By Donald Liable
Is Aaron Glenn the head coach who brings respectability back to the New York Jets?
In January, the Jets announced Glenn would be their 22nd leader on the sidelines for the 2025 NFL season.
Originally opened for business in 1960 as a member of the American Football League, the Jets won Super Bowl III in January 1969 as “Broadway” Joe Namath led an upset victory over the Baltimore Colts.
But the Jets haven’t put a competitive product on the field in several years. Not since the 2009 and 2010 seasons, under the guidance of coach Rex Ryan, have the Jets dominated the American Football Conference. In those two seasons, the Jets went back-to-back to the AFC title game, losing to the Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers.
It has been downhill ever since. Having wrapped up their 2024 season in third place in the AFC East at 5–12, New York is experiencing a 14-season playoff drought—the longest of any NFL team heading into this season.
The roster and the attitude both need improvement for the regular season opener on Sept. 9 at home against the Steelers.
But the mood is upbeat, as New York defeated the Packers 30–10 on Saturday in Green Bay, Wis. The victory represents baby steps when it comes to what Glenn and his coaching staff have been preaching since training camp opened July 22 in Florham Park, N.J.
Saturday’s victory was a total team effort. Rookies saw most of the action, which is typical of summer games. But Glenn must have been pleased with the Jets’ total dominance on offense. The Jets, who scored in each quarter, never trailed Green Bay. The offensive line didn’t allow a single quarterback sack, and starting quarterback Justin Fields, along with backups Brady Cook and Adrian Martinez, threw no interceptions. The Jets were clicking on all cylinders, with 256 yards passing and 403 total yards, compared with Green Bay’s 188 total yards.
The only negative was penalties. The Jets’ offense committed 10 penalties for a total of 91 yards. Week 2 of the NFL preseason has the Jets and Giants playing each other at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., the stadium they have shared since it opened in 2010.
Jets’ owner Woody Johnson and general manager Darren Mougey have faith in their first-year head coach. Glenn played cornerback for 15 years in the NFL, his first eight seasons with the Jets, the team that drafted him in 1994 in the first round. It was Glenn’s decision to make Fields the leader of the Jets’ offense. Backup veteran quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who played with the Jets last season but is currently nursing a knee injury, has 15 years of NFL experience and will no doubt prove invaluable to Fields when the regular season kicks off.
Glenn has publicly supported Fields since the Jets signed him as a free agent in March to a two-year, $40 million contract. Fields was a first-round pick in the 2021 draft by the Chicago Bears after two seasons at Ohio State, highlighted by the Buckeyes’ Jan. 1, 2021, victory over Clemson University in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. But Fields’ first four NFL seasons have been rough. Having spent his first three years with the Chicago Bears and last season at Pittsburgh, he needed a fresh environment.
The Jets have two more tune-up games on their exhibition schedule. After this weekend’s contest with the Giants, the third and final game will be at MetLife on Aug. 22 against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.
There are many personnel questions to answer before the regular season. How will veteran placekicker Nick Folk be performing? Is rookie Jamaal Pritchett going to make the 53-man roster as the Jets’ primary punt returner? Did cornerback Sauce Gardner have a productive preseason, and did he mesh well with Brandon Stephens, the other cornerback, who was signed this off-season?
Baby steps. New York football fans will take that in 2025. The alternative has been too painful.
One preseason game at a time, one big play followed by another, is what Jets fans are conditioned for, well, for as long as they can remember. But now that one of the organization’s own, Glenn, is in charge, maybe the tide is finally going to change in their favor.
