New York Jets: Todd Bowles discusses quarterback situation

By Luis Tirado Jr. | Aug 16, 2015

Head coach Todd Bowles of the New York Jets has so far been managing things well across the team with everything that has occurred the past week. He’s kept his team on point despite their first preseason loss against the Detroit Lions. Practice resumed this past weekend and Bowles was asked a multitude of questions from the media, especially when it came to the quarterback situation of the Jets and the latest on injuries to Jace Amaro and Erin Henderson.

We here at The Jet Press would like to thank the Media Relations Department of the Jets for sending us a complete transcript directly from Bowles’ press conference. Here it is in its entirety:

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On the injuries…

(Erin) Henderson has a knee sprain, probably be out about a week. (Jace) Amaro has a shoulder sprain, so he wasn’t out here today, still evaluating him, but right now, count him out. And obviously Mo’s (Muhammad Wilkerson) is day-to-day, we’ll see when he feels better. Everybody else I think is pretty much status quo.

On whether Amaro is week-to-week or day-to-day…

I would say week-to-week, I wouldn’t say day-to-day.

On if Amaro’s injury will carry into the regular season…

I think it will be confined to camp, hopefully. As far as I know, we haven’t had a status for week one yet.

On whether Amaro had an MRI…

Yes.

On what Amaro’s injury is…

Sprained shoulder.

On his observations of the team after the Detroit game…

Again it was the tackling, number one. I thought a lot of the young guys in the second half we wanted to see effort (from), (they) got tired. And they didn’t show up like they needed to show up, they probably need to step up. Communication with the older guys is something we worked on and got a little bit better at today, so we just have to get better going forward.

On how the quarterbacks looked today…

Up and down. I thought Ryan (Fitzpatrick) made some good throws, especially at the end of (practice), the last couple drills. Bryce (Petty) made some good throws and made some bad throws, it’s a work in progress but he’s getting more confident in seeing everything, so it wasn’t a bad day overall.

On how he hopes Petty will improve…

Just understanding the defense, recognizing where to go with the football, commanding the game, having better clock presence, and management of the ballgame, and just throwing to the open guy. But, don’t try to force anything in there. The biggest thing is understanding and making sure he has the right defense and setting the mike and the blocking schemes right.

Aug 13, 2015; Detroit, MI, USA; New York Jets quarterback Bryce Petty (9) during the second quarter against the Detroit Lions in a preseason NFL football game at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

On tackling in practice…

Oh you can tackle. I mean its camp. You can tackle and you’re going to lose most of your guys. We did a lot of the tackling drills, a lot of it is one, two, some of it is keeping your head down, some of it is just first game jitters. But, we got to wrap up. Guys have got to wrap up. Instead of butting the guy down we have to wrap up with our hands.

On whether anyone stood out at the game after watching the film…

Not in particular. I thought the first two running backs did a good job, again I thought the first offensive line played well coming out. Everybody else is probably status quo.

On how Henderson played before he got hurt…

I thought he played well. He’s one of the guys on defense, and there were very few who stood out before he got hurt. Erin’s been having a good camp. He played hard and he practices hard. Same thing in practice showed up on the field.

On whether he will be cautious with Wilkerson on Friday…

Yeah, if he gets to that I will always err on the side of caution with him because you don’t want him to have a setback, especially live in a game. So we can afford to right now, we don’t want him to have a setback. At some point in time he’ll need to get better and start getting some reps in. Right now, it’s day-to-day and we’re going to err on the side of caution.

On when Stevan Ridley will be off the PUP…

I still have no update on that. He’s day-to-day. He could be taken off next week, he could be taken off in the next couple of weeks depending on his cutting and everything else we still have to play that out.

On whether he has seen improvement in Ridley…

I’ve seen him run full speed, straight ahead. I’ve seen him make some cuts, but I haven’t seen him make some cuts full speed when he can’t think about it, when a there’s a lineman there and he’s got to jump cut and go to the other side. I haven’t seen that part yet.

On signing another quarterback…

We’re still looking. It’s not a hurry to find somebody there. But we’re still looking and we’ll see what shakes free.

On potentially signing Matt Flynn…

We haven’t ruled in or out anything yet. We’re still talking to him and we’ll see how it goes.

On if he’s waiting to sign another quarterback to help Petty get more reps…

Yeah, you want him to get as many reps as he can. Like I said, he can’t get reps by holding a clipboard on the sideline, so its preseason. As long as his recognition gets better every week and he understands and he calms down a little bit, he’ll be fine. We knew it was a process, but he can’t play if he’s on the sideline.

On if he has any update of a post-surgery timeline on Smith…

Not yet, no.

On if he’s spoken to Smith…

Yeah, I’ve spoken to him.

On if Smith has been back to the facility…

No, he hasn’t been here.

Dec 14, 2014; Nashville, TN, USA; New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith (7) passes against the Tennessee Titans during the first half at LP Field. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

On if he expects Smith back at the facility this week…

Hopefully. Swelling has to go down more and all those things. We got to see how it goes, how the medicine takes and see how he feels.

On if he changes his opinion on Smith after the alleged details…

No I don’t. I’ve addressed it last week, and myself, and us as a team, we’ve moved on. We’ve got to worry about the other guys on the team right now and we’re going to move forward

On if the type of surgery Smith had will speed up the return…

I don’t think so. If I was a doctor, I’d be better able to answer. But I’ve never had plates or screws in my jaw or known anybody that has, so I honestly couldn’t tell you.

On what Smith needs to show in order to start when he returns…

We’ll have to cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now, I couldn’t tell you. Can he take a hit, can he not take a hit, can he talk, can he communicate? That all remains to be seen. It’s a first time thing for everybody, so we’ll see when he comes back.

On if he can settle on a starter at right guard after this preseason game…

I’ll probably look at two more.

On the condition of Marcus Gilchrist…

He’s fine. Got the wind knocked out of him. Poor acting job (joking). He’s fine.

On Damon Harrison….

He’s tough, he works at it. He’s our nose tackle. He’s dealing with little nicks here and there, but he’s one of our best players so we expect him to perform well.

On commenting on the incident involving Smith…

Like I said before, I’m not going to harp on this. We’ve moved on. I’ve said everything I had to say last week. You guys can make your own opinions on that, we’ve got to play Atlanta this week and that’s where our focus is.

Next: Coffee with the New York Jets: Geno Smith feeling great

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