The New York Jets have a lot of work to do if they want to accomplish their goal of making the playoffs, and Todd Bowles is well aware of that. After an embarrassing loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, the head coach is hoping a fiery meeting helped him get through to the team.
Before beginning a fresh week of preparation on Monday, Bowles addressed his players about finding an identity.
“Every time you lose like that, you have to have a come-to-Jesus meeting,” Bowles said, according to Darryl Slater of NJ.com. “I think we know who we are. We just have to be who we are. … It was a bad day for all of us involved. We have to get better. It doesn’t make for a bad week, a bad month or a bad year. It was a bad day. I still know who we are. We just had a bad day.”
Much of the focus has been placed on Ryan Fitzpatrick, as the veteran quarterback threw six — that’s right, six — interceptions in Sunday’s 24-3 loss. Fitzpatrick feels Bowles’ speech was well received.
“I thought the way that he delivered the message [Monday] was great,” he said. “I thought it was something that was necessary and potentially a turning point in the season, in terms of the focus that hopefully we come with after this game.”
As for the specifics of what was discussed, Bowles kept things vague.
“We talked about accountability and just understanding where we are in the season, and who we are and what we need to be,” the coach said. “We just have to understand the season is young, and we have to understand we have a ways to go. We’re not where we want to be, and we have a lot of work to get to where we need to be.”
The Jets are 1-2, so this is certainly no time to panic. Having said that, they are about to enter an absolutely brutal three-game stretch in which they host the Seattle Seahawks before heading on the road to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals. If they can’t win two of those three games, it might be too late to save the season.
