NEW YORK JETS HEAD COACH TODD BOWLES
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
October 15, 2017
On the ruling overturning Austin Seferian-Jenkins' fourth quarter TD...
They said he didn't have control of it going out of bounds. If it hits the pylon going out of bounds, it's a touchback going the other way.
On if he got a look at the play...
From my angle on replay, I didn't see the ball fumbled. I saw it bobbled and I saw him gain control of it.
On how difficult the call was to take...
It's difficult to take the loss. It's not the just the one play. We lost the ball game. They made more plays that us. You have to give them credit. They're great for a reason. We'll go back to the drawing board and play better.
On the Jets offense strong start and then 'sputtering'...
They made some plays. We didn't make as many plays as we started out the game with. We just have to keep grinding and make more.
On the Jets committing less penalties but more costly ones...
They're all costly when you commit penalties. We were even (in penalties) at six and six. They were all costly at different times.
On whether the touchdown reversal was 'demoralizing'...
It's not demoralizing. It's frustrating from that stand point, but we had other plays in the game we could have made to make up for that. I'm not going to blame this game on one play.
On if the Jets turnover before halftime was critical...
All turnovers are critical, especially against this team. You know who they have under center. They made the best of it. You have to give them credit. They took advantage of it.
On why the Jets went cold on offense after taking a 14-0 lead....
It's not like we were trying to. Give those guys credit. They made plays. They made more plays than we did and played better as the game went on.
On if he had a chance to speak to the referees after the Seferian-Jenkins' TD...
I talked to them. They explained it to me the same way I explained it to you all.
On what the Jets did well against Rob Gronkowski...
Not much. He was typical Gronk. He makes tough catches and he had some big plays. We could have limited him a little more. He made more plays than we made. They made more plays than we did. It was that simple.
On if the Jets got enough pressure on Tom Brady...
It's never enough pressure. We got some hits on him, but he's a great player. He's seen it all. He can get up if he gets knocked down. We just have to keep fighting.
On if he can take any positives from this...
We'll look at the film, but we lost the game. We played hard but we lost the game. No moral victories.
On corrections that can be made to not use two timeouts early in the second half again....
We can't botch things up and let the clock run down. We just have to make sure we're on task at everything we do.
(follow-up)
On if it's a communications issue...
No, it's not.
(follow-up)
On what the issue was...
The fact that we had to call timeout. We needed it. We'll discuss that in the coaching room.
On the decision to go for it on fourth-and-one and the play call in the second quarter...
The play call was fine. We just didn't execute. No matter what the play call is, you have to execute, whether it's run or pass, regardless of what we call. It's fourth and less than one. We thought we had a shot at it and to get some momentum. Give them credit for making a good play on fourth down.
(follow-up)
On whether Josh (McCown) checked to a pass based on what he saw...
I'm not going to discuss the play call. They made a play. We didn't get it.
On Jets injuries...
To my knowledge, he (Robbie Anderson) was cramping. I don't have any others to date.
On whether lack of Jets pass rush was more about what the Jets couldn't do or what Tom Brady could do...
Nobody said there was a lack thereof. Tom is going to make Tom's plays. We just have to play more. They made more plays than us. We're not trying to give any excuses. Whether we went for it on fourth down, whether we rushed the pass or didn't rush the pass or whether the ball was dropped at the one. We played hard. They played hard. They made more plays than us. They won the ball game.
On whether the gap between the Jets and Patriots is closer than what most people think...
We're not trying to close the gap. We're trying to win. We lost the game.
On his message to the team after the game...
They made more plays than us. We fought hard, but that's not good enough. They made more plays than us. We have to be disciplined and more on-task. We have no time to sulk. We have another division rival next week and we have to go on the road. We'll correct our mistakes and move on.
On a possible missed interception by Buster Skrine in the second quarter...
There were a bunch of plays we can make or didn't make in the course of a game. We can probably dissect every play, but we have to make more plays.
QUARTERBACK JOSH MCCOWN
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
October 15, 2017
On why the offense was not as productive as the game went on...
