It has been 14 years since the New York Jets prepared for a playoff game, and it’s been almost a decade since they finished a full season over .500.

New York hasn’t had the worst stretch in NFL history over its decades-long run of futility, but it’s at least flirting with unwanted territory. The Jets have struggled to find the right front office leader, head coach, quarterback, and roster to end their dysfunctional tendencies.

Until now.

As new head coach Aaron Glenn prepares to kick off the 2025 season with his Jets, there has been a stark difference between how he has operated in Florham Park, NJ.

This is the one difference from the previous few years that should make Jet fans thankful. It’s the key ingredient that should even have some fans feeling optimistic about this football season.

After all, the impact of coaching in football is something of a value that no other sport can imagine replicating.

Jets’ fundamental changes

Stability is an often-used word in NFL circles. Its literal definition is, “The state of being stable—firmly fixed—not likely to give way or overturn.”

That has been difficult for the Jets in the last two decades, even more so under their previous regime.

Under Robert Saleh and Joe Douglas, the locker room was less than stable. Players pointed fingers at teammates, coaches, and front office members.

Anonymous sources ran through the organization like wildfire.

The stability needed to build a viable approximation of a successful football team was nowhere to be found.

Above all else, that is precisely what Glenn has brought to the Jets.

Since his arrival in late January, the former defensive coordinator and Pro Bowl cornerback has talked about building the team the right way—through discipline, toughness, and physicality.

Those are buzzwords every franchise head throughout history has uttered, though. Few can live up to those words. In the case of Glenn, he believes he has the right system in place to turn the Jets around.

Football coaching is impactful beyond belief

Since the start of camp, all the Jets have shown is a stable approach to how they want to do things.

“We’re striving for perfection of every detail when it comes to offense and defense,” Glenn said at the start of camp in August.

That drive has also helped other players buy into the coach’s message.

“I think AG (Aaron Glenn) is doing a great job of instilling how important it is that we don’t do those things and stuff like that,” guard John Simpson said early in camp “I think it’s in the guys’ minds to lock in, hone the details because that’s a part of it, it’s the details. So, like I said, he’s doing a great job with that.”

The Jets are not a finished product, nor will they reach that state at any point in 2025.

They are young, were called for a lot of penalties during the preseason, and have new faces across the board. There are going to be times when they don’t look pretty on the field this season.

That is ok, though. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

The Jets’ main focus this season is to show stability from the top down. If they can do that, they’ll find success much faster than people expect and turn around the franchise’s fortunes once and for all.

Football coaching matters greatly. For that—and that alone—the 2025 New York Jets’ key ingredient is something they haven’t had in quite some time, a legitimate head coach who brings proper accountability to the table.

If Aaron Glenn turns out to be the real deal, the Jets’ starting point has already been realized.