New York Jets: Todd Bowles discusses injuries, game balls

Todd Bowles surely must be enjoying his first ever win as head coach of the New York Jets. Granted, it came against a pretty bad Cleveland Browns team but a win is a win in the grand scheme of things. The Jets left the game with a few injuries that thankfully didn’t turn out to be as bad as originally thought.

Thanks to the Media Relations Department of the Jets, they sent us here at The Jet Press a complete transcript on what Bowles had to say regarding the latest injuries, who got game balls from the game and much more. Enjoy!

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On Antonio Cromartie’s injury…

Considering the way he went down I was very relieved. It looked like it was an ACL and he was sitting over there with a towel on his head, I didn’t know what happened. So, I’m glad it wasn’t (his ACL).

On Cromartie’s time table to return…

They told me week-to-week. I don’t what that means, whether it’s this week or next week. I’m going to wait and see how he heals. Until I see him running I don’t have a time table on him.

On his confidence in Marcus Williams…

I mean he’s a good corner. He understands the game. For a young player, he understands the game, he sees everything. He understands what’s about to happen to him on the field and he plays with a calmness that makes you feel good about him.

On if M. Williams would be the nickel on the outside or Buster Skrine…

They both can do both. I would say he (M. Williams) could be outside, but if we matchup situations he could be inside. They’re both versatile enough to do both.

On if expanding Skrine’s role is asking too much…

No it isn’t. He did it a lot in Cleveland last year too. He did it in the game Sunday too.

On if he’s had a chance to talk to Lorenzo Mauldin…

I just talked to him about 10 minutes ago. He was feeling a little better. Obviously, he [has] a concussion and he wasn’t feeling well at the time, but he’s going to go home and rest. Obviously, he has to wear glasses and have some shades on for a while. We’ll take it day-by-day. When he’s feeling good enough he’ll go through protocol and go from there.

On finding out about Mauldin’s diagnosis…

I mean I got texts late last night. I got a text and they told me about it. It was good to hear that he wasn’t as bad as everything appeared. When you cart somebody off the field like that and they’re not moving, immediately you think the worst, so to get that news was good.

On if he saw anything on the film…

No, I know we had a lot of mistakes. I mean we got cut on our gaps sometimes, we missed some blocks, we did a lot of things fundamentally that we have to do better. Emotions are high and everything like that in the first game, but we have to calm down and we have to play better fundamental football.

On what was his message to the team today…

No message. Great win. We look at the film and correct the mistakes and we have to move on to Indianapolis. You can’t hold on to it, that was yesterday, so we’re moving on today.

On who received the game balls…

Nick Folk got one. Muhammad (Wilkerson) got one. Marcus Williams got one. Brandon Marshall and Chris Ivory.

Sep 22, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets kicker Nick Folk (2) kicks during the second quarter against the Chicago Bears at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

On why Muhammad Wilkerson was selected to receive a game ball…

Mo had a decent ball game. Five tackles, he had an assist, he had a sack, he had a tackle for loss, he had a quarterback hit and a quarterback pressure. He played a good ball game.

On if Mauldin is out for Monday’s game against Indianapolis…

Just going through the protocol, I would think so, but I don’t know how he’s going to feel tomorrow or anything else. Going through protocol I would think it would take a little while. We’ll see how the week goes.

On Leonard William’s saying his biggest takeaway from the game was he needs to improve his conditioning…

No, I think he got winded because I thought emotionally he was too high. When you have spit on the side of your mouth and you’re slobbering and you’re in warmup and pregame and everything like that it, it’s typical to happen to a rookie their first game out. They want to do well and they come out hyperventilating, not saying that he did all that, but you can see he’s an inner-outer type of guy as far as showing his emotions. I bet he got tired that way.

On if he has any concerns about L. William’s physical conditioning…

No, I think he’s fine. We run over 100 plays a day in practice from a physical standpoint. I just think he needs to calm down going into the game.

On if he thinks the game is worth the risk of injury…

I mean it’s a risk when you start playing this game. Obviously, we know the risk and rewards for this game. You can get paid a lot of money, but you can also get injured and not be able to play again. So, that’s up to every individual. You know, we’re all not wrapped too tight playing this game as it is, running into 300 pound guys, me included, but that’s part of it. You just have to be careful, take care of your body. It’s a risk every time you go out there, but if you worry about getting hurt you’re probably going to get hurt.

