Through 22 games under Aaron Glenn, the New York Jets haven’t had many victories; they are just 5-17 over that span.
Sunday’s win over the Cleveland Browns looks like Glenn’s most important one yet.
Sunday’s victory was huge for AG
Glenn had just three wins in his first season as the Jets’ head coach, all coming in a five-game stretch after an 0-7 start. The latter says it all; an 0-7 start was all that fans needed to see. By the time the Jets got their first win, the meaningful part of the season was already over. It was a win, but it didn’t feel like it meant much.
Not to mention, all three of Glenn’s victories last year were by one score against backup quarterbacks. It’s not as if there was a win folks could point to that really touted the direction of the franchise.
In Week 1 of 2026, against the Tennessee Titans, Glenn took care of business against a team that is just one of three squads in the league to remain winless through five weeks. So yes, a Week 1 win was encouraging, for sure, especially with all of the Robert Saleh storylines, but it’s not like he beat a juggernaut of an opponent.
Throughout Weeks 2-3, the Jets suffered hard-fought losses, including a Week 2 overtime defeat to the Green Bay Packers after holding a double-digit fourth-quarter lead, largely due to Glenn’s poor clock management. Then, in Week 4 against the Chicago Bears, his team got their teeth kicked in for the first time this year.
Entering Sunday’s matchup, the Jets faced their first real “must-win” game of the season. Falling to 1-4 with a home loss to Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns before heading to Foxborough to play the New England Patriots would have pretty much ended any hopes of the Jets even having a competitive year.
However, after a win on Sunday, the Jets are still alive at 2-3. Is it ideal? No, not at all. It’s certainly not worth celebrating five weeks into the season, but there is a night-and-day difference between being 2-3 and 1-4.
What sticks out from the Jets’ Week 5 is that when Glenn’s team really needed to deliver, they did. By no means was the outing pretty. The offense was up and down while Geno Smith had one of his weaker showings, and the Jets made several mistakes that could have cost them the game. But for the first time this year, the Jets actually found a way to win an ugly game.
In a way, the win was almost the complete opposite of the Jets’ Week 2 loss to Green Bay. Against the Packers, the Jets were in the driver’s seat all game before letting the game slip away down the stretch.
Meanwhile, against the Browns, it was the opposite. The Jets weren’t firing on all cylinders offensively and gave Cleveland plenty of chances to run away with the game. Yet, the biggest difference is that Gang Green came through when it mattered most.
Down the stretch, the Jets’ defense delivered three consecutive stands while Braelon Allen’s 22-yard rushing touchdown regained the Jets’ lead after Deshaun Watson and Denzel Boston connected for a deep TD in the fourth quarter.
Glenn deserves a lot of credit for that. He should also receive praise for what happened defensively. After struggling to generate consistent pressure up front from Weeks 2-4, especially Week 4, his defense tallied a whopping eight sacks, the most by any NFL team in a game this season.
It’s also important to remember the Browns were 3-1 entering Sunday’s game. They didn’t play like a 3-1 team at all, but they were far from a group that the Jets were expected to steamroll. The Browns were in the midst of a three-game winning streak while the Jets had lost three consecutive games.
At the end of the day, Glenn is still 5-17. Sunday’s win on its own is not enough to change the fact that he still hasn’t shown nearly enough to earn a third season as the Jets’ head coach. To prove that he should be brought back, he still has a lot to show over the season’s final 12 games. However, Sunday’s win was a step in the right direction.
Could you imagine the conversations if the Jets ended up on the losing side of this one? The whole week would be spent discussing Glenn’s job security and whether or not he should be fired before the season even ends. However, thanks to his team’s gritty win, that is not the case. As of Oct. 12, the Jets’ season is still alive, and that couldn’t be said a year ago.
The Jets’ victory over Cleveland wasn’t pretty by any measure, but it was a perfect example of a win that good teams can grind out.
For once, Glenn’s group found itself on the winning side of an ugly dogfight.
