Todd Bowles shuts down any quarterback change rumors

Head coach Todd Bowles has shut down any and all rumors of a potential quarterback change as the New York Jets enter their Week 11 bye.

When it comes to the quarterback situation of the New York Jets, Josh McCown has overachieved, to say the least. Nobody could have ever predicted that he would have one of the best years of his NFL career but such is the case this season.

So far, McCown has totaled 2,242 passing yards, 216 completions, 14 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. Yeah, his 69 percent completion rate is a bit misleading since the majority of his passes are short but at the end of the day, he surpassed expectations regardless.

As the Jets enter their bye week, it’s time to for them to do everything possible to correct their issues with penalties and shore up the talent on the offensive line. It’s all about technique, awareness, and execution in the grand scheme of things.

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McCown has proven to get the job done but can’t do much of anything when the Jets offensive line is unable to give him time to pass or even open up rushing lanes to get the ground game going. Many believe that since McCown put up one of his worst games of the season in the Week 10 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it might be time to make a quarterback change.

Head coach Todd Bowles probably saw this coming a mile away and quickly put any and all rumors to rest in a recent press conference. Here is what he said courtesy of the Media Relations Department of the Jets:

On at what point he would consider playing Christian Hackenberg or Bryce Petty…

If something happens to Josh (McCown) and those two get ready to play and be ready to play, they’ll play.

On if he means an injury occurring to McCown…

Yes.

On if he looks at the remaining schedule and comes up with a scenario in which he would play Hackenberg or Petty…

I’m not coming up with a scenario right now. We’re going to play the games and we’re going to try to win each one and take them one at a time. Josh will be our quarterback and then we’ll go from there.

Bowles is smart to not bench McCown at this point in time in favor of either Petty or Hackenberg. The truth of the matter is, McCown had a bad game but everyone is entitled to have a bad game or two and still keep their starting job. Throwing Petty or Hackenberg in considering the Jets are very much still in the playoff race would be a dire mistake.

The problems the Jets have aren’t all on McCown as they need to correct all their penalty issues and again, get the offensive line focused and trained on the fundamentals of everything that comes with the positional group. Fix those two glaring issues and McCown will once again be in a position to thrive.

The only time it makes sense to even consider starting Petty or Hackenberg would be if McCown gets injured or has a string of bad games which lead to losses and eventually, elimination from the playoffs. If that’s the case, then yes, it would make sense to give the nod to whichever young quarterback is the readiest to step in and lead the Jets offense to see what they can do.

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Until then, Bowles is right to keep McCown under center from here on out. Making a quarterback change during the bye week isn’t going to magically transform the Jets offense into a powerhouse since McCown still gives them the chance to win more football games. This is all that Bowles is most focused on with six games left in the season.