Will the real Jets please stand up?
Week 1 gave Gang Green fans a lot of optimism following a 34-32 loss to the Steelers.
In Aaron Glenn’s first game as Gang Green’s head coach, the Jets looked prepared after coming back from a nine-point deficit before losing because of a Chris Boswell 60-yard field goal. In just one week, all those good vibes were washed away.
The Jets were steamrolled by the Bills in Week 2, 30-10, in a game that wasn’t close as the final score indicated. Buffalo got out to a 20-3 lead at halftime and put the game in cruise control during the second half.
It left many, including Glenn himself, searching for answers.
“I want to win football games, but I also understand how this league is,” Glenn said on Monday. “I’ve been around this league for a long time and just throughout the course of my years as a coach, and as a player, I’ve seen how the ebbs and flows of this league are going to go.
In New Orleans, we were 7-9, alright, we come back the next year, we start 0-2, and then we finish 12-4, so my confidence is not going to be shaken at all. Same thing someone just talked about Detroit, 3-13-1, the following year we start 1-6, and then we go on a winning spree and we end up being 9-8 battling for the playoffs that last game. So, it can be done fellas. I’ve been there, I know it can, but again my focus right now is really stacking these bricks day-by-day.”
When Glenn became the Jets coach in January, many assumed it wouldn’t be a quick fix. Gang Green was coming off a 5-12 season with a new staff and a new quarterback under center in Justin Fields, who signed a two-year, $40 million contract.
But the Jets didn’t just lose on Sunday, they were outclassed in all facets of the game. They made a lot of the same mistakes that plagued them from the Robert Saleh teams of the previous three seasons, which were bad offense, penalties, and mental errors.
A Micheal Clemons roughing the passer penalty on 3rd and 19 was a backbreaker for the Jets defense on the Bills’ first drive. Not to mention, they also gave up a 40-yard run to Josh Allen before that, and Michael Carter II was also flagged for holding, which tacked on an additional five yards.
Then to make matters even worse, Fields had one of the worst quarterback performances I’ve witnessed in person before he suffered a concussion in the fourth quarter. He completed just 3-of-11 passes for 27 yards and registered a 1.1 total QBR. Fields also fumbled on a scramble, which eventually helped set up a Matt Prater field goal.
In addition, the Jets’ run defense allowed 224 yards on the ground, which is the most the team has allowed since 2021.
Glenn also likely made coaching mistakes he would like to have back. There were times when the Jets were conservative, which you can’t be if you’re going to defeat a team like the Bills, who have won the AFC East five years in a row.
On 4th and 3 on the Bills’ 32-yard line down 20-0 in the second quarter, Glenn decided to kick the field goal instead of going for it. At that juncture, why not just go for it, because field goals aren’t going to beat a team as skilled as Buffalo? The Ravens put up 40 points against the Bills in Week 1 and still came out on the losing end.
There was also a 4th and 1 play at the Jets’ 28 down 23-3, but Glenn decided to punt instead of going for it. Buffalo turned that into a 12-play, 77-yard drive that resulted in an Elijah Moore four-yard touchdown on an end-around.
“We’re still in the game, we’re still in the game, and I didn’t want to give those guys a short field because obviously our defense we were struggling a little bit,” Glenn said. “You know, so I felt that if we can punt this ball and we can create some field position, we can try to stop them and then be able to score.
“We still have a chance, and I think it was said yesterday that with the score we were out of it. I totally disagree with that. It was 23-3 with six minutes left in the third quarter, you know, we have a ton of time to get our offense back in check and be able to go and get this game back to where we want it to be.”
Changing the culture of an organization doesn’t happen overnight. The Jets brought Glenn here because he is a leader of men and has been part of a few turnarounds at other places.
With the Lions, Glenn, who was the team’s defensive coordinator, along with head coach Dan Campbell, went from 3-13-1 their first season in 2021 to having the NFC’s best record last season at 15-2.
The Jets’ upcoming schedule doesn’t do them any favors. They will play at the Buccaneers on Sunday and then have a road Monday night game against the Dolphins in a stadium they haven’t won in since Rex Ryan’s final game as Jets coach in 2014.
Glenn knew turning around the Jets wouldn’t be an easy task. But their turnaround could take even longer than he envisioned.
