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One thing that is helping Aaron Glenn during his tough first year and a half as a Jets coach is how the New York market has changed.
And this is a blessing for him and his family.
This is not the fire-breathing market it used to be, at least as far as newspapers.
Look, there might be criticism on sports talk show, but very little from people who cover the team regularly.
And there is a big difference there.
First of all, local radio doesn’t have the juice it used it, like when “Mike and the Mad Dog” basically precipitated the Mike Piazza trade.
So Evan Roberts or Craig Carton can scream and yell about how the coach needs to be fired, but that doesn’t matter as much these days.
Back in the day, New York Daily News columnist Dick Young wielded so much power he forced the Tom Seaver trade to Cincinnati.
Now, that was a terrible trade and should never have happened, but I’m trying to make an overarching point about how the market has changed.
If the beat and the market was like it was in a different era, Glenn might be gone by now.
I’m not calling for him to be fired. I don’t fire people. I’m just saying there is little “truth to power” right now with the questions he’s getting.
Like today.
After the game on Sunday, Jets safety Minkah Fitzpatrick said something quite shocking, at least coming from a player on the team.
Fitzpatrick was asked about the reason for the Jets’ defensive collapse against the Las Vegas Raiders in the second half, and said, “I think we had some bad penalties, bad mistakes. Jets being Jets.”
This is an unbelievable quote. It’s basically a current player going down the “Same Old Jets” road with his own team.
And in a different era, somebody might have asked Fitzpatrick, “Was missing a tackle on Caleb Douglas’ 63-yard TD catch in the loss to Miami a case of ‘Jets being Jets.'”
That was him.
It’s almost like Fitzpatrick is talking like he’s still with the Steelers or Dolphins.
One issue for the Jets over the years is signing or trading for mercenaries, who don’t really seem that into being there.
Rex Ryan used to call them “individual contractors.”
Not saying Fitzpatrick is that, but that quote would lead some people to see it that way.
Fitzpatrick’s comment on Sunday was after Glenn’s press conference, so nobody would’ve had a chance to ask the coach after the game.
But today, nobody asked him about it!
In some football cultures, what Fitzpatrick said would possibly lead to a trade.
Speaking of Ryan, he went off on Fitzpatrick on ESPN Radio New York on Monday, calling him “a shell of himself” and adding, “This is horrendous. If this is actually how he feels then adios… don’t let the door hit you in the [expletive]. ”
Don’t you think this Fitzpatrick quote was worthy of a question to Glenn on Monday?
Glenn is lucky he’s coaching this team now, and not, when his former coach Rich Kotite was in the mid-90’s, when he was brutalized by the newspapers.
As “The Guardian” once put it, “The media’s job is to hold powerful individuals, corporations, and government institutions accountable.”
For the most part, that is not happening here.
Once again, not calling for anybody to be fired. It’s not how I roll, just saying Glenn is fortunate to be in the current New York market, not that one he played in…
Glenn on Monday on his job security:
“I understand how this league is. I understand what this business is about, but my first job is each week improving this team. And that’s the only thing that I think about.”
Improvement is important, but winning is the most important thing.
And while the Jets have improved on offense, they are going backwards on defense.
As we touched on Sunday, you could make a strong argument that whoever made the decision to stop Glenn for hiring Wink Martindale (or some other veteran DC in January), and told him to call the defense himself, perhaps made a mistake.
While some head coaches have the skill set to handle managing the game and calling one side of the ball (like the Jets next opponent, KC’s Andy Reid), many are not great at it. Different strokes for different folks. If I were a coach, I’d be awful at it.
Glenn struggled with game management last year without calling the defense. So adding calling the defense to managing the game was perhaps a bridge too far.
It’s possible the move to not allow Glenn to hire another DC, was connected to the fact that they are still paying off Steve Wilks.
“Follow the money” as that famous movie line went.
If Glenn had done a better job of vetting his first DC, we might not be having this conversation.
We vetted him on this website and told Glenn not to hire Wilks before he did. Google it. Well, actually, we said to hire him as a position coach, and not a coordinator.
But it’s clear that Glenn’s instinct to want to be a CEO coach was the right one.
As Bill Parcells liked to say, “Know who you are.”
Perhaps Glenn knew that doing both jobs was a bad idea.
November 2, 2026