We'll have to look at the tape. Obviously we broke stride there and didn't keep pace the way we'd like. We had some short yardage situations that we have to find a way to convert and be better at that. We weren't converting, and putting our defense right back out there, and you can't give Tom (Brady) and those guys that many chances. If they slow start, but they get going, you can't give them that many chances, so we're going to look at that and figure out how we can get better.
On his touchdown pass to Jeremy Kerley...
He ran a heck of a route, made a great catch, the guys up front gave me time. It's one of the plays that we like in our offense, and he got over there and does what he does every time I throw him the ball – catches it and makes plays – so a lot of credit to Jeremy for the play he made.
On if he has gotten a chance to look at the touchdown pass to Austin Seferian-Jenkins that was overruled...
(No), other than just in the stadium, and it is what it is – it's frustrating because you fight back into a game like that, and to have it go that way on a call is frustrating, but the refs are doing the best job they can. They look at it, they make the best call they can, and you move forward. That rule, just by losing possession and being a touchback, it's hard for me to see why you – it's not like they gained possession, so it's a difficult rule to understand, but at any rate, refs are a part of every game and we can't point at that and go, 'Man, that's the reason.' There are so many other things that we have to do better and that we hold ourselves accountable to and that's our standard, and we just didn't do that and execute well enough today.
On his feelings when he realized that the touchdown was coming off the board...
Yeah, it was just frustration. I think we all thought it was good. It was hard, at least from what we could see in the stadium, it was hard to tell how they would overturn it, but again, they made their decision, the best decision that they saw fit and sometimes they make decisions that you agree with, sometimes they don't. And again, the refs aren't our standard. We don't go into every game going, 'Man, I hope the refs show up today,' because for us, we have a standard that we want to play by, and at the end of the day we didn't play well enough and we have to play better.
On if he asked the refs for an explanation on their ruling...
No, at that point it's (time to) move on. As long as I've been playing I've never seen a reversal after a review after somebody has argued it, so from that point, once that decision is made, let's move on. Mentally, let's get ready for the next drive. Defense can go out there and hold them, and they did, and we got the ball and we moved it back down again, so that's our mindset. If we had time I would love to hear why, but that's not my job. My job is to go get ready and try to get back in the end zone.
On how costly the Jets interception before halftime was...
No doubt, that was very costly. We lost the game by seven, so it was costly. It was just something that Robby (Anderson) and I need to keep working on. Just the angles of his routes and how we're going to do things and the location of the ball, and we'll get better at that. I promise you, we'll get better at that, but it's just frustrating. Can't happen, and anytime as a quarterback you turn the ball over throwing interceptions, I look at that with heavy scrutiny to make sure that I don't allow that to happen again, so I put that on me because ultimately I'm in charge of the football, so I need to be better.
On if the timing was off between he and Anderson on that play...
Yeah, just a tick, but again, when we look at it on tape we'll see better. It's hard to look at the stills on the sideline and really get a feel for it, so we'll look at the tape and see what each of us could do to be better in that, and like I said, find a way to not allow that to happen. But as we sit here now not having a chance to look at it, it's on me. I'm going to fix it, and I'll get it fixed.
On the pulse of the Jets after today's game...
Frustrated. Everybody is frustrated. You take a team to the wire like that on any Sunday and feel like you had opportunities to win, and you don't, it's very frustrating. You factor in the call there and all those things, those are things that – we feel like we battled hard, put ourselves in a position and just didn't finish, just didn't win the game, so there's frustration but I think guys are still optimistic. We're sitting here at 3-3 and have a great opportunity to go down to Miami next weekend and get back on track, so we have to go do that and that'll be our focus.
On the Jets timeouts in the third quarter...
We have to get better with (getting) in and out of the huddle. I have to get the play called better, get in and out of the huddle and get us going. There was some confusion there when we walked to the line on what everybody's assignment was, and so anytime you do that, you're better off as much as you hate burning them, you're better off burning one then running the play and letting somebody go unblocked or something like that, so we have to be better on that. Again, I'll own that one and we'll figure out a way to make that better.
