In September, ahead of his first game as Jets coach, Aaron Glenn was asked how he would define a successful season.
“I want to be a team where the fans will look and say we’re proud of that team,” Glenn said. “And if they say that, I’ll be happy. I’ll be happy because, within that, I know that wins will come.”
Six games into his tenure, Jets fans are not proud of their team. Fans are angry, flabbergasted, and stunned at the team’s 0-6 record.
Gang Green is the NFL’s lone winless team, and it seems like the Jets are going backward. They have not played complementary football in any of their games this season.
The Jets defense, which was one of the best units in the league the previous three seasons, has been one of the worst this year. Their offense has been inconsistent, and the turnovers and penalties have plagued the Jets.
Glenn came to the Jets promising to clean up the areas that had caused them to lose close games. Sunday’s 13-11 loss to the Broncos in London was a microcosm of what is wrong with the Jets.
They have a quarterback in Justin Fields, who holds the ball much longer than he should in the pocket. They also didn’t run many designed runs for Fields against the Broncos, which is surprising because one of his strengths is his scrambling ability.
Glenn said Fields took a step back after he completed just 9-of-17 passes for 46 yards and was sacked nine times.
“We had some type of hitch route so he can get the ball out fairly quick,” Glenn said about Fields. “What they were doing, they did a pretty good job because they were sending two guys off the edge to the side of the back and to the quarterback, where most of your run game comes from, so the thing is you just don’t want to run into a brick wall when you’re talking about quarterback run game.
“There were some things that they did fairly well to try to eliminate us from doing some of those things that we like to do with the quarterback.”
More than Fields’ mediocre play on the field this season, Glenn’s coaching has been an issue. He basically gave up at the end of the first half after letting the last 30 seconds of the clock run without running a single play. Glenn said he didn’t want to give the Broncos a chance to get the ball back before halftime because it was 4th and 1 on their 47-yard line.
The Jets were down 10-6 at the time and could have possibly gotten into field goal position before halftime. Broncos coach Sean Payton was even confused by what Glenn and the Jets were doing.
“We were waiting — either a Hail Mary, or something,” Payton said postgame. “And then the clock just ran out, so.
“That was a little surprising. That’s unusual.”
A day after the debacle, Glenn said he wished he had handled the end of the first half differently.
“When we were about to get ready to spike the ball and someone else said, ‘No, it’s not, it’s fourth down,’ Glenn said. And at that point, man, if we tried to run a play, I thought that’s where the real confusion had come from.
“But you know what, to be honest with you, I wish I could have took the clock down to five second and just threw a hail mary, to be honest with you. But at that point, I wanted no confusion.”
The Jets weren’t expected to be a playoff team in 2025. Especially after finishing 5-12 last season and releasing Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams, and C.J. Mosley during the offseason. But not many people expected them to be winless in mid-October.
When he took the Jets job in January, Glenn told players and fans to “put their seatbelts on and get ready for the ride.” The problem is that it seems the ride malfunctioned before the halfway point of the season.
Several Jets fans were excited when Glenn became the head coach. Those same fans, six games in, have already turned on him and some want him fired.
Glenn has preached patience, citing his time with the Lions as defensive coordinator under coach Dan Campbell. Detroit started 2021, Glenn and Campbell’s first season there, at 0-8 before finishing 3-13-1. The Lions also began the 2022 season 1-6 before ending that year 9-8.
It has been only six games, so it is premature to talk about firing Glenn after just one season. However, there needs to be consistent improvement, which will give fans hope for the future.
To this point, the only hope Jets fans have is possibly getting the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. There are 11 games left, but the Jets fans are losing hope with every minute.
“You have to go through these times,” Glenn stated. “You have to figure out exactly how you’re gonna end up winning games and continue to press forward on that. I’m not waiving from that. I’ve been through that with Detroit. I’ve been through that in New Orleans, and listen, I’m just not.
“I’m not going away from him at all. And I understand how it looks on the outside. The thing is, I told you guys, and I told the fans, man, do not let go of the rope. The things I know that we’re doing is we’re trying to build a solid foundation, so we can consistently try to win. Thank you, everyone.”
