Woody Johnson: No Mandate to Make Playoffs for Todd Bowles, Mike Maccagnan in 2017

Jets owner Woody Johnson addressed the media today. He would not commit to a mandate of making the Playoffs in 2017 for Todd Bowles and Mike Maccagnan to retain their jobs.

On if there is mandate to make the playoffs in year three…

No. I don’t really like mandates because they normally don’t work - lines in the sand or whatever. You don’t want to judge it that way. The way we’ll judge it is getting better each and every year, and seeing it in our players, our young players - are they getting better or are they going the other way.

Woody is right. Mandates like that are silly. What if the team wins 10 or 11 games and misses out in hard luck fashion?

It isn’t like these guys need motivation. They certainly want to win.

Plus putting a mandate like that out there only incentives the people running the team to prioritize short-term gains over long-term success.

Johnson also discussed his rationale behind retaining head coach Todd Bowles.

On his thought process in bringing Head Coach Todd Bowles back…

I have confidence in Todd Bowles. We went through a pretty exhaustive search – a 10-day search – going through that process with Ron (Wolf) and Charley (Casserly) and Neil (Glat), and some other guys here, I have the same feeling about him (today as I did then). (He’s) very, very smart. (He) played the game (and) understands it from the player standpoint and from a coaching standpoint. He was (assistant) coach of the year with the Cardinals, so none of that’s changed. I’ve been talking to him the last couple of days, and I’m still very, very (much) in his corner. He’s very talented. I think he’s going to get better as we all are, including me, at what they do. So, I’m just so happy to have him - both him and Mike (Maccagnan).

Johnson also talked about the organizational structure, which has become a hot topic of discussion this year.

On if he sees Bowles and Maccagnan as a tag team working together…

Helping each other? They do. They’re on the same page. Different personalities, different ways of delivering information, as you are well aware, but they will get this done, in my opinion.

On if the structure of Bowles and Maccagnan reporting directly to him is working…

That’s the way it is on paper, but they talk to each other more than they talk to me. You have to have a community of interest between the two important players on the team side. On paper, it goes that way. That’s kind of typical to the extent that there is anything typical in the NFL.

While I could see scenarios where the organizational structure could create problems down the line, I think the present complaints are much ado about nothing. Bowles and Maccagnan still have to work together to build the team. The problem isn’t that Maccagnan lacks the ability to fire Bowles. It’s that the team has made a number of poor personnel and coaching moves. The work product needs to get better right now no matter who reports to whom.