Justin Fields struggles, but Aaron Glenn again mum on Jets' starting QB
Jets quarterback Justin Fields runs with the ball against the Cleveland Browns during the second quarter at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Brad Penner
Aaron Glenn’s refusal to name his starting quarterback before each game continues, but he acknowledged that he’s “absolutely” concerned that opposing teams don’t respect the Jets’ passing game.
The Jets are last in the NFL in passing at 143.8 yards per game. Not having Garrett Wilson for up to a month won’t help that.
The wide receiver suffered a knee sprain in Sunday’s 27-20 win over Cleveland and could miss three to four weeks, according to ESPN. He reinjured the knee that kept him out of the previous two games. Wilson had an MRI on Monday.
Despite the Jets’ two-game winning streak, they still have a quarterback conundrum. Justin Fields completed 6 of 11 passes for only 54 yards. It was the third time in his last four starts that he has thrown for fewer than 55 yards and the fourth time this season.
Regardless of whether Glenn wants to admit it, starting Tyrod Taylor on Thursday night in New England has to be on the table. If Fields starts and struggles to move the offense against the surging Patriots, winners of seven straight, Glenn will have to consider an in-game quarterback switch.
“Please don’t ask me anything about the quarterbacks,” Glenn said Monday morning. “You know I’m not going to tell you, and I don’t want to waste my time when it comes to that, when it comes to who’s starting.”
Glenn said the coaches and players know who the starter is, but he will keep that in-house.
The Jets’ special teams might have saved Fields from being benched during Sunday’s game. The Jets led 14-7 after Kene Nwangwu returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown and Isaiah Williams took a punt 74 yards for a TD in a span of 36 seconds in the first quarter.
“I’m on the sideline like, ‘Yo, we don’t need to do no work,’ ” Fields joked. “Nah, special teams definitely did their thing.”
The offense didn’t. Fields didn’t lead a touchdown drive until the fourth quarter, when he threw a screen pass that Breece Hall took 42 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.
Hall carried the Jets’ offense, accounting for 125 of their 181 scrimmage yards. Glenn credited him with “being Superman and making some of those plays.”
However, it’s not sustainable to win this way when the quarterback play and passing game are that ineffective.
Cleveland played a lot of cover-zero, which is a man-to-man, all-out blitz defense. Denver did it against the Jets, too. They lost that Week 6 game, 13-11, with Fields completing nine passes for 45 yards.
“I don’t know if that’s sustainable even for defenses to just play cover-zero all the time because you can get burned like that,” Glenn said. “So we welcome the challenge.”
A major issue is that defenses don’t respect Fields as a passer, for good reason. He’s 32nd in yards (1,143) and tied for 30th in touchdown passes (six). Both are the least among quarterbacks with at least eight starts.
More teams will defend the Jets that way, and Glenn said they have to make teams respect their passing game. Teams are loading up to pressure Fields and try to limit Hall. The Jets don’t have a No. 2 receiver behind Wilson. Six players caught one pass on Sunday.
“That’s when we got to make teams pay,” Glenn said. “We only had 11 shots at it yesterday. I think the more we get chances like that, I think we will make them pay.”
Glenn expressed confidence that rookie Arian Smith and newly acquired receivers AD Mitchell and John Metchie will be able to win their one-on-one matchups. Mitchell, acquired from the Colts in the trade involving Sauce Gardner, was inactive Sunday. He could play this week.
Fields threw his first interception of the season Sunday, but Glenn liked his aggressiveness as he tried to move the ball down the field. “Collectively, as an offense, I think we did some good things,” Glenn said. “The thing is, when you get two returns like that on special teams, the offense doesn’t have a good amount of plays, especially in the passing game.
“We only threw 11 passes . . . Obviously, there’s some things that we got to clean up there. But there are also some good things that he did.”
Notes & quotes: Wilson, Will McDonald (quadriceps) and Harrison Phillips (foot) were listed as did not participate in practice Monday, which was an estimation because the Jets held a walk-through . . . Glenn ruled out rookie cornerback Azareye’h Thomas (concussion) for Thursday’s game.
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
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