Aaron Glenn wants the Jets to close the door on teams, but he needs to open it for that to happen
Jets head coach Aaron Glenn against the Green Bay Packers at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: AP/Adam Hunger
Aaron Glenn has talked about the Jets needing to be more opportunistic. The same goes for their coach. Glenn did not answer when opportunity knocked on Sunday.
It knocked again on Monday and Glenn didn’t answer then either.
The Jets blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead to Green Bay and still had an opportunity to win in regulation. Glenn chose not to call timeout and give Geno Smith and the offense the football with about a minute left. The Jets lost in overtime, 20-17.
Glenn had plenty of time to reflect on his decision to essentially let the clock run out and play for overtime. He rewatched the game, slept on it, maybe rewatched it again by the time he spoke with reporters on Monday morning. Here was an opportunity for Glenn to issue a mea culpa and acknowledge he could have – and should have – handled this differently. Glenn still defended his decision.
Dane Belton had just tackled Christian Watson, forcing a fourth-and-5 from the Jets’ 45 with 1:02 to play. Opportunity was banging on the door. Glenn didn’t answer. The Packers ended up taking a delay of game penalty and a 10-second run off and ran a play with two seconds left.
Glenn said this scenario has come up frequently with his game-management and analytical guys. “When we have the punter at the logo,” Glenn said, “we don't want to put ourselves in a situation where we get our guys in a backed-up situation.”
That’s the exact opposite of being opportunistic and aggressive. Former Jets coach Herm Edwards famously said, “You play to win the game.”
You coach to win the game, too.
“They had two timeouts,” Glenn added. “If you put yourself in a backed-up situation and things don't go as planned, I think you're giving the other team an opportunity to go down there and be able to make a play. I just felt like that was the right decision to do at that point.”
The defensive-minded Glenn was thinking too much like a defensive coach. An offensive-minded coach immediately calls timeout and absolutely believes he’s going to be able to put his group in position to walk-off the game and walk out of MetLife Stadium with a win.
This was the reason you acquired Smith, a veteran quarterback who has seen and been through so much. Give him the ball and let him try to get it to his playmakers. This was the reason you hired Frank Reich as offensive coordinator, a former player and experienced coach. Let him call some plays that get the Jets in field goal range.
That one decision didn’t cost the Jets the game, but it was an opportunity lost. An opportunity taken away from Smith to lead the Jets to a win on a day when the fans were chanting, “Let’s Go Geno.”
The offense had their issues throughout the day, especially running the football, but Glenn’s defense did their job in that situation. Belton’s tackle kept Green Bay out of field goal range. They made a big play to give the offense the ball back. Glenn didn’t do his job at that point.
“Definitely thinking that that was being able to get the ball back to the offense,” Belton said Monday. “Obviously situations happen differently. It wasn't the case at the end of regulation. But I feel like as a defense, that was important for us to get that stop and not even allow them to get any more yards, especially not a first down.”
Glenn also defended the decision to run the ball on fourth-and-1 at midfield on the previous series. Braelon Allen was stuffed for no gain.
More creativity was needed here since the run game got little traction on Sunday. Smith lining up in shotgun and Allen 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage was not the right call.
Glenn lamented all the times the Jets weren’t opportunistic in this game. There were plenty.
They forced five fumbles and only recovered one. That takeaway gave the Jets the ball at Green Bay’s 18. The offense sputtered and the Jets settled for a field goal. The Jets had the ball at Green Bay’s 33 in the second half, but on second down Smith pitched it to Allen who was expecting a handoff. It became a 14-yard loss. The Jets didn’t score that series.
“That's something that we talk about quite a bit is being opportunistic when those opportunities come to be able to get points,” Glenn said. “That's something we talk about offensively all the time is making sure we take advantage of those opportunities because to me, that's how you close the door on a team.”
Glenn should know that you can’t close the door if you don’t open it when opportunity knocks.
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
