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The New York Jets began the season with seven straight losses before running amok in the state of Ohio. New York beat the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns, winning back-to-back games for the first time since September 2024. But the Jets’ hot streak came to an end on Thursday Night Football in Week 11.
The New England Patriots are good again. After missing the playoffs for three seasons, New England has finally rebounded, rewarding its long-suffering fanbase with the best record in the NFL under first-year head coach Mike Vrabel.
The story is quite different in New York. Rookie head coach Aaron Glenn is off to a rocky start and the Jets are poised to miss the playoffs for the 15th straight season.
On Thursday, New York visited Foxborough for a divisional matchup against the Patriots. No one thought the Jets would win and they fulfilled those expectations with a 27-14 loss. So now it’s time to play the blame game.
Glenn coached an odd game on Thursday night. The Jets appeared to have something going early. New York got the ball first and scored on a 14-play, 72-yard drive. It was the team’s first opening-drive touchdown since Week 16 of the 2024 season.
Justin Fields was gashing New England’s defense, running the ball five times for 28 yards and a score on the first drive of the game. The Patriots appeared uninterested in stopping Fields with any kind of defensive adjustment, so Glenn shut him down for them.
Fields only ran five more times after the opening drive, essentially surrendering the only successful aspect of New York’s offense. After the game, Glenn made it clear that stopping Fields was his choice.
“We don’t want to make a habit of having our quarterback run because that puts him in harm’s way,” Glenn explained.
Unfortunately, the quarterback can’t sustain a passing attack. The Jets are dead last in the league, averaging 139.9 passing yards per game. And, predictably, keeping Fields in the pocket stalled the offense. But at least he wasn’t in harm’s way.
Thursday night’s matchup marked the seventh time the Jets have been out-gained and the eighth time they’ve lost the turnover battle in 10 games this season. New York committed seven costly penalties against the Patriots, sinking any hope of pulling off the upset.
Despite the 2-8 record, the team doesn’t appear to have quit on Glenn. But it’s clear fans are watching a first-time head coach figure it out on the fly. And errors with personnel, pacing and game management have hurt the Jets.
Glenn tried to protect Fields after New York’s 27-14 loss, saying “We’ve got to have some guys that make some plays for him.” While that is true, the fifth-year quarterback obviously deserves a share of the blame.
Fields was hamstrung by a coaching staff that made him one dimensional and a WR corps that was missing Garrett Wilson. But his struggles as a passer were on...
