Friday Night Whispers – Never a dull moment

This is quite a unique mid-season QB competition at Jets camp this week.

Aaron Glenn decided he was not going to announce his QB early in the week to maintain a “competitive advantage.”

There is no doubt, it’s a pain in the butt for an opponent to have to prepare for two, perhaps three quarterbacks.

Obviously, most people don’t expect Missouri rookie Brady Cook to play this week.

But you’d have to think that the Bengals didn’t spend much time on the undrafted free agent, who is a little bit of a project.

However, after what Woody Johnson said on Tuesday about Justin Fields, you would have to assume that the Bengals presume that Tyrod Taylor will be the starter this week.

“If you look at any head coach with a quarterback like [Fields] you’re going to see similar results if you go across the league,” Johnson said.

Woody added: “If we could complete a pass, it would look good.”

So in the NFL universe, when an owner makes statements like that about a QB, what are the odds that you see that QB under center the following Sunday?

And while Aaron Glenn does have final say on this matter, it would be hard to believe he’s going to totally ignore Woody’s words and not factor them into his decision, at least a little bit.

Also, the locker room heard Woody’s words, and the guys in the locker room have been on the field with Fields, who has thrown for 45 and 46 yards in the last two games, and threw for 27 yards (in a little over three quarters) against Buffalo.

While it’s unlikely that anybody in the locker room would have been as blunt with the media as Woody was about the player, there must be some players who perhaps agree with the owner that it’s hard to win with the QB play they have received in most games this year.

Now, it’s hard to blame Fields for how he has played, since it’s very similar to his film from the first four years.

So you could make an argument that more blame should go on those who decided to give him two years, $40 million with $30 million guaranteed, and then anoint him the starter sans a competition.

You could also make the argument that, while he holds the ball too long at times, the pass protection has been wildly inconsistent, especially against blitzes and stunts.

You could also make the argument that up until the last two games, the defense wasn’t very good, so it put a lot of pressure on the offense to light up the scoreboard, not a great formula for Fields to be successful, having to play from behind and win shootouts. It’s best for him to play with a good defense and running game, and throw maybe 20-25 times, and win games 23-20.

You could also make the argument that teaming him with a first-time NFL play-caller might not have been ideal. Fields needs an OC who will consistently manufacture production with play calls, and that is hard to do for any coordinator, especially a guy doing it for the first time in the NFL.

But even if you are willing to cut him slack for any of these myriad reasons, this is a results-based business, and aside from the opener against Pittsburgh, Fields has struggled somewhat, and it’s impacted the results.

So it’s probably time to go to Taylor.

And that is likely who Cincinnati is preparing for the most.

Also preparing for the tendencies of Tanner Engstrand’s offense over the first seven games.

Bengals defensive coordinator Al Golden, a New Jersey-native, will likely continue the trend of Jets opponents and blitz a lot.

Remember, even in Taylor’s lone start this year, in Tampa Bay, they were sending the kitchen sink; the Jets’ QB took an awful beating that day.

So that is likely not going to change until the Jets show they can stop it.

If they go with Taylor, maybe they have some packages in for Fields.

But what a wild week at Jets camp, the owner questioning the QB’s ability publicly (something you don’t see a lot in pro sports – owners publicly calling out players individually, especially in season), and then the coach still trying to sell the Bengals and the public that that QB could still start this week, for an 0-7 team.

Never a dull moment around here.

October 24, 2025

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