New York Jets: Todd Bowles continues team gassers

Head coach Todd Bowles continues to make sure his New York Jets understand that if they are to go the distance this upcoming season, they must clean up their issues with drawing unnecessary penalties. So far during team practices, if the team draws more than a certain amount of penalties, he will make them run gassers until they understand that it won’t be tolerated anymore. Bowles understands what is at stake in 2015 as the Jets do their best to bounce back from their 4-12 season of last year.

Thanks to the Media Relations Department of the Jets, they sent us here The Jet Press a complete transcript of what he said to the media in regards to the current state of the team, injuries and certain players that are standing out to him so far. Enjoy!

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On why the team ran gassers at the end of practice…

Well, practice was over and we said any time we had more than five penalties, we’re going to run gassers. There were more than five penalties in practice. We had six, so we ran.

On whether that is a new rule since the Atlanta game…

Yes, it is.

On Calvin Pace’s injury…

He’s still day-to-day. I’ll get a better idea tomorrow. If he does something, I’ll be hopeful. If he doesn’t, I’ll be doubtful.

On whether he feels as though the gassers work as well at a professional level as they do at a high school level…

We’ll see. I know professional guys don’t want to run.

On why the team was interested in Bryan Johnson…

He’s a big guy. He ran well. He ran a good 40 time. He’s a big guy we’re trying out. We’re hurting at the position, so we look forward to giving him a shot and seeing what he does.

On whether Trevor Reilly will get start against the Giants since Lorenzo Mauldin is injured…

Right now, yes.

On whether Muhammad Wilkerson will play in the game Saturday…

If he’s healthy this week, he will play on Saturday. He’s been practicing, so if he stays true to what he is this week, he’ll play.

On whether they are doing anything other than the gassers to eliminate penalties…

You practice hard counts. You practice get offs and hard counts and everything like that. If you get off holding ones you just can’t do down the field, you practice technique until you’re blue in the face. Some of them are necessary, (on) some of them, we’re just throwing the flag just because to make them aware. As long as they’re aware and the flags are getting thrown, they’ll get better at it.

On his thought process behind having players wear Giants players’ numbers…

We just need to know where they are. They’ve got good players. They need to know where they are as far as getting lined up. You can see where those guys are.

On whether they did a lot of game planning for this game…

Not a lot. I don’t think it was a lot. I think it was about 40 percent, 30-40 percent so we can get lined up and play.

On whether facing the Giants and the Eagles during the regular season affects the approach to facing them during the preseason…

The Giants game doesn’t because we play them so far down the road. The Philly game, we play them Week Three and it’s the last preseason game, so that will affect a little bit of what we do.

On whether that means the Jets won’t show much in the preseason game against the Eagles…

You usually don’t show anything the last preseason game anyway. I mean, they played me in Arizona the last two years, so I’m sure they know me pretty well.

On how pleased he is with the team at this point…

We’re making progress. We have to get better by the week. It only can tell on a preseason game. Practice all week is great, but you want to show progress in games.

Aug 21, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Teammates congratulate New York Jets defensive back Rontez Miles (45) after he recovered the football for a touchdown during the second half of their game against the Atlanta Falcons at MetLife Stadium. The Jets defeated the Falcons 30-22. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

On whether Kacy Rodgers will still call all the defensive plays this week…

He’ll call it this week. I’ll help with the game plan and everything else, but he’ll call it this week. I have input on the sidelines, and I’ll say things when necessary, but I still want those guys to gel and work together so it’s important that they work together again this week.

On how Rodgers is doing with the play calling…

He’s fine, he’s fine.

On whether he believes the players who start the third preseason game will be the starters in the regular season…

Most of them, yes. All of them, no. There are some that still have to prove themselves and they will get a lot more playing time this week, so it’s a big week for everybody. After the game, we’ll probably have our starters intact.

On which players still need to prove themselves…

There’s a bunch of them. I’m not going to get into names because they feel like they have enough pressure on themselves. I want to see them play and I want to see them play honestly and see how they play.

On whether he will name a starting right guard after this game…

I probably will, yes.

On whether the starters will play into the second half…

Right now, it’s the half. They could open the third quarter. We’ll see how that goes and how many plays we can get in the first half.

On whether Matt Flynn is getting closer to practicing during team drills…

I’m hopeful that he can play the next week. I don’t think he’ll play this weekend.

