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Aaron Glenn nailed it.
He was asked on Wednesday, “What has it been like for you coaching a guy like Garrett Wilson who is so competitive on Sundays and hates losing, and it’s pretty obvious?”
“Just like any other player. I mean, we have a number of players, really all of our players feel that way,” Glenn said.
You should see NFL locker rooms after losses. They are like a wake.
Players are beat up after 60 minutes of football, and losing makes the pain worse. People whispering. Few smiles, if any.
I’ve heard players say when they go out to dinner after a game – “The food tastes better after a win.”
So a locker room after a loss is usually filled with competitors who hate losing and are dismayed by what just happened.
I’m not ever going to say it’s everybody, but it’s usually most of them. Over the years, there are always a few guys in it just for the money- not many, but a few.
But the laser focus on Garrett Wilson from team observers is getting to be a bit much. First we had to hear last week, and then after the game, about him not getting enough targets.
After the 2024 season, there were reports that he didn’t want to return if the team brought QB Aaron Rodgers back.
Now the concern is about losses getting to him because he’s such a competitor.
To Wilson’s credit, none of these topics the media has pounded the drum about have come from him publicly. He says the right things in press conferences from a team perspective.
But sometimes you wonder if there is some background stuff from his camp that gets to reporters, and that is why these narratives keep surfacing regarding Wilson not being happy about certain things.
I have no idea if this is the case with all of this stuff, but the thing about the player wanting out if the future Hall of Fame QB was brought back for the 2025 season, that had to come from his camp.
But the bottom line about “Competitor-gate”: Yes, he’s a competitor, but that is the case with most players with the Jets or the NFL. They all “hate losing.” Wilson is not unique in this regard…
Jets OC Frank Reich continues to be raked over the coals.
The Jets have struggled offensively the last three games.
Glenn was asked on Wednesday, “Do you think it’s the head coaches’ responsibility to take a little bit more of a role in the offense? I’m not saying take over the play calling from Frank (Reich) or anything like that, but just maybe spend more time there?
How the heck would that help anything?
All of a sudden Glenn is Andy Reid?
Serious, how would Glenn taking a little bit more of a role in the offense help the Jets?
Doesn’t he have enough on his plate running the defense and managing games?
The defense gave up three relatively easy touchdown passes in New England, and the Patriots ran a “clock-killing” drive late in the game after the Jets offense had cut the lead to 23-16. On this drive, which lasted over six minutes, their run defense was awful against an O-Line with three backups and a third-string running.
Glenn, Brian Duker and Demario Davis (pictured above) need to get to the bottom of what happened on the clock-killing drive at the end of the game, which not only ended in a field goal to make it 26-16, but didn’t get the offense the ball back with much time left on the clock.
Glenn getting more involved in the offense is what one former Jets coach would call a “cookbook answer.”
Has Reich done the best job in the last three games? Obviously not, because the offense has been pedestrian.
But he knows he has some things to fix, and Glenn, a defensive guy, getting involved in that repair – what good would that do?
If the Jets get left guard Dylan Parham back this week, that will help. Parham has been out of the lineup the last three games with a knee injury. While backup Jordan Meredith gives you everything he’s got, his best role is perhaps backup swingman due to some physical limitations like short arms (not his fault).
Reich, a veteran coach, can’t be surprised that he’s now being attacked. It happens to most OCs’ especially with the Jets, where the list of OCs that became war criminals quickly is a long one…
Speaking of offenses, the Jets defense will be facing one of the worst this week with Miami coming to town. The Dolphins are ranked last in yards and are tied with Tennessee for fewest points scored.
But they are coming off a bye week, so with extra time in the lab for the Dolphins coaches to prepare this game plan, expect a lot of bells and whistles from the Miami offense on Sunday.
Jets defenders better read their cues better than what we saw on those three easy touchdown passes to WR Romeo Doubs, WR Pop Douglas, and TE Hunter Henry.
Miami QB Malik Willis might not be Josh Allen, but if you give him layups, he’s going to make them, and those TD passes to Doubs, Douglas, and Henry were layups.
October 22, 2022
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