Content available exclusively for subscribers
As you all know by now, Jets owner Woody Johnson was critical of Justin Fields at the NFL owner’s meeting on Tuesday.
“The defense is pretty good. If we can just complete a pass, it would look good,” Johnson said.
He said other things, but that is the thrust of it.
Here is an interesting anecdote about Woody’s comments at the league meeting:
At first, when approached, he said he had “Nothing to say,” but then proceeded to talk.
There are no rules that NFL owners have to talk to the media. In fact, some rarely do unless a major announcement, like naming a new coach. Owners like Buffalo’s Terry Pegula, the Rams’ Stan Kroenke, and Miami’s Stephen Ross almost never talk.
So Woody never has to talk if he doesn’t want to, but clearly he wants to . . .
NBC Sports’ Mike Florio was a little critical of the Jets, perhaps taking aim at the PR department, for not helping the owner preparing to talk to reporters at the league meeting.
“Whose giving him advice on what you should and shouldn’t say? Florio said. “Like I probably wouldn’t say that. I don’t know, did they even prepare him for it. That’s part of the job too. Make sure the guys out there speaking know what to say, when to say it, what not to say. You can praise Aaron Glenn without gratuitously trashing a player.”
This is probably a little unfair.
Unless an owner asks staffers for advice on how to address team issues with the media, do you expect people who work for him to give him unsolicited advice?
Do you give unsolicited advice to their boss?
Of course it’s best to have a strategy, but going up to your billionaire boss and telling him what to say and not to say, unless you are asked, is a good way to land in his dog house, and potentially lose your job.
Who does that?
So to blame PR for Woody’s controversial comments is a little naive . . .
On Tuesday, ESPN’s Rich Cimini announced that the team is “moving toward” making Tyrod Taylor the starter.
A lot of people ran with that – I was listening to a sports talk show on Tuesday, and they stated it as a fact that the Jets were going to start Taylor.
When I heard the report on the sports talk show, I checked, and there was nothing that stating that anywhere; it was all based on Cimini writing that they are “moving toward.”
Aaron Glenn didn’t announce the decision on Wednesday, saying he’s going to wait, and not let Cincinnati know today and give them a competitive advantage.
You could argue Cimini was just hedging his bets, with most people assuming the Jets are making a change, after Fields threw for 45 and 46 yards the last two games. So Cimini has plausible deniability since he said, “moving toward.” He has some wiggle room if they choose to go in a different direction.
However, Johnson’s comments make it hard for some to believe that they would go with Fields this week. You are going to go with a QB who the owner said about his play – “If we can just complete a pass, it would look good.”
Johnson basically said Aaron Glenn is doing a good job, but the QB is holding him back.
But who picked that QB?
Glenn.
So when the head coach picks a QB, and that QB struggles and contributes to a 0-7 start, are you going to blame the QB, or the person who picked him, after the QB was 14-30 as a starter his first four years?
To make Glenn kind of a victim here is a little strange.
Did somebody force them to sign Fields? Did they not have a choice?
Did somebody force them to cut Rodgers, who is 4-2 as the Steelers QB this year, tossing 14 TDs so far, compared to Fields’ 4?
So yes, you could make the argument the QB position is holding them back this year, but isn’t that kind of self-inflicted wound that the coach was involved with?
That is the strange part of Johnson victimizing Glenn, because the coach is not getting great QB play.
But Johnson ripping a QB isn’t anything new.
Remember what he said after the 2023 season, the campaign that Aaron Rodgers suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in the opener
“You need a backup quarterback,” Johnson told reporters at the Super Bowl. “We didn’t have one last year.”
He also, according to The Athletic, after a loss in 2022 to the Seattle Seahawks, multiple Jets players reportedly said they heard Johnson say about QB Mike White: “You should throw your helmet, you f–king suck.”
So this is nothing new.
The bottom line is Woody owns the team, so he can say or do whatever he wants related to the team, and who is going to stop him?
Nobody.
October 22, 2025
Premium will return by 9:30 pm (or sooner) on Thursday.