With the Jets falling to 0-6 on Sunday in London and quarterback Justin Fields having his worst game of the year, the question was inevitable. Jets coach Aaron Glenn nevertheless didn’t appreciate it.
“Justin’s numbers were not good from this game,” a reporter asked. “Is he going to be your quarterback next week, or would you consider —"
“Come on, man, what kind of question is that?” Glenn said.
“He did not have a good game,” the reporters replied. “I mean, I think it’s a fair question.”
“There’s a number of guys that, you know, I mean, sometimes this league is like this,” Glenn said. “There are guys that have bad games. That doesn’t mean you just bench him. Come on, you know better than that.”
It is a fair question. Fields completed nine of 17 for 45 yards. Factoring in the 55 yards lost on nine sacks, the net passing yards were minus-10.
Here’s another fair question. Why did the Jets give Fields a two-year, $40 million contract, with $30 million fully guaranteed at signing? The 49ers got Mac Jones for two years, $8.4 million. The Colts got Daniel Jones for one year, $14 million.
In hindsight, they overpaid Fields. And they may have picked the wrong guy to run the offense. At this point, their choices are to admit the mistake and bench Fields for Tyrod Taylor, or double down and hope things get better.
The Jets have two more games before the bye — Panthers and Bengals. If they can’t win one or both, changes could be coming. After today, it looks like there won’t be quarterback change. Which could mean other changes will be made in order to shift the blame away from Fields.
Many people watching Sunday morning’s game between the Jets and Broncos in London were scratching their heads about the Jets’ handling of their final possession of the first half.
Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson had an even stronger reaction. Cameras caught Wilson shouting at head coach Aaron Glenn as the team made their way off the field after letting time run out without running a play for the final 37 seconds of the half. The Jets had converted a fake punt with over a minute left to retain control of the ball, but they moved without urgency throughout the rest of the drive despite being near midfield.
“I just didn’t know exactly what the plan was. Once I figured it out, I was disappointed,” Wilson said, via Zack Rosenblatt of TheAthletic.com.
Glenn said the team handled things that way because they didn’t want to give the Broncos the ball back with a timeout and time left to put points on the board. When asked about Wilson, Glenn said, via SNY, “who wouldn’t be pissed” with the way things were going offensively in the game.
The Broncos won’t find much to like about their offensive performance in London on Sunday, but their defense did enough to send them back to Denver with a win.
Jets quarterback Justin Fields was sacked nine times and the Jets failed to score a touchdown during the Broncos’ 13-11 win. The victory moves the Broncos to 4-2 ahead of a Week 7 home date with the Jets’ co-tenants at MetLife Stadium.
When the Broncos face the Giants, they’ll try to find a better plan for quarterback Bo Nix and company. Nix threw a touchdown on the final play of the first quarter, but the Broncos did not score any points over the next two quarters. Nix did not have a completion in the third quarter and a holding penalty in the end zone on guard Quinn Meinerz put the Jets up 11-10 at one point.
Nix found his footing with four completions on a drive that led to Wil Lutz’s go-ahead field goal in the fourth quarter, but a sack on third down with around three minutes to play left the Jets with a chance to pull out a win. The Jets got across midfield, but a sack by Justin Strnad moved them back and another sack on fourth down ended the game. That sack came when the Jets opted to run a play rather than try a 62-yard field goal.
The Jets managed 82 offensive yards in the game as Fields went 9-of-17 for 45 yards. The Broncos only had 248 yards, so fans in London may not be clamoring for another visit from either of these clubs any time soon.
Among the questions Jets head coach Aaron Glenn will field after the game was the team’s bizarre approach to the end of the first half. They had the ball near midfield down 10-6 with a minute left, but ran three plays and then let the final 35 seconds run off the clock without running a fourth play. Give the team’s record and where they were on the field in a close game, it was curious decision making that continues a rough start to Glenn’s tenure with the team.
They will host the Panthers next Sunday in their next bid to pick up their first win of the year.
The Jets bungled the end of the first half of Sunday’s game against the Broncos in London, but they have found their way into the lead in the third quarter.
Broncos left guard Quinn Meinerz was flagged for holding Jets defensive lineman Micheal Clemons in the end zone on the first play after a Jets punt pinned the Broncos on their own 3-yard-line. That’s a safety and the Jets now lead 11-10 with under four minutes to play in the third quarter.
The Jets opened the half by driving for a field goal and their defense continued to play its best game of the season by forcing a punt on the first Broncos possession.
The Broncos will try to change that over the final 15-plus minutes so that they can avoid a painful loss to the NFL’s only winless team.
The Jets had the ball near midfield as time wound down in the first half of Sunday’s game against the Broncos in London and they faced a decision on fourth-and-1 with just over a minute to play.
They opted to run a fake punt that running back Breece Hall converted for a first down and they took a timeout with a minute left on the clock, but there wasn’t much urgency from there. A run by Hall and a sack led to them using their final timeout. The Broncos might have called one to give them a chance at getting the ball back and a pass to Josh Reynolds set up another fourth down with about 35 seconds left. The Jets did not run another play, however, and time ran out with the Broncos up 10-6.
If they’d held onto the timeout, they could have run a Hail Mary without any worry about giving the Broncos a chance to score, but head coach Aaron Glenn played things differently.
Wide receiver Garrett Wilson could be seen yelling at Glenn as the teams made their way off the field, although it’s unclear if it was due to the poor clock management or an overall offensive approach that resulted in 32 yards and two first downs.
Jets linebacker Cam Jones is doubtful to return from a hip injury and edge rusher Will McDonald went for a concussion evaluation in the first half.
The Jets converted their first defensive takeaway of the season and a long Kene Nwangwu kickoff return into two field goals, but a Bo Nix touchdown pass to tight end Nate Adkins was enough to put the Broncos in front after 30 minutes of play.
