In both the run and pass games, the New York Jets are set up for defensive success against Brian Daboll’s Tennessee Titans offense.
We recently broke down why former Titans defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat is a massive mismatch in the Jets’ favor against Daboll’s run scheme and the Titans’ offensive line.
The Jets also have a significant mismatch in the pass game, except this time, it does not revolve around a player. It’s their new play-caller, Aaron Glenn.
In one particular way, Glenn is a brutal mismatch for Titans quarterback Cam Ward as the young signal-caller kicks off his pursuit of a breakout second season.
Aaron Glenn just has to be himself to exploit Cam Ward
The first overall pick of the 2025 NFL draft had a rough rookie season, even by rookie standards.
Ward averaged just 4.6 net yards per pass attempt (which accounts for sack yardage). It’s the seventh-worst mark relative to the league average in NFL history for a rookie quarterback with at least 300 pass attempts:
- Blaine Gabbert, 2011
- Bryce Young, 2023
- David Carr, 2002
- Josh Rosen, 2018
- Blake Bortles, 2014
- Zach Wilson, 2021
- Cam Ward, 2025
Ward displayed many weaknesses in his messy rookie year, but none was more glaring than his inability to handle the blitz.
Per FTN Fantasy, Ward had a horrendous 33.9% success rate against the blitz, the worst mark among qualified quarterbacks. He was so far behind the rest of the league that the gap between him and the second-worst quarterback, Baker Mayfield (39.3%), was 5.4%, equaled the gap between Mayfield and the 14th-worst quarterback, C.J. Stroud (44.7%).
Ward also ranked second-worst in EPA per dropback (-0.344) and DVOA (-47.7%) against the blitz, beating only J.J. McCarthy in both of those metrics.
While Ward should be expected to handle blitzes better with a year of experience under his belt, his floor in this category is so low that it would be ambitious to expect that he will suddenly be anywhere near the league average in this category in Year 2, especially when the Jets are catching him: Week 1 with a new coordinator, two new starting receivers, and two new starting linemen.
In fact, the preseason raised red flags in this area. Across seven blitzed dropbacks, Ward produced just one first down. He completed 4-of-6 passes for 29 yards (4.9 yards per attempt) while taking a sack. Pro Football Focus rated Ward with a horrifying 21.0 overall grade when blitzed.
This is all music to the ears of Aaron Glenn.
Few coaches like to blitz as much as Glenn. Back in 2024, when he served as the Detroit Lions’ defensive coordinator, Glenn had the Lions ranked second in the NFL in blitz rate at 34.6%, per Pro Football Reference.
With Steve Wilks calling plays for most of 2025, the Jets dropped to 12th in blitz rate at 25.8%. That number should be expected to climb back up to Detroit levels in 2026.
Especially in Week 1, against a young quarterback who is highly susceptible to the blitz.
Ward will already be under a mountain of mental pressure next Sunday. It’s the Titans’ season and home opener under a new head coach, with new uniforms, to boot. Ward will be playing his first real game in a new scheme while trying to gel with an offensive supporting cast featuring a bevy of new faces.
Throw in the physical pressure of Glenn’s blitz packages, and Ward could find himself in football hell in Week 1.
Look for Aaron Glenn to lean all the way into his blitz-heavy tendencies as he makes his return to defensive play-calling.
