New York Jets: Todd Bowles discusses new spread offense

The New York Jets are ready to deploy a new spread offense in 2015 that should hopefully yield much better results this year than last year. In 2014, the Jets simply couldn’t keep up against opponents since too many times, key drives ended in field goals and plenty of games were lost due to their inability to score touchdowns. With a veteran quarterback under center in Ryan Fitzpatrick, a much-improved wide receiving corps featuring Brandon Marshall, Eric Decker, Jeremy Kerley and Quincy Enunwa the Jets could surprise many offensively this upcoming season.

Thanks to the Media Relations Department of the Jets, they sent us here at The Jet Press a full transcript on his thoughts about the new spread offense, the upcoming game against the Cleveland Browns and the latest injury updates. Enjoy!

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On if anyone practiced on a limited basis today…

(James) Carpenter was limited, Willie (Colon) was limited and Devin (Smith) was limited, but they all practiced for the most part.

On the change in Cleveland’s offense going from former offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan to current offensive coordinator John DeFilippo…

I guess we’ll have to wait until the first game to see that. I know they didn’t show a lot in the preseason. Shanahan didn’t have (Josh) McCown, he had (Johnny) Manziel. They ran a lot of stuff he did in college to appease the quarterback. We’re going to have to wait until a couple of games pan out before we see what their offense really looks like.

On Terrelle Pryor and preparing for wildcat formations…

He’s back there, you can’t really prepare for the wildcat because he can throw the ball too. He is a good quarterback and he can throw the football. He’s just a versatile guy. We’re just going to have to read our keys and play our rules and see how it goes.

On if there is an area of concern heading into the game…

No. As long as we know what we’re doing and we prepare the right way, I’m comfortable.

On how good the defense can be…

We don’t try to be good. We try to make plays and we try to stop people. We don’t put any tags on ourselves. We’re trying to whatever we can do win the ball game.

On if Antonio Cromartie being on the injury report is a concern…

No. He’ll be on the injury report all year probably.

On his coin-flip philosophy…

I’m superstitious. If we win it, and I pick the wrong one and we don’t do well, I won’t do that again. From that standpoint, no, but you have to wait a couple of games to see whether your offense or you defense starts fast and then you kind of go with that. So right now, without the unknown, we’ll wait until game day to make that decision.

On his impressions of Dexter McDougle…

Dex is a tough, scrappy corner. He’s got a lot of football ahead of him. He’s becoming a technician, before he was playing with a lot of physical tools and not a lot of mental. And now, he’s starting to put the mental with the physical. I think Dex has a bright future.

On the strides Leonard Williams has made…

Leonard came in and what impressed us early on was that his mental was very good. He learned the playbook, he understands his assignments, he asks a lot of questions and that’s rare for a rookie coming in like that. To ask those types of questions, and then not mess them up when he got in there, he’s always been a hard worker, he comes out every day and you know what you are getting in him. He’s going to play hard, he’s going to play fast and he’s going to know what he’s doing, and I think that’s continued throughout training camp.

Aug 29, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets defensive lineman Leonard Williams (62) during the pregame warmup for his game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

On balancing expectations for Williams…

You expect him to learn from his mistakes. He’s going to see a lot of different blocking schemes that he hasn’t seen, so that’s going to be part of the growing. The biggest thing is, how fast can he learn and correct those mistakes and then get better from there. You kind of temper expectations because you know he is going to have to go through some growing pains.

On if William’s calf injury is related to the initial knee injury he had…

It was a little of both when he got hurt. It started at the knee and it kind of went down to calf from him staying off of it a little bit, but he’s good now.

On how excited he is to coach in his first regular-season game…

I’ll be excited Sunday. It doesn’t sound like it right now, but I’ll be excited.

On if it was weird to not call defensive plays during the preseason…

No, because you have to let your coaches coach. You get a little antsy and not doing anything in practice I was getting antsy. In the games, you try and calm down and see things and if you have something to say, you pull them to the side or correct them when you see the film the next day. You have to let your coaches coach.

On if he is more prone to jump in with veto power on the play calling during the regular season…

I’m in the game plan meeting every weekend and we don’t ever discuss who’s calling the game until Friday after the game, or the day before the game we’ll discuss it and we’ll sit down and go. He’s (Kacy Rodgers) called all four preseason games, but we’ll discuss it again tomorrow like we have been doing.

On how he has handled input with Chan Gailey on the offensive side of things…

It’s been real good. We’re on the same page a lot. You’re not going to try to jump in every other play when they call plays, but there’s certain situations where things will be said. We’re on the same page, so that’s not been a problem.

Aug 21, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick (14) hands the ball to New York Jets running back Chris Ivory (33) during the first half of their game against the Atlanta Falcons at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

On is vision for the identity of the offense…

You would hope that we would be able to run the ball and we get some explosive plays down the field. We want to be explosive, but we don’t want to be so far explosive just throwing the ball up. We want to have a good mix between run and pass. You want your identity to be that. Obviously, games are going to differ and there are going to be situations that matter whether we’re behind or ahead, where we’re going to have to do one or the other, but you would hope at the end it balances out.

On if the team isn’t behind, whether he envisions a scenario where Ryan Fitzpatrick will attempt 30-40 passes…

We’re going to take what they give us. If it requires us to throw the ball 40 times we’ll throw it 40 times. If it doesn’t, we won’t.

On if Carpenter is alright…

Yeah, he’s fine.

On if Carpenter had a rest day…

Not a rest day. He practiced some. We just didn’t put him in every drill.

On if he is worried if he has to call on Bryce Petty without much experience…

No, not at all. We knew what we were doing when we put him at number two. The other guys didn’t have much experience with the offense going in, not that they couldn’t play, but it would have been hard to get that whole game plan, a couple weeks of camp in, OTAs in, and say they could go out and play the game it wasn’t fair. At least Bryce can do that, so I’m comfortable that way.

On whether he was referring to Matt Flynn and Josh Johnson when he said “other guys”…

Yes.

On if Flynn had experience in the offense before he signed…

I said he had some of the experience in the offense, but he still has to learn terminology and different things and that there were tweaks in it that would take a while from an adjustment period.

On if the door is still open to sign a player after the game…

Yes, we are. We’re looking at everybody every week. You always try to churn the bottom of the roster to get better and see what’s out there, and then you try to get your own guys better in the process.

I meant from the quarterback position…

Yes, we’ll take a look at a quarterback every week.

Aug 29, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets quarterback Bryce Petty (9) hands the ball to New York Jets running back Zac Stacy (38) during the second half at MetLife Stadium. The Jets defeated the Giants 28-18. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

On if he has determined the captains for Sunday…

No, not yet. We’ll discuss that on Fridays too.

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