EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Aaron Glenn is a nice guy. He wanted to be the person who would turn around the New York Jets, the same team he was a Pro Bowl star for over two decades.
Had he never gotten into coaching, the 54-year-old would have gone down as a franchise legend.
Instead, his legacy as a player is now being overshadowed by his time as head coach.
Glenn is a concern for the Jets. So much so that the Jets may have no choice at the end of the year but to move on from him. Their latest humiliating home defeat at the hands of another division rival could be the final nail in the coffin.
Aaron Glenn remains New York's biggest weakness
The numbers are what they are. In a year and a half under Glenn, the Jets are 5-19. That includes a 0-8 mark in the AFC East. Those numbers are second-worst in team history, only ahead of Rich Kotite and worse than the collective records of Adam Gase, Robert Saleh, and Lou Holtz.
It's not as though the team is devoid of talent either. New York has a second-overall pick at edge rusher with 5.5 sacks to begin his career, a young offensive core of stars, and a talented secondary that seems to be getting better each week.
Yet despite the talent, the team still isn't good enough, and it showed on Sunday.
The formerly 0-5 Dolphins didn't play with a lead for the first six weeks of the season. Against the Jets, though, the team led from the first quarter on. Making matters worse is the fact that the Jets had a 100-yard rusher, a 100-yard receiver, a defense that forced their opponent into just seven second-half points, and a quarterback who threw three touchdowns...
And it all didn't matter.
We all have to get better, from coaching to playing to everything that we’re doing; we have to get better. But the thing is, this is seven games. We still have a number of games left and that’s how we look at it.
Aaron Glenn on Jets' Week 7 loss
Glenn's words have tried to calm fans since he was first hired. All they have done, though, is come up with empty promises and guarantees. The team's talent has improved, but the coaching staff continues to make mistakes when it matters most.
On Sunday, the Jets didn't call a single timeout with minutes left in the first half. After the game, Glenn gave a confusing answer as to the reason why.
"Maybe we should have 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," Glenn said. "That's something that we should have done is use our timeouts."
Wait. What?
These are the kinds of in-game management decisions that Glenn has routinely failed to make throughout his head-coaching tenure in New York. It also highlights how much of the team is held back on the field by coaching mistakes.
After one year, those mistakes can be forgiven. After two years and minimal changes, those mishaps aren't just mistakes. They are the breakdown of what the coaching staff is.
And it's hard to see the era led by Glenn changing into anything more than it already is.
Jets still believe in Glenn... but for how long?
Despite the lack of wins, the main reason Glenn has watched his team play hard is that they still believe in his plan. Despite a three-point loss, the fourth one-score defeat for the team this year, the Jets remained steadfast in their belief that their head coach is the right man to turn the team into a winner.
"Because he's a great leader, former Jet," Jets guard Joe Tippmann said. "He's somebody who wants to win and we want to win. We follow AG."
But the reality is that while the players still have the coaching staff's back, their lack of effectiveness on the field is a final precursor to the reality of the team being unable to find success with Glenn as head coach.
If you ask the players, the team is still heading in the right direction despite their 2-5 mark.
"I like to think we’re heading in the right direction," Garrett Wilson said. "We’re the only ones
that can get ourselves out of it. Got to keep chopping and hope that it all comes together here soon.
Make it come together."
But for all the defense of Glenn the Jets have, the reality is that his record and struggles have shown to be more than just a learning curve. This is who this staff is. This is who Glenn is as a coach, and it might just be time to move on.
If anything, it seems like the writing is on the wall at the very least.
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