On Chris Owusu and Shaquelle Evans…

They seemed to be fine today. One had a back, one had a concussion. They ran around well. You can’t tell until they really get hit but they seemed to be fine today.

On if Owusu and Evans will play this Saturday…

They will.

Dec 28, 2014; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; New York Jets wide receiver Chris Owusu (14) scores a touchdown as Miami Dolphins cornerback Brent Grimes (21) can

On how the team is coming along since the beginning of camp…

We’ve gotten in a lot better shape. I thought the communication was good. Last week, I thought we played fast and I thought we started to gel. (I) didn’t like the penalties, that was obviously of course unnecessary and things we need to work on, but we’re progressing towards the right way. I’ve seen us grow since the start of training camp.

On if he’s happy with the team’s progress…

I’m pleased. I wouldn’t say I’m happy. I’m okay, we can be better. You want to get better by the week, and we’ve been getting better. So only time will tell as we play.

On if making the team run has minimized fighting…

(Minimizing the) fighting is easy because it takes some air out of you when you run. Penalties is a whole different deal. That’s concentration, and those types of things like that. So we’ve got to have better concentration.

On if Calvin Pace will play on Saturday…

I’m not sure. I’ll wait until tomorrow and see how they’re coming along.

On if Durrell Eskridge will play on Saturday…

He’s got a red jersey on today. I highly doubt it.

On whether he envisions Quincy Enunwa as his third wide receiver…

That’s another spot that’s battling. There’s a bunch of them battling for that spot. (Quincy Enunwa has) been making progress, as has all of them. It’s tough for the ones that (were) injured, but it’s still a battle. I’ll see after this game.

On if he sets statistical goals for the season…

No, I don’t. There are certain things we have to be good at. Statistical goals are a false lead. If you’re offense isn’t moving the ball and they’re running for a bunch of yards and they’re not throwing the ball, your pass defense is going to be good. If your defense is on the field all day and they’re airing it out, offensively, your run game is going to be bad because you’re trying to throw to catch up all the time. Being first or 31st, you want to be good but you want to be good in certain categories. For me, certain categories define how good and how efficient we can be. So, statistical goals? No. It comes with all of the other things that you try to do and if you get them, great. There were years when New England won a Super Bowl and they were ranked 28th in defense, but they’re scoring 40 points a game. So stats are misleading, you have to kind of take it as it comes.

On the categories he wants the team to perform well in…

Offensively we want to run the ball, we want to be good on third down, we don’t want to turn (the ball) over and we want to convert in the red zone. Defensively, we want to stop the run, we want to be good on third down, we want to take the ball away and we want to hold them to three in the red zone. If we can do those things right there, we got a chance.

Aug 21, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets running back Chris Ivory (33) runs with the ball while being pursued by Atlanta Falcons linebacker Brooks Reed (56) during the first half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

On why Arizona’s pass defense was ranked near the bottom…

We were trying to stop the run with a bunch of people trying to run the ball. We were ahead a lot of ball games and we create pressure and we gave up a couple of big plays early, but we were in a lot of two-minute situations. If I’m not mistaken, at least ten or 11 (two-minute situations) toward the end of the ball game where sometimes you give up yardage and you play a little bit of prevent sometimes you go after them, but it was all relative. We had a lot of turnovers too, so that offset everything. The biggest thing is if you can get turnovers on defense, you’re limiting the other guys’ possessions of the football. That’s a big thing.

On if any players have surprised him…

I wouldn’t say anyone surprised me. I talked to you about the two running backs, I thought they’ve been doing a great job in camp so far so that’s been easy. Everybody else has been as good as advertised. And the young guys are coming along. I know they’re talented, but they’ve got a lot to learn. But they’ve been coming along pretty good. Nobody specifically stood out. They’ve been coming along great as a team.

On Arthur Lynch and Matt LaCosse…

I know Lynch caught a ball. I’ve got to look at the film and see how well he blocked today. You don’t know a kid just getting in. You’ve got to give him a grace period to learn some plays. Right now, you can’t throw him in a game install like that. You’ve just got to put him in a little at a time and see what he does on the scout team and give him a few plays so he can line up and play and then I’ll be able to evaluate him better.

Next: Coffee with the New York Jets: Calvin Pryor ready for 2015

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