Jets QB Tyrod Taylor offers team best chance to win, and that's not a good thing
Trevin Wallace of the Carolina Panthers forces an incomplete pass by Tyrod Taylor of the Jets during the fourth quarter at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Aaron Glenn, Justin Fields and Tyrod Taylor said all the right things, with Glenn keeping his quarterback options open and Fields and Taylor supporting one another.
But two things were evident in the wreckage of the Jets’ latest loss, a 13-6 stinker against the Panthers on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
First, Taylor gives the Jets their best chance of winning against the Bengals next weekend, and perhaps beyond. Second, that is a terrible thing for the Jets.
Taylor is 36 years old, is on his seventh NFL team and has not started more than six games in a season since 2017. He made his NFL debut when the Giants’ Jaxson Dart was 8 years old.
And yet here we are.
Fields, 26, joined the Jets this season as the successor to Aaron Rodgers with the hope that he at least could be a bridge to the quarterback of the future.
Instead, he has been a dud and has added even more urgency to the Jets’ need to find a new passer in the coming offseason.
The only good news there is that the 0-7 Jets are on track to have the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. But in the meantime, there are 10 games left to play this season and little hope for anything better.
Jets fans know this, of course.
When Sunday’s game began, on a lovely autumn afternoon, the seats were far from full. By the time Glenn benched Fields and inserted Taylor to start the second half, there were far more empty gray seats than people wearing green or white sitting in them.
The Jets had 25 net passing yards at halftime. That was an improvement over last week, when they finished with minus-10 in a 13-11 loss to the Broncos.
Fields went 6-for-12 for 46 yards. Taylor did provide the spark Glenn was looking for, going 10-for-22 for 126 yards as the offense came partly to life.
But Taylor threw two interceptions — both on nifty catches by Jaycee Horn — which was the one bad thing Fields has been able to avoid this season.
“It was my call, and I felt it was the right time to do it,” Glenn said of the change. “I’m not ready to sit here and say what’s going to happen next week with our quarterbacks. But I will say this: It’s something I’m going to have to look at.”
Good idea! The Jets do not have another home game until Nov. 9 against the Browns, but fans are not interested at this stage in seeing much more of Fields.
Asked if he would like to start against Cincinnati, Taylor said, “As a competitor, you always want to start, but that’s not my decision.”
He said he would not have an emotional reaction regardless of Glenn’s ruling.
“I’ll be ready for the opportunity,” Taylor said, “but I’m also here to support Justin, too. I’ve got a lot of respect for him and every guy in this locker room, so I’m here to do what I need to do when my number’s called.”
Fields said his religious faith will carry him through this challenging time in his career.
On one hand, he hinted he was not thrilled with the decision to bench him. Asked if it was “warranted,” he said, “Um, warranted? Eh. We all have our different opinions.”
Later, though, he said of the move, “I can’t blame him. We only scored what, three points in the first half? It is what it is. That’s life.”
Receiver Garrett Wilson has a knee injury that forced him to miss a game for the first time in his four-year career, which did not help. But the offense was not much better when Wilson was playing.
What a mess. Some teams hit a bull’s-eye with a guy like Dart to build with. Other teams have . . . nothing.
“Trust me, no one feels it more than we do,” Taylor said. “We’re in it, we’re putting in our blood, sweat and tears week in and week out. Ultimately, it hasn’t resulted in a winning performance. It’s tough.
“But at the same time, I believe that Coach has done a great job of putting the right guys in this locker room to lean on one another. There’s no division from within.”
That’s good, because at this stage, the Jets do not have anyone in their corner other than themselves. Fans, understandably, are fed up.
This will be the Jets’ 15th consecutive non-playoff season, and 2026 does not look much better pending the arrival of a potential savior at the game’s most important position.
Glenn said he will consult with his staff before settling on a starter for Sunday. But, he said, “Ultimately, I make the call. There’s a lot of conversation I have to have with myself.”
The reality is that it is an easy decision this week. That’s the problem.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
