Jets Head Coach, Todd Bowles, Looking For “Cohesiveness and Chemistry” In Preseason Game Against Giants

Breno Giacomini (newyorkjets.com)

The New York Jets and New York Giants are getting ready to square off this Saturday night in the annual “Snoopy Bowl” at Metlife Stadium.

When asked what the Snoopy Bowl means to him, Todd Bowles said, “Not much.” Clearly Bowles is very excited!

The outcome of Saturday’s preseason game is meaningless, but there are always a few things to watch for in the warm-up games. “Cohesiveness and chemistry” said Bowles. “I’d like them to stay on the field for a while and let them work themselves out of some mistakes and let them make some plays. Obviously, you want to see them on the field for a while playing together.”

Breno Giacomini will be sitting out again in this game as he is still healing from a lower back injury. “It’s not a concern yet,” said Bowles on whether Giacomini might miss any time in the regular season. But they do have backup plans should he miss regular season games.

As of right now, the Jets will be rotating Brent Qvale and Ben Ijalana in Giacomini’s spot on the offensive line to see if either of them are suitable enough for the job. Ijalana has spent four years in the NFL and the past three with the Jets, however he has only appeared in seven career games. Qvale on the other hand has only been in the NFL for one year but he did appear in all 16 games with the Jets last year, including one start. Bowles has also said the organization has discussed the possibility of signing a right guard if Ijalana and Qvale are unsuitable for the position.

Going up against the Giants on Saturday will be big for Qvale and Ijalana to make their cases for the starting job. “They’ve been going back and forth, so this game will be big. They’ve got two premier defensive ends over there so it will be good to see them go up against those types of people,” said Bowles.

One of those “premier defensive ends” that Bowles alluded to is Damon Harrison who signed a five-year, $46 million contract with the Giants in the offseason. Harrison played the last three seasons with the Jets where he played in all 16 games in all three years, and had 193 combined tackles. Despite losing a major impact player, Bowles feels confident that they will be fine without him. “He’s definitely a big hole to fill but we have guys that know how to play and we’ll play certain ways to try to get that accomplished.”

It will be a bit of a strange sight to see Harrison wearing a Giants uniform, but he did have some great years with the Jets.

The big thing to watch for on Saturday night will be the battle between Qvale and Ijalana to see if either of them can be the starting right guard in place of Giacomini. It will also be interesting to see how many series the first team sees to make sure they get the “cohesiveness and chemistry” that Bowles is looking for.