Aaron Glenn preaches patience as 0-2 Jets look to reverse fortunes both now and into future
Jets head coach Aaron Glenn reacts against the Buffalo Bills during the second quarter at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Aaron Glenn’s measure of a successful season is if the Jets are a team that makes their fans proud. The way the fans booed the offense and some of Glenn’s decisions on Sunday, they were not proud of their team.
Two games into Glenn’s head coaching career, another "P" word has come up: patience.
It’s a tough sell in this market and for a fanbase that has suffered through nine straight losing seasons and 14 years with no playoffs. They’ve also seen this movie before: the Jets are 0-2 for the fourth time in seven years.
Glenn wants to win now, but he said “internally” you have to be patient. He isn’t wrong. It takes time to clean out all the debris from those many years of bad decisions and bad football and build something the Jets have been missing.
“I know this is an instant-coffee league,” Glenn said. “I know from the media to the fans, everybody expects this when you just start, ‘OK, we're going to the Super Bowl.’ But we've all played LEGOs before. We all know that, man, you have to make sure everything is aligned and you keep stacking it day by day by day. And to me, that's how I look at it.
“I understand the outside noise and I'm not affected by outside noise because I know exactly what we're trying to build here. I wish it was instant coffee, but it's not. These things take time.”
If we’re being honest, no one expected the Jets to go to the Super Bowl this year. All the fans and people in the Jets building want to see is another "P" word: progress. That should be the bare minimum and that’s why Glenn is here.
He has been with teams that started miserably, took their lumps, kept at it, improved their roster and flipped the script.
“There has to be patience no matter what because this league is funny sometimes,” Glenn said.
The Lions started 0-10-1 in Glenn’s first season as defensive coordinator in 2021. They ended up with three wins. The following year, they started 1-6, finished 9-8 and just missed the playoffs. The Lions won 27 games over the next two seasons. Glenn went through something similar as a Saints position coach.
“It can be done, fellas,” Glenn said. “I've been there, I know it can.”
Glenn believes it starts with establishing a brand of football and style of play. He wants the Jets to be tough, physical, smart and disciplined. Clearly, it’s going to take more work.
The Jets had a good Week 1, all things considered. They looked like a fully functioning offense when they scored 32 points in a loss to Pittsburgh. Justin Fields was praised for his poise, efficiency and leadership. The run game was terrific. The Jets dominated both lines of scrimmage.
They did an about-face in Week 2.
Fields only completed three passes and missed his receivers before leaving with a concussion. Both lines were dominated by Buffalo. The run defense was abysmal. Penalties led to points. It was a game Jets fans have seen so many times.
Glenn and his coaching staff have to shoulder some blame for not having the team prepared for what Buffalo would do or making the necessary in-game adjustments.
Glenn isn’t losing confidence in his coaches or players. The players remain in Glenn’s corner and believe he knows how to right this ship. But the frustration from players who have experienced several years of losing and dropping games like last Sunday's is already showing.
Linebacker Quincy Williams said he’s “just tired of every week going like the same way.” He said he’s not speaking for his teammates, but Williams surely is not alone in feeling this way.
“You got to be tired of it, for real, for some change to happen,” Williams said.
Williams said they’re trying to find the answers and “find the DNA AG is looking for, what he’s preaching. We believe in it, but it's like, man, I got to see it on tape. I got to see it every single Sunday.”
Patience is a tough sell within the locker room, too. Glenn has to make sure frustration doesn’t affect what he’s trying to build — a consistently competitive football team. He can build with LEGOs after that.
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
