New York Jets: Todd Bowles discusses Week 4 injuries

The New York Jets will be flying to London to face the Miami Dolphins for their first AFC East rival game of the season. The Jets are heading into this Week 4 matchup with several injuries that means others on the depth chart must step up and fill in immediately for the team to bounce back from their first loss of the season.

Head coach Todd Bowles recently spoke to the media about the latest injuries, preparing for London and much more across the state of the team. Thanks to the Media Relations Department of the Jets, they sent us here at The Jet Press a complete transcript from his press conference. Enjoy!

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On injury update for Darrelle Revis…

He said his hamstring was fine. He said it was on the same leg. He might have over-compensated for it is what he told me.

On if Revis’ injury is cause for worry…

I don’t know. I’m sure he’ll be a little sore this week. Hopefully it’ll get better quicker.

On an injury update for Willie Colon…

Willie has a sprained MCL. He’ll be out at least a week. We’ll re-evaluate him after that.

On if Colon will return after the bye week…

I truly hope so.

On if Brian Winters will start in place of Colon…

Yes.

On the message to the team after their first loss…

You make them aware of the mistakes. They understand how we played. You let everybody know how they played and we’re not satisfied with it and those things can’t happen and you move on. There’s no real message. They won the game. They ran the ball, we didn’t. They got turnovers, we didn’t. That’s pretty cut and dry for us. We’ve just got to play better.

On if it’s important not to overreact over one loss…

It’s just as important not to overreact for a loss as it is to a win. We didn’t overreact to the two wins, we’re not going to overreact to the one loss.

Sep 27, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets head coach Todd Bowles looks on against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium. The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New York Jets 24-17. Mandatory Credit: Steven Ryan-USA TODAY Sports

On the challenges of travelling overseas for a game…

It’s different. It’s different going over to London. It’s not like going to an away game, because the time change is such a difference for you. You have to prepare for these things a lot in the spring. No matter how you prepare for them, the sleeping and the sleep you get and the time you play is going to be a little different. I don’t think anybody is going to adjust full time. You get as much knowledge as you can. You get all the practice time in that you can to make sure they know what they’re doing and you move on.

On why the team decided to depart for London on Thursday night…

We wanted to get a full day’s practice in here. One day and having to go there and set up and everything would have been hard to do on a Thursday. The two bulk days, Wednesday and Thursday, we wanted to get here.

On who decided on bringing in a sleep specialist…

The trainers and doctors.

On if the team thought of departing earlier in the week for London.,.

Earlier in the spring, we did. If it was a preseason game, yes you can go over. But in the middle of the season that’s kind of hard. You really get caught back on the time change and you come back and you lose a little bit even if you do get the bye. You try to keep it as normal as possible.

On what preparations occurred in the spring for London…

It’s just hotel arrangement as far as practice fields and everything and getting all of the technical stuff out of the way. Not so much of the football things, but the technical stuff.

On if any adjustments were made on defense in the second half against the Eagles…

We played better. We got out of our gaps a little in the first half. We ran pretty much the same things in the second half. We just paid more attention to detail.

On if Chris Ivory will return against Miami…

Yeah I think he will. A couple of more days of rest, he should be.

On an update for Eric Decker…

Not yet. I’ll wait until Wednesday to see how he’s coming along.

On Jeff Cumberland…

Cumberland didn’t finish the game. He had a head injury. He was the one guy that didn’t finish.

Nov 24, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; New York Jets tight end Jeff Cumberland (85) against the Buffalo Bills at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

On if Cumberland is in the concussion protocol…

Yes.

On Quinton Coples…

He got a sprained elbow. Just put a brace on it, but he will be okay.

On Coples’ illegal use of hands penalty in the fourth quarter…

You can’t put your hands in somebody’s face. They’re going to call that. I don’t know if we would’ve got the ball and scored anyway but we don’t want the penalties. You’ve just got to play with lower leverage.

On Devin Smith missing a deep left pass intercepted by Eric Rowe…

That was tough. The guy had great positioning. He’s a big body, too. He made a heck of a play. Devin did all he could to get the ball out. There was nothing he could do really.

On if he has received any update from NFL regarding additional discipline for Sheldon Richardson…

Not yet.

On if Richardson will return after Week 4…

As of right now, yes.

On if Winters is prepared to play against the Miami Dolphins defensive line…

I think Brian’s a tough guy. He’s played before. He’s played against good competition. Obviously with (Ndamukong) Suh being one of the best in the league, he’s going to have his hands full. Our offensive line as a whole will have their hands full so we’ve just got to get ready to play.

On if he anticipates additional discipline for Richardson…

Honestly, I have no idea.

On Richardson’s role when he returns…

He’s got to get in football shape. You can’t put a guy out there like that that hasn’t been in pads full time and expect him to come in and play. Will he get some reps? Yeah, he’ll get a bunch of reps, but you’ve got to make sure he doesn’t get hurt as well.

August 11, 2015; Florham Park, NJ, USA; New York Jets defensive end Sheldon Richardson (91) during practice at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center. Mandatory Credit: John Munson/THE STAR-LEDGER via USA TODAY Sports

On how long it will take for Richardson to be game ready…

I think he can do it in short stints. I don’t think everybody can do it. I don’t think he can stand out there for a 10 or 12 drive and say, “I’m back.” That’s all relative to who the guy is.

