Todd Bowles informed media of quarterback change before telling Ryan Fitzpatrick

The sideshow that is the New York Jets rolls on, this time with a new plot twist.

After Monday night’s embarrassing defeat to the Indianapolis Colts, Jets coach Todd Bowles told the media that Bryce Petty would start at quarterback ahead of Ryan Fitzpatrick for the remainder of the season. There’s just one problem: he didn’t tell Fitzpatrick first.

“I’d been meaning to talk to him and I got tied up with a few things,” Bowles said Tuesday, via Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.

Fitzpatrick was kind enough to not throw Bowles under the bus publicly for it.

“I probably could’ve and he tried to cover for me,” Bowles said. “Like I said, I had a lot on my mind and got some things off my chest, and it kind of went over the wrong way. I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”

Athletes learning about things involving them through the media isn’t exactly new. That said, this one should have been controllable, given it was an in-house decision and Bowles spilled the beans himself as opposed to it leaking out through media reports. It’s not the worst thing to happen to the Jets this season, but it’s another embarrassment in a year that is quickly becoming full of them.