Well, that felt like more than just a “tough one.”
The New York Jets’ 28-25 loss to the Miami Dolphins somehow managed to reach a new low for an organization that has won five of its 24 games under Aaron Glenn over the past two seasons.
Regardless of whether a move is made during the season, Sunday’s loss made one thing clear: Glenn’s future is pretty much sealed. It felt like the nail in the coffin and the final reminder to New York that he is not the team’s long-term answer at head coach.
Sunday established Glenn’s fate
At some point, enough is enough. Sunday felt like that for the Jets.
Facing a winless Dolphins team, the Jets had an opportunity to keep their season alive and improve to 3-4. Despite everything that has gone wrong this season, a win on Sunday would have kept the season alive and given the team a chance to get back to .500 with another home game against the Las Vegas Raiders, who have struggled over the past few weeks.
Instead, they handed Miami their first win of the season, falling 28-25.
Here we are again. It isn’t even Halloween, and the Jets’ hopes of even a “competitive” season are already pretty much over.
Sound familiar? That’s the discourse around the Jets at this time of year on a near-annual basis.
Glenn isn’t to blame for the franchise’s recent history before his arrival. The Jets have faced that same reality far too often over the past 16 seasons, and it points to a broader organizational problem rather than one specific head coach.
However, Glenn isn’t free from being evaluated for his own body of work. He is now 24 games into his tenure, and what has changed? What has Glenn done well as a head coach?
The Jets are still finding ways to lose games they should be winning, and they keep making costly mistakes and shooting themselves in the foot. There hasn’t been nearly enough progress to suggest things are heading in the right direction.
Does the team look more competitive than last year’s 3-14 squad? Sure, but that shouldn’t be the standard.
It’s time to stop talking about what the Jets could be under Glenn and actually look in the mirror and assess where the organization is, because that’s how you evaluate a head coach—not based on potential. That’s ridiculous in a league where first-year coaches are routinely taking downtrodden franchises to the playoffs.
Right now, the Jets are a 2-5 football team with a 5-19 overall record under Glenn.
What makes Sunday’s loss particularly frustrating is that there were some really solid individual showings, especially from the offense. Geno Smith completed 76.7% of his passes for 287 yards and three touchdowns, although he did throw a costly interception.
Braelon Allen rushed for over 100 yards on the ground, keeping his hot streak alive, while Omar Cooper Jr. continued his excellent rookie campaign, catching all five of his targets for 115 yards and a touchdown. Tight end Mason Taylor caught two contested touchdowns and a two-point conversion.
Overall, the offense produced enough to come out on top. Still, the Jets trailed by 14 points at halftime against a Dolphins team that hadn’t only gone winless through five games, but also hadn’t held a lead.
Yes, you read that correctly. The Jets trailed by two scores at halftime against a team that hadn’t held a single lead this year.
The Dolphins trounced the Jets right out of the gate. On Miami’s opening possession, they marched 76 yards down the field, and Malik Willis threw no incompletions. On their next drive, the Dolphins put together a 14-play, 60-yard TD possession to take a 14-7 lead after the Jets scored on their respective opening series.
The Jets made Willis look like a much more effective QB than he has been all season, while they kept getting beat on the ground, allowing Miami to rush for 156 yards.
Glenn, who calls the defense, got out-schemed right out of the gate, and while his unit improved in the second half, it couldn’t get the big stops when the Jets needed them most. Between a Willis QB sneak on fourth-and-one to seal the game and a Caleb Douglas 63-yard catch-and-run touchdown to beat a blitz and extend the lead to two scores with under five minutes left, the defense allowed too many back-breaking plays in massive spots.
The team also has persistent game-management issues. As the Dolphins drove down the field late in the first half, Glenn held onto all three of his timeouts instead of saving time for the offense to potentially score before halftime.
The bigger problem doesn’t even have to do with his decision; it was the thought process and explanation.
“Maybe we should’ve called our timeouts to get it back, but at that point, we just felt like we were going to stop them and be able to get the ball back,” he said after the game.
First off, what indicated that the defense was going to get a stop? Prior to that drive, the Jets had allowed touchdowns on two of Miami’s three possessions, and when the two-minute warning hit, the Dolphins had already marched 59 yards on 11 plays.
This continues the Jets’ most alarming trend under Glenn. After their latest end-of-half meltdown, they have now been outscored 107-6 in the final two minutes of the second quarter since Glenn took over as head coach, the worst mark in the league over that span.
An even more puzzling answer came after he was asked what he would say to those questioning whether the Jets are moving in the right direction.
“I know that we’re not where we need to be. But I totally believe that we’re on the right track,” said Glenn.
Where, exactly, is the evidence? How is a team that is 2-5 and has lost eight consecutive games in the division “on the right track?”
This game had some positives, to be sure. Cooper looks like he has what it takes to be a high-level weapon in the league, and Taylor continues to prove his reliability in the passing attack. The offense has flashed a fair amount this season.
Still, Glenn is the common denominator behind the problems we’ve seen during his tenure. He is not the only factor, but he seems to be the primary one.
The same results persist. The team keeps finding new ways to lose, and he is at the forefront of most of those.
Firing Glenn in-season, though, just wouldn’t accomplish much. At 2-5, there isn’t much that could change to produce legitimate improvement. There’s just no point in pulling the trigger at this juncture.
That’s a completely separate conversation from whether he deserves a third year in 2027. Sunday’s loss was the nail in the coffin; it is difficult to justify bringing him back at this point.
There are still 10 games left, and Glenn could technically lead a miraculous comeback that shifts the conversation, but Sunday felt like the last straw.