On if Lawrence Thomas was open on McCown's second interception...
Yeah, late in the play he might've been. When I came out of it (the play fake), two guys hit him and he kind of collided with them – and he stayed on his feet, did a good job, but I had moved off of him. But again, those are things that we'll look at and figure out what we can do to be better on that play.
On how confusing the Seferian-Jenkins non-touchdown was...
Yeah, that's what I mean, that's what is hard. You feel like he was in the end zone, and so that's all I can tell you is we all – just like a lot of people in the stadium and all of us, we thought he scored. We thought he was in the end zone.
On if soon after he realized that the touchdown ruling would be overturned...
No, everybody was excited, and then obviously they stopped the kick, and then they are reviewing it and they made the decision that they made.
TIGHT END AUSTIN SEFARIAN-JENKINS
On if he got an explanation on the overturning of his touchdown...
They didn't personally give me an explanation but at the end of the day the refs made the call, it went to New York, those are the people they pay to make those decisions and it's out of my control. They were harping on ball security and that was a great time for me to have great ball security and I didn't have good enough ball security. Whatever the ref said, the ref said and it was a touchback. I let my team down in that situation. Next time I have to stress better ball security.
On if he thought he fumbled...
I feel like I scored. But at the end of the day, that's what the ref called. I'm going with what the ref said and I have to have better ball security. I have to make sure I make the necessary corrections so that doesn't happen again.
On if he saw a replay...
Yeah, I saw it like four times. I just have to have better ball security. It comes down to me. If I take care of the ball like I'm supposed to and don't let it move or anything like that, we don't have this discussion. I let the team down and I'm definitely going to have better ball security next time. The coaches have been harping on it so it's obviously something that I have to continue to work on so this situation doesn't happen again.
On if he's just taking the high road...
No, the high road is just the honest road. I can't take it back. It's not going to say touchdown, it's a fumble and a touchback. That's what it is. It's not like I'm taking the high road, I'm just saying what the facts are. I don't think it does anything for me to come up here and blast the official or blast the rule. The rule is the rule. They called it. It is what it is. I have to do a better job of having better ball security so it doesn't happen again. If I catch the ball and run through both of them and don't fumble or anything than that's what it is. I don't feel like I fumbled but it is what it is. I can't control that. I have a game next week. This games over with. They played well. They made two more plays than us to win and that's what it is.
On what it says about the team that even with all the adversity they faced throughout the game they were still in it at the end...
That's what football is about, adversity. That's what life is about, adversity. At the end of the day nothing is ever going to be perfect and it didn't phase us. It is what it is. People are going to make calls, people are going to say things, people are going to make rash decisions and we're going to come back, fight as hard as we can and put ourselves in a position to win. It had nothing to do with them or what they were doing. It had everything to do with what we were doing. We're going to clean it up. We're very excited. I think that people see that we're a legit team like we always thought we were. We have to clean it up and get ready for Miami next week.
CORNERBACK BUSTER SKRINE
On his interception...
They had put (Phillip) Dorsett in. He's a deeper route runner so I kind of baited him a little bit. Once he (Tom Brady) threw it up I just ran, caught it and got the pick. We're about the same height so I knew I could win the jumping battle.
On how disappointed he was on his dropped interception...
It was disappointing because we didn't get off the field. Gronk is a bigger guy and I'm smaller so I was going to play off of him and use zone eyes once the ball got off from Brady. I was going to beat him to the ball.
On what changed defensively for the Patriots to have success offensively...
You have Tom Brady back there. He bought some time on some plays and sometimes he threw good balls. He's one of the best quarterbacks ever. That's how they were moving the ball.
On how much of a missed opportunity this game was...
We're just going to build off the game. We lost the game. We give them all the credit. We're just going to build off it. Nobody's hanging their head.
On the positives that can be taken from this game...
We're a confident team and we have good team chemistry. We stuck together that whole game despite what was going on in the second half. We grew as a team.
