stating that there would be no head coaching change at season’s end. Gase will return.

Between Sam Darnold’s regression and numerous embarrassing losses in winnable games, Jets fans have been calling for Gase’s head for a while now. It seems like there is an endless list of reasons why New York should part ways with its embattled first-year head coach. However, there are still a few reasons why Gase returning in 2020 makes sense.

Let’s take a look at what those reasons could be.

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