On if the players pay attention to outside critiques about the team…

No, we don’t. We understand it’s a long season. We don’t worry about the outside, whether we win or lose. We just worry about what we’ve got. We’ve got a good group of core veterans in the locker room, so we’re fine.

On if an additional tight end will be added since Cumberland is injured…

If Jeff doesn’t play, we probably will.

On if Wes Saxton has reached a point in his development where he can be signed to the active roster if necessary…

It’s possible, yes.

On his impression of Ryan Fitzpatrick’s performance after watching the film …

After watching it again, those three interceptions, whether it is tipped, dropped or whatever the case may be, you just can’t have them. My opinion is not going to change there.

On whether he spoke to Lorenzo Mauldin prior to his first game back from injury…

We talked on Friday. He was feeling good, he was 100 percent then. He didn’t play that much. He got some plays he got to run around. We’ll increase that a little bit more this week.

On if it was important mentally for Mauldin to return…

I think it was. He wanted to go out there earlier than that. He wasn’t worried about it. We were. We just tried to be a little cautious.

On Brandon Marshall’s performance…

He made some plays, he made some catches. He dropped a ball or two, he turned the ball over. No, that’s not a good game by his standards or by our standards. He understands, but it’s a lot of people that didn’t play well. We understand we’ve got to get better as a team. It wasn’t about the individual but about the team as a whole.

Sep 27, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall (15) makes a catch in front of Philadelphia Eagles defensive back Byron Maxwell (31) during the second quarter at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

On Darren Sproles’ 89-yard punt return for a touchdown…

We missed a bunch of tackles. If you look at it from their side, he made a great play. He made a lot of people miss. If you look at it from our side, we missed a bunch of tackles that we could’ve got him down. We didn’t get him down and we’ve got to credit him for making some good plays.

On Leonard Williams’s progress…

He was more active getting off the ball. There are still some block things he’s got to read and get better at but he got off the ball and played across the other side of line of scrimmage.

On how Williams has acclimated into the regular season…

I think he’s been coming along pretty good. He’s putting it all together. He’s seeing a lot. He’s understanding it more. A little hesitant, but he’s coming around pretty good and he’ll get better next week.

On Coples’ performance at this point of the season…

I thought last week against Indianapolis he played a heck of a ball game. I thought this game, he was just average, as a lot of people were. He’s got to get better, we’ve got to get better as a defense. We’ve got to get better upfront.

On whether he views Walter Thurmond’s interception as a drop or a bad pass…

Anything that touches your hand, you’re supposed to catch.

On if he was aware of what appeared to be Tight Ends Coach Jimmie Johnson’s son tweeting some insulting things about players after the game…

I was aware of it. We handled it in-house and we have bigger fish to fry than that.

On Cromartie getting involved in the Twitter discussion…

Again, we have bigger fish to fry. He is a parent. He’s going to say what he has to protect his kids. We moved on. That’s not going to stop what we’re doing right now.

On how he distinguishes between a ball that should be caught and a ball that was thrown for an interception…

You don’t distinguish between interception. We don’t distinguish whether it was tipped, whether he made a great play and dove for it, caught it with one hand, whether it was bobbled, or whatever the case may be. A turnover is a turnover no matter how it happened. You just can’t have them. Whether Marshall missed it, whether Fitzpatrick mis-threw it, whether the line kind of tipped it, it’s a turnover. We just can’t have them.

On if there is something Fitzpatrick could learn from that play…

Don’t throw interceptions.

Sep 27, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick (14) scrambles away from Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Brandon Bair (93) during the third quarter at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

On if going to London is an experience he is looking forward to, or something he would rather not have in the middle of a season…

It’s been going on for a couple of years now and nobody likes to travel that far, but it’s like going to a west coast game for us. It’s something we knew was coming in the spring and we prepared for it.

On if he consulted any other coaches or players that have made a similar trip…

Earlier in the spring I did, yes.

On operations set-up this week, such as watching film…

We’re here Wednesday and Thursday. We’ll set up at the hotel Friday and Saturday, but the bulk of the stuff will be here.

On if any of the coaches shared helpful advice…

I talked to Coach (Jeff) Fisher in the spring in St. Louis and they went out there, just talking about the set up and the meeting rooms and the outlets and those type of things. Getting ready to play, what you have, what you don’t have, how the grass is and what kind of cleats and those things we went through. Most of it was technical stuff. He was real helpful that way, from a travel stand point as well.

On how Winters graded out…

He graded out pretty good. He played hard. Nobody played great on both sides of the ball, but he played hard and he did what he was supposed to do.

On what made the coaches stick with Winters over Oday Aboushi…

We thought that Brian was tough, and not that Oday was a bad player because I think he started at left guard for Houston this weekend. Winters showed some stuff in the spring. He was a little more mobile that way and they were different types of players. (Winters) was just the guy we decided to go with.

On if Aboushi’s incident factored into the decision at all…

No.

Next: New York Jets: Ryan Fitzpatrick breaks down Week 3 film

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