EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — At halftime, Aaron Glenn had only one thing on his mind.
The New York Jets’ head coach walked off the field, his team down by seven and en route to its seventh straight loss to open the season in a 13-6 decision to the Carolina Panthers at MetLife Stadium on Sunday afternoon. His hand-picked starting quarterback, Justin Fields, had completed just half of his passing attempts and had thrown for just 46 yards.
Fields had taken his last snap of the afternoon. Fittingly, he’d been sacked for a loss of 10 yards on the final play of the half. The Jets appeared to have time to run one more play, but Glenn said he just wanted to “get out of it and get into halftime.”
“As the head coach, you have to take a look at the team to see what is best for you to put yourself in position to go win the game,” said Glenn.
Glenn detailed his plan to the offensive staff. He spoke with Fields and backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor. When the Jets’ offense took the field in the third quarter, Fields remained on the sideline.
Fields said he was “a little bit” surprised that he was benched, but said that he understood why Glenn made the decision.
The Jets’ offense struggled from the start. On New York’s first drive of the afternoon, the Jets threw the ball on the fourth and five at the Panthers’ 33. Fields missed Josh Reynolds. The offense began its day with a turnover, though Glenn said he liked his offense’s fourth-down plan going into the game.
On the next drive, Fields was sacked for a loss of four yards. After two eight-yard plays (a pass and a handoff), Fields airmailed another pass to Reynolds.
On the ensuing drive after a Panthers touchdown, Fields was sacked for a loss of seven. As the first half expired, he was sacked for a loss of 10.
“It’s life,” said Fields. “It’s football. I’ve learned to not take anything personal.”
Taylor would not fare much better than Fields did. Though he threw for 126 yards, he finished the loss with a completion rate of less than 50%. Fields did not throw an interception in any of his 12 passing attempts. Taylor threw two.
On the second drive of the third quarter, Taylor escaped three Panthers defenders and found Tyler Johnson with a deep pass for a 20-yard gain. He then attempted two more deep throws. The first was incomplete to Allen Lazard. On the next, he attempted to find Reynolds in the endzone, but the pass was intercepted by Jaycee Horn.
With 4:28 left in the fourth quarter, Taylor attempted to find Reynolds, but was once again intercepted by Horn.
“A lot of this league is about starting fast,” said Taylor. “But how you finish is really what it boils down to as well. And we need to be better at both.”
Fields and Taylor were sacked a total of six times combined on Sunday, exposing the more systemic issue. The Panthers’ defense has totaled just 11 sacks this season, which is tied with four other units for 12th in the NFL.
“It seemed like we lost a good bit of the one-on-ones,” Glenn said, adding that he needed to review video from the game. “And that can’t happen in those situations. I guess it’s obvious, teams are going to try and pressure us, and we have to do a better job.”
Glenn would not commit to a starting quarterback for New York’s Week 8 road matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. He stated the obvious: the passing game needed to improve, and that it needed to be more efficient, which he said hasn’t been the case in the Jets’ past two games. As head coach, Glenn said he shoulders the responsibility of getting all components of his team going.
The Jets have little else to do other than show up at practice again this week. Glenn praised his players for doing so in spite of the team’s winless record to date.
“What gives me hope as I go through these weeks is just exactly how they come out on Wednesday in practice,” Glenn said, “And then how they come out on Thursday in practice. Same with Friday. Listen, we’re not getting the results that we want. But I do know this: these players are not giving up at all.”
