The season is on the line now, a season that began with so much promise, suddenly threatening to spiral out of control and out of the playoffs for the fifth straight season.
And it is on the journeyman quarterback and the rookie head coach to prove they are the right men right now for their respective jobs.
The head coach is 10 games into his rookie season, and a restless, anxiety-riddled fan base is asking him not to resemble a rookie coach across this six-game season that awaits him and the Jets.
Todd Bowles doesn’t rattle easily, but he has never been in the football Oval Office presiding over a crisis, in a town without pity that shines a light so bright that even the most unflappable become flappable.