Coffee with the Jets: A classless move in finale by Todd Bowles

In this edition of Coffee with the New York Jets, a classless move by Todd Bowles in regards to not playing Christian Hackenberg, final roster power rankings, and an end of season message to players heading into the offseason.

With New Year’s weekend officially in the books, things will slowly come to normalcy in 2018. We still have playoff football ahead of us as Wild Card weekend can be a fun one with upsets that can happen and completely change the course of the NFL Playoffs. Of course, the New York Jets aren’t in the postseason yet again but hey, we are all used to it by now.

The Jets have already begun their offseason by signing nine players to reserve and future contracts. Besides that, expect another big year of roster changes and even staff changes since rumors are already circulating on offensive coordinator John Morton possibly being recruited by Jon Gruden if he does indeed return to coaching as the next head coach of the Oakland Raiders.

In case you didn’t know, my Coffee with the Jets article has three of the latest and top articles on the internet from great sources on Gang Green. These go perfect with a nice cup of coffee, enjoy!

Todd Bowles finished the year without an ounce of class by Mark Cannizzaro (New York Post)

It was classless for Bowles, himself a former NFL player, to not give Hackenberg a mere series or two. It also was irresponsible on his part as a head coach with the security of that two-year extension he was granted Friday not to find out whatever he could about Hackenberg by playing him at least a little bit.

Even before Sunday’s epic loss to the New England Patriots, I wrote about why head coach Todd Bowles should have actually given the start to quarterback Christian Hackenberg. The Jets were out of playoff contention and had nothing to lose by giving Hackenberg either the start, a half, a quarter, or heck, even a series in the season finale. It’s very dumb, to say the least, to not at least give Hackenberg a chance to get some playing time in a meaningless game especially since he has handled himself extremely well to the media and never once complained about riding the bench for two straight years now.

2017 Jets Roster Power Rankings – Final Edition by GangGreeninYonkers (Gang Green Nation)

There might still be an argument that Powell didn’t touch the ball enough, as he only took less than half of the carries between the trio featuring him, Matt Forte, and Elijah McGuire, but Powell did have a nice year with a career-high in rushing attempts.

Yet another season has gone by and the Jets failed to use running back Bilal Powell in more of a featured role on offense. For whatever reason, they decided to stick with Matt Forte who had the worst statistical year of his entire career last season. It just boggles the mind that the Jets continued to focus more on Forte when they had two more than capable running backs who could have gotten the job done better. Especially Elijah McGuire who rode the bench longer than he should have considering his upside.

More from The Jet Press

• NY Jets: Why the team should target cornerback Shaquill Griffin
• NY Jets reportedly non-tendering linebacker Harvey Langi
• NY Jets: Why the team should not cut Jamison Crowder
• NY Jets should try to sign Kenny Golladay in free agency
• NY Jets: Jonnu Smith would be a smart free-agent target

Todd Bowles’ end-of-season message to Jets is to ditch the excuses in 2018 by Daniel Popper (New York Daily News)

“It’s just a no-excuses business. You win games or you don’t,” Bowles said Monday in his end-of-year news conference. “It’s not 5-11, but you played a couple games close. It’s not so-and-so got hurt, or so-and-so wasn’t here. You win in spite of (that).”

Excuses get you nowhere in life as it relates to football as well. This is now the second straight 5-11 season under Bowles and his leadership regime so expectations will be a little higher next season considering they have players that developed nicely last season and should add more high-quality players to fill the gaps this offseason. Depending on what they do with their offensive line, quarterback, pass rush, and new weapons that need to be added on offense, it should be enough for the Jets win even more football games in 2018. Bad teams can’t win games when they get hit with injuries or a failure to execute. Good teams might win a couple of games in similar circumstances but great teams win regardless of injuries or pretty much anything else. Looks like Bowles wants to put the Jets in that category of greatness next season by not accepting anything other than winning.