On if he feels like they left any additional points out on the field…

I thought we left a lot of plays out there. We started off slow on both sides of the ball. We left plays out there, we missed some blocks, we missed some assignments here and there that we have to clean up. That’s typical going into the first game, but we left a lot of stuff out there.

On if the slow start was attributed to not being able to study Cleveland’s regular season film…

I’m not sure, but we got to get to the point where we don’t care what the opponent does or who it is and we just have to start out playing our game and play fast anyway.

On if Cromartie will be able to play on Monday…

I wish I knew the answer to that. I don’t know how he’s going to feel from day-to-day but they told me week-to-week. I haven’t seen him run. I would say no, and up until now, I would say no. If he starts running later in the week and starts feeling better, then there’s a chance he’ll play.

Sep 13, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie (31) recovers a Cleveland Browns quarterback Josh McCown (13) (not shown) fumble during the first quarter at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

On if he won’t rush Cromartie because of the depth at cornerback…

I don’t want to rush him back anyway. The fact that we have a bunch of guys there that can play definitely helps out a lot though.

On if Johnny Manziel and Josh McCown running caused them problems…

It wasn’t a problem hardly because that’s what Johnny does and that’s what McCown does. They made some plays, you’ve got to give them credit for that. Part of it, we got out of our gap, out of our lane once or twice. Part of it (was) they were a little faster than we were up front in certain situations. We missed a couple blitz lanes here and there so it was a combination of everything. They were pretty good athletes, at the same time we missed some plays and we missed some lanes.

On if Cromartie was expecting inside help…

He wasn’t expecting any help.

On if the challenge increases going up against the Colts since they lost…

It increases every week anyway for us. For us to try and win as many games as we can, regardless of the opponents. You won the first one then the challenge is to try to win the second one. It’s a bigger game every week and it’ll be that way until 16 weeks.

On if he tests himself on clock management situations…

I didn’t see the game (Giants vs. Cowboys 9/13), but for me, I always have someone in the booth and I always quiz myself. But you got to understand, you have to be in the moment of the game for that stuff to happen. I take it when it comes, when I can get it.

On which coach is in the booth during games…

Mark Collins. Outside linebacker coach.

On why he chose Collins…

Mark is calm. He’s level headed, he can see replays, he understands rules and everything like that. He’s very special that way.

On an assessment on Skrine and M. Williams’ play on the outside yesterday…

I thought they both did a good job. When they were outside, they didn’t get a lot of work. Obviously, the one shot Marcus got. He got the interception, I think he knocked another one down, he might have got two or three shots. Buster didn’t get any work out there, but thought they did a good job.

On how the sideline operation went the first time out…

First time out it went pretty good. We got a lot of kinks worked out in preseason.

On if Kacy Rodgers called the entire game…

No, I chimed in. We both called it in regards to who was calling it, we all had the input and we kind of knew where we were going because we were all in the game plan meeting. So play calling went fine.

On if releasing Chris Owusu was a calculated risk…

It was. Anybody we cut and try to bring back is a calculated risk. That doesn’t mean he could play. When we cut him we weren’t involving game planning, so we weren’t thinking he would be involved in the game plan. But when he got back, once we saw what they were doing on defense, we got him involved.

Sep 13, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets wide receiver Chris Owusu (17) is tackled by Cleveland Browns defensive back Tramon Williams (22) after catching a pass during the first half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

On if Kerley playing one snap on offense will continue going forward…

We’ll see when the game plan comes up.

On Owusu in the matchup against Cleveland…

It’s just that he could do a lot of things yesterday. He can go inside, outside and he can block. That allows Brandon and Eric to move around a lot more and have three blockers out there at the same time and still be able to run vertical routes and do those type of things, he was the best option for this game.

On if Devin Smith will play this week…

We’re going to see how he practices and see if he can take a hit or two and we’ll go from there.

On if there was a chance D. Smith would play against Cleveland…

He wasn’t going to play.

On if he received congratulatory text messages…

I got quite a few. Lot of coaching buddies. A lot of buddies I went to school with and played ball with. I got a bunch of them.

On if he received a text from Gladys Knight…

Nothing from Gladys. I wouldn’t be here today [laughs].

Next: New York Jets: Ryan Fitzpatrick breaks down game film

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