There are ways to rationalize the Jets' 2017 totals of 119 penalties marked off for 1,035 yards. It was a franchise aberration. The totals were high but didn't lead the NFL. Penalties have been up league-wide the past four seasons. The Seahawks led all teams in yellow flags in 2013 and '14, then went to two Super Bowls and won one.
Those are not arguments Todd Bowles wants to hear.
"You don't write it off at all — you address it," the Jets head coach told reporters at the NFL owners' meetings in Orlando this week. "And there's a lot of things I have planned to address it, as soon as they get back in the building.