A day later, Jets' Todd Bowles still bothered by loss to Titans
Jets head coach Todd Bowles against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium on Dec. 2, 2018 in Nashville. Credit: Getty Images/Wesley Hitt
Jets fans who were sick to their stomachs after Sunday’s 26-22 loss to the Titans had company in coach Todd Bowles.
“That’s one of the games you’ll remember for the rest of your life as a player or a coach and you’ll never forget about it,” Bowles said on Monday’s conference call. “It can propel you to be better at your job or it can make you go in a shell. I don’t think we have those kind of guys, but of course everybody’s frustrated or [ticked] off.
“This game will stick with me for the rest of my life. I’ve been in about three of them and this will go right up there with [those] games. You’re at your wit’s end for a second and then you come back and [it’s] ‘How can we get better? What do we have to do? How can we improve?’ ”
Despite taking a 16-0 lead, the Jets suffered their sixth straight loss and fell to 3-9 on Marcus Mariota’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Corey Davis with 37 seconds left.
“Guys are really sick,” defensive lineman Steve McLendon said. “It’s one of those games that’s really going to stick like glue for the rest of your career. Not just the rest of your career, but the rest of your life.”
What was the Monday mood?
“Obviously, disappointment,” quarterback Josh McCown said. “I think coach Bowles is doing a good job of helping us frame and understand exactly what happened and what we have to do moving forward.”
The Jets have four games left, beginning in Buffalo on Sunday. A segment of the fan base probably would like to see the team run the table the wrong way and lose all four to improve the team’s draft standing, but the players aren’t buying into that.
“I just want to win,” McLendon said. “That’s it. It’s not about the fans. It’s about the guys in the circle, in the huddle and in this building. I just want to win. We just want to win.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
