The Aaron Glenn era started off on a high note, as the New York Jets stormed into Lambeau Field and manhandled a playoff-caliber Green Bay Packers team. It was only an exhibition, but the Jets looked precisely like the team Glenn promised to build.
The follow-up was every bit as underwhelming as the debut was promising.
Glenn isn’t shying away from that.
In a passionate speech at the postgame presser, Glenn called for better from the “sloppy” and “undisciplined” Jets after their 31-12 preseason loss, while also acknowledging the “beauty” of the sport.
“When you look at the overall game, it wasn’t good enough at all. That’s no surprise. And on all levels. I thought we were sloppy, thought we were undisciplined. When I say undisciplined, I’m talking about some of the penalties we had, we had about eight or nine penalties we got to clean up. But overall, man, we got to play much better.
“And that’s the beauty of this game. It’s the beauty of this game, because it always teaches you lessons. One week, man, you can be riding high because things are going extremely well. Then the next week, man, it can put you on your ass. It can put you on your ass. And the thing about it, man, if you want to be a winning team, you have to always do everything you can to stay at that level of always keeping things above board. And we didn’t do that today.”
It was a humbling experience for the Jets, who will take the short drive back to Florham Park with plenty to learn from once they watch the game film. The Jets committed two more penalties than the Giants for 43 more yards, while they were outgained 478-333 in total offense.
Big Blue’s first-team offense registered a touchdown drive on the strength of an 80-yard bomb yielded by the Jets’ veteran starting safety, Andre Cisco. Meanwhile, New York’s first-team offense failed to find the end zone on either of its two drives. The Justin Fields-led passing attack struggled mightily, netting four yards on five pass attempts.
While the Jets walk out of this one with much less to be excited about than last week, fans can take solace in the brutal honesty of their new head coach. Whereas his predecessors may have sugarcoated a display like this, Glenn is confronting the team’s weaknesses head-on – even in a “meaningless” game.
Following in the footsteps of his mentor, Bill Parcells, Glenn is seizing every opportunity to demand higher standards in an organization where losing is customary.
