Aaron Glenn defends his quarterback better than his team defends anything.
Justin Fields’ struggles leading the Jets’ offense have been ongoing. As the head coach, Glenn is asked every week about whether there might be a change in Fields’ status as the starting quarterback
Glenn usually doesn’t reveal much, but he admitted, “I’m evaluating everything,” after the Jets lost to the Patriots on Thursday night.
Translation: A quarterback change could happen after this mini-bye. It might be Tyrod Taylor time next week in Baltimore. Maybe Taylor can push the ball down the field more. It won’t matter though if the Jets’ defense doesn’t improve.
Fields’ ineffectiveness — 116 yards passing — wasn’t the only reason the Jets lost to the Patriots. Glenn and coordinator Steve Wilks’ defense also played a big role in this loss, and many others this season.
New England quarterback Drake Maye had all the time in the world to throw and his receivers were running free. He was sacked once and completed six passes of at least 20 yards.
“Communication issues came up,” Glenn said.
The Jets have new faces in the secondary because of the trades of Sauce Gardner and Michael Carter II and injuries to Andre Cisco and Azareye’h Thomas. That played a part, but Glenn said, “That’s not an excuse.”
It can’t be. Defensive breakdowns and allowing big gains have happened all season.
The Jets have given up 40 plays of at least 20 yards, 31 of them passing. They’ve yielded the eighth-most yards per completion (10.4) in the NFL and the seventh-highest opponent passer rating (104.1). The defense has allowed 18 touchdown passes and have zero interceptions.
As for Fields, he should have thrown for a lot more than 116 yards. He missed some throws and his receivers dropped at least three passes. AD Mitchell had two drops, both would have been big gains, and Jeremy Ruckert had one.
Glenn acknowledged all of that, saying Fields “did some good things,” missed open guys and the receivers have to make plays.
“There were some passes in that game I thought that we had chances to make some big plays on and we didn’t finish those,” Glenn said. “It’s Justin completing those passes and the guys that have the chances to make those plays, they have to go out there and make those plays too.”
Breece Hall put the offensive struggles on the skill-players, not Fields.
“We didn’t make enough plays,” Hall said. “I feel like Justin did his thing, and we’ve got to do a better job and make the game easier for him.”
Fields rushed for 67 yards, the most anyone has had against the Patriots’ No. 1 ranked run defense. Are Fields’ running ability and some drops enough to save him? The answer probably should be no.
Glenn said whatever decision he makes is “because it gives us the best chance to win.” This is the right time for a change. It’s hard to win if you can’t pass the ball unless some crazy stuff happens.
The Jets beat Cleveland last Sunday with Fields throwing for only 54 yards. But they had a kickoff return touchdown and punt return touchdown.
Glenn has a lot of things to clean up on both sides of the ball this week, but it starts with defending. The Jets need to defend better, and Glenn can’t defend sticking with Fields anymore.
HALL PASS
All the talk about the Jets utilizing Hall’s ability to line up as receiver and be a weapon catching passes out of the backfield has been just that — talk.
Hall has been targeted only nine times in the past five games and has seven catches. The Jets were without Garrett Wilson for three of them.
“That’s something that we got to get better at,” Glenn said. “We got to make sure we target Breece a lot more.”
Hall has been used in pass protection, but still. Not making Hall a big part of the passing game is malpractice.
Fields’ passing numbers might look better if he just dumped the ball off to Hall sometimes. It would also change how teams defend the Jets. Hall caught a screen pass and took it 42 yards for the go-ahead touchdown against Cleveland.
“We have to make sure that we can build these concepts to where Breece gets the ball more in the passing game,” Glenn said.
WILSON’S STATUS
Wilson (knee) is on short-term injured reserve, but it’s fair to wonder if he will return this season. He’s out until at least Week 15 after re-injuring his right knee. Glenn said he expects Wilson to return but added “a lot of it has do with the docs. …. Hopefully he’ll be back with us.”
PICK FREE
Glenn, a former cornerback, had 24 interceptions in his Jets’ career. That’s 24 more than the Jets have this season. They’re the only NFL team with zero picks.
“it’s tough to even imagine that because you have tipped balls, you have things like that, that you usually get interceptions on,” Glenn said. “I don’t know if it’s bad luck, I don’t know,
I can’t finger point that, or put my hands on that, but that’s something that we’ve got to do a better job.”
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
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