The New York Jets were expected to be bad entering 2025. However, few could have predicted that the team would be 0-7 heading into their last game before the bye week. Roster rebuild aside, the problems in New York are bigger than the athletes in the facility. And Aaron Glenn’s comments in Monday’s press conference may be a red flag that the head coach of the NY Jets may be in over his head.
Aaron Glenn Does His Best Shakespeare Impression
To bench Fields, or to not to bench Fields. That, is the question – at least for NY Jets head coach Aaron Glenn.
One of the most glaring issues on the Jets this season has been their offense. Most notably, the aforementioned quarterback. Some fans expected a resurrection of the Ohio State quarterback’s career in New York. Instead, they’ve been given one of the worst quarterback performances on the team in recent memory – even outdoing the woeful years with Zach Wilson.
At first, it was hard to fault Aaron Glenn for sticking by his quarterback. After all, the team is in a rebuild, and wins weren’t going to come easy. However, it’s reached a point where the elephant in the room can no longer be ignored. And yet while Fields was effectively benched for Tyrod Taylor in Week 6 against the Carolina Panthers, Glenn is still mum on whether or not he will trot out Fields once again.
After stating some misleading information about Fields’ comparability to Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, the head coach did not help himself on Monday’s presser. When questioned where he’s at with the quarterback decision, Glenn’s comments were concerning.
“That’s something I’m going to continue to look at. Again, it’s early, on Monday. I told you this yesterday. There’s a lot of thought that goes into that; for me personally, and then being able to get with the staff, and then just being to ask other coaches that have been in this situation [and] how they’ve handled that. I’m not running away from the question at all Rich [Cimini]. I want to make sure I make the right decision. And I don’t want to make rash decisions, either. I want to make sure when the decision is made, I want it to be the right one.”
The biggest concern regarding his statement is asking outside of the organization for the answer to a question that, in all honesty, should be quite simple. There is wisdom in asking others unaffected by a certain situation, their unbiased opinion in how they would handle it. However, when the play on the field matches the poor metrics, looking for those outside opinions makes one appear in over their head, and ill-prepared for the job they took.
Justin Fields is not on a rookie contract, and has proven at this point in his career that the ceiling of his play as a quarterback is not high. This is something that I personally wrote about back in February.
No, I’m not writing this to pat myself on the back. Rather, it’s to point out how easy this could have been avoided – and why the plug should remain pulled.
Loved the Player, Not the Coach
Like many NY Jets fans, I was personally a very big fan of Aaron Glenn when he played for the team. He was a part of a very disruptive secondary the Jets had throughout the 1990s. His enthusiasm and confidence were superb to watch, as was his play. However, Glenn the head coach, is a different personality it seems altogether.
While Glenn’s brash behavior with the media does him no favors, it’s the coaching on the field that has given the biggest concerns about his ability thus far. Many previous Jets coaches were raked over coals for their inability to manage a football game. It was something that was a big criticism of now-successful head coach Todd Bowles during his tenure in New York. However, Glenn’s inability to field a competitive team is something that Bowles hardly struggled with – despite his 24-40 record and a roster full of makeshift parts.
For Glenn, his back-to-back decisions entering halftime have left many fans puzzled. And, in some cases, has led to a segment of the base speculating whether the coach is purposefully tanking. Normally, those calls are unwarranted. Yet, the almost-unbelievable decision-making from Glenn have been beyond head-scratching, even for the most mild of fans.
To top all of the in-game coaching decisions, however, has been his questionable decision to stick by Fields.
Football players know who is the problem when they are perpetually losing. When players have stated since training camp that they believe Tyrod Taylor gives them the best chance to win, it’s a bad look on a coach to stick with him this long. So as big of a supporter many Jets fans have been of Glenn early, it’s worth questioning whether or not the situation may be too big for him at the moment.
