Aaron Glenn sounds off on part of Jets' loss that 'bothers' him
Before becoming a coach, New York Jets' head coach Aaron Glenn was a three-time Pro Bowl defensive back in the NFL. So, it makes sense that, following his team's loss to the New England Patriots on Thursday night, Glenn pulled no punches about the performance of his secondary.
During Glenn's postgame press conference, one reporter acknowledged that while New England quarterback Drake Maye is "playing at a high level right now," multiple plays involved Maye hitting a wide-open receiver down the field.
When asked what he saw from the secondary, Glenn initially gave the standard coach answer of, "I really have to watch the tape." He then got more pointed in his comments.
"I'm not trying to run away from that answer at all," Glenn said, H/T SNY Jets on X. "That did happen. There was a number of plays where a guy was running, and that bothers me. It really does. We have to clean that up because you can't let any quarterback have those type of wide-open receivers. Especially him. He will find 'em. That can't be a part of who we are. It was unacceptable."
While the secondary wasn't the only source of struggle for the Jets, it was a big one. Maye was 25-for-34 in the passing game, throwing for 281 yards with a touchdown, no interceptions and a 107.6 rating. Additionally, the Patriots picked up 16 first downs by passing, one more than the Jets picked up by running and passing combined.
The Jets, of course, were active sellers at the trade deadline, parting ways with cornerback Sauce Gardner and defensive lineman Quinnen Williams. Losing their top cornerback and one of their top pass rushers will place even more emphasis on the remaining defensive backs for the rest of the season.
Williams: How about some appreciation for Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor?
Let's pause amid the chaos and gloom surrounding the Cincinnati Bengals' season and applaud Zac Taylor.
The seventh-year head coach epitomizes grace under fire. It may seem odd to praise the coach of an underachieving team, which has lost 6 of its last 7 games, has the worst defense in the NFL and almost certainly is going to miss the playoffs for the third straight season.
But no other franchise makes its head coach take on all the arrows of outside criticism and answer for roster decisions that Taylor had no control over.
And while roster architect Duke Tobin remains in hiding and the Bengals refuse to make the player personnel director available to the media to answer questions about the freefall of a team he said earlier this year could "go win a championship," Taylor has shown no signs of cracking.
Taylor hasn't lost the locker room. He doesn't throw anyone under the bus. He doesn't make excuses. He doesn't bristle at reporters' questions. Taylor has remained the "same guy" through good and bad times, veteran offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. said.
All while a faction of the fanbase blames Taylor for the 3-6 record and is calling for him to be fired.
"He’s got a great understanding of what’s going on in here," Brown said. "He’s very willing to listen to guys. When you talk about building a great, sustainable culture, that’s so important, and to me, at the top of the list."
Unprompted, Brown rattled off the names of all the head coaches he's played for at the University of Oklahoma and at previous NFL stops – Bob Stoops, Lincoln Riley, John Harbaugh, Andy Reid.
Then Brown said: "I would kill for Zac Taylor. He is such an amazing man. You never want to be the guy to let him down. He gets it."
Of Zac Taylor, offensive lineman Orlando Brown Jr. says, "He’s got a great understanding of what’s going on in here. He’s very willing to listen to guys. When you talk about building a great, sustainable culture, that’s so important and, to me, at the top of the list."
Other players I talked to echoed Brown's comments. I asked because it's impressive how Taylor balances keeping a genuinely positive, forward-focused outlook, maintaining the players' respect and not allowing criticism to get to him about decisions made above him.
Keeping this locker room united is extra challenging. On one side, the Bengals have a Super Bowl-caliber offense. But on the other, they have a defense that's giving up 33.3 points per game and leads the league in missed tackles. It takes a strong leader to try to keep guys who are performing at a high level from pointing fingers at the guys who aren't.
Taylor put on a master class in professionalism in how he handled running back Chase Brown's profanity-laden rant to reporters about the defense's inability to hold a lead in the final seconds of the 47-42 loss to Chicago on Nov. 2.
Taylor and Brown later talked about it behind closed doors. Taylor reiterated the importance of personal accountability. When Taylor was asked about Brown's comments at a press conference the next day, the coach praised the running back as a high-character guy, called it a learning experience and calmly said: "I don't expect it to happen again."
Before last season, Taylor told me criticism doesn't bother him, that he understands it comes with the job. Most coaches say that as a way to not acknowledge critics, but then they let the criticism eat them up behind closed doors. But Taylor genuinely meant it, reflecting the lessons of staying humble and not getting caught up in "hoopla" taught to him by his father, Sherwood, a former Oklahoma Sooners team captain.
It puts into perspective why Taylor is such a good fit to coach the Bengals.
Bengals ownership made a decision ahead of hiring Taylor's predecessor, Marvin Lewis, that the head coach would take on a bigger role as the team spokesman. Lewis wasn't good at it. He was often short and condescending with reporters, even when things were going well. Meanwhile, Taylor has always been a model of professionalism.
The club has maintained a policy that no one in the front office talks to the media on-the-record during the season. In goods times, that’s fine. In bad times, fans deserve to hear from the front office – especially when the Bengals' problems are mostly a result of poor player evaluation and roster construction.
The moment calls for the front office to take public accountability. It's now two seasons in a row the defense has failed, and there's no sign of how or when it'll be fixed. The Bengals are trending toward having one of the worst defenses in NFL history. They've taken a total of 10 defensive players in the first three rounds of the draft since 2022, but only cornerback DJ Turner has emerged as a reliable contributor.
The Bengals did almost nothing to fix the defense last offseason. Still, Tobin declared at the NFL Combine in February: “I believe our football team can go win a championship. Absolutely.”
The Bengals then did nothing at the NFL trade deadline this month to try to fix the defense. Tobin wasn't made available to the media. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills made general manager Brandon Beane available to answer questions about why that team didn't make any trades and discuss the players and position groups that are underperforming.
“I went home as mad as any other fan," Beane told reporters about the Bills' inactivity at the deadline. "I’m always wanting to do things to make this team better.”
That's accountability. That's taking heat off the head coach. The Bills, who are 6-3 but have struggled at times, weren't the only team that made its top player personnel executive available to answer questions after the trade deadline.
But Tobin's silence reeks of contempt for the fans. The Bengals front office apparently doesn't feel like it owes anyone an explanation for what's gone wrong this season.
It's unfair that Taylor has been left on an island as the franchise's only voice to provide answers. But he'll continue to practice what he preaches – be a team player.
Contact columnist Jason Williams at [email protected]
The Bengals defense, here allowing the Bears' Colston Loveland to score the winning touchdown in the crushing 47-42 loss, has been the problem for the better part of two seasons, Jason Williams writes.
