Perhaps it’s time for Aaron Glenn to reconsider his perspective on success. After the season’s opening day, the Jets head coach declared he wasn’t interested in moral victories. It’s unfortunate, because now, a month later, that seems to be all his Jets team can claim.
That, and a few records. No New York Jets coach had ever started their position with five consecutive losses. However, with this devastating defeat to the Dallas Cowboys, Glenn has charted new territory.
His team has allowed at least 25 points in every game, tying the Jets’ record for the longest such streak in a single season. Moreover, New York is the first NFL team to record zero takeaways in the first five games of a season.
That moral victory feels like ages ago. In Week 1, facing Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Jets delivered a performance filled with promise. Justin Fields played confidently, and there were definite indications that New York had turned a corner.
Since then? Highlights have been scarce, replaced mostly by memes and gimmicks. Firstly, Glenn went viral for dancing down the sideline after a blocked-field-goal-turned-touchdown against the Bucs. They lost that game. This week, Glenn introduced a boxing glove during practice to teach players how to protect the ball.
Despite this, they fumbled again as the Cowboys dominated at MetLife Stadium. Breece Hall was the culprit this time, losing the ball in the second quarter when the Cowboys’ advantage was just seven points. By halftime, Dallas led 23-3, essentially sealing the game. Ultimately, the final score – 37-22 – overly favored New York.
Aaron Glenn is now the first New York Jets coach