NY Jets: Team gets most complete win of the season

The NY Jets got their third straight win in Week 14 with a dominant win over the Tennessee Titans.

With the Jets coming off their first victory over the New York Giants in over two decades, the chatter started early this week about a possible trap game against the Tennessee Titans. One of head coach Todd Bowles‘ mentors is former Jets coach Bill Parcells and he took a unique approach to the supposed trap game. Bowles answered those questions in his weekly press conference in the lead-up to the game provided by the Media Relations Department of the Jets:

On how he guards against the team having a letdown…

They’re all big wins. It doesn’t matter who we play and how we play, we have to take care of ourselves. We know we have to go out and perform every week or we’re going to be in a nail-biter every game.

On if he will address the team about this possibly being a trap game…

I don’t think it’s a trap game. We know they’ve got a good team. They have a heck of a defense and their front seven, they’ve got a big offensive line and can run the ball with the quarterback. We’re just going into it playing another opponent. We know we’ve got to take care of ourselves and if we don’t, then we’re not going to win.

On whether he buys into Bill Parcells’ theory that you have to coach your team harder for this kind of game and if that impacted his decision to have a padded practice…

I got that text right after the game (laughing). I understand what he’s saying. To a point you buy it, but to a point you have to be consistent with your team and do the same things that you’ve been doing. We don’t look at any game as a trap game, we look at it as the next game so we just have to take care of us.

Bowles has a different approach, treat every game the same, keep a level head and take the season on a week-by-week basis and over the last three weeks, it’s worked like a charm. The Jets are 3-0 over the last 3 games and a major reason why has been the play of their quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick. Quarterback controversy began to bubble up after a sub-par game from Fitzpatrick in Houston, but after a quick shave and some regrouping, the Jets are back on track.

Ryan Fitzpatrick since shaving his beard: 3-0, 9 TD passes, 0 Interceptions pic.twitter.com/H4BXmEdxQg

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 13, 2015

Coincidence? Maybe, but the Jets are playing meaningful football in December for the first time in years and they are taking advantage. Fitzpatrick set a single-season career high with 25 touchdown throws and he finished 21 of 36 for 263 yards and three touchdown strikes in Sunday’s contest. He is 4 td passes short of Vinny Testaverde‘s 29 single-season record set back in 1998.

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With the Kansas City Chiefs win on Sunday, the AFC Playoff picture remains the same, which means the Jets have no room for error with three weeks to go. The Jets will look to continue this momentum in a special edition of Thursday Night Football where the Jets will put their show on the road against the Dallas Cowboys on next Saturday night in primetime for the third time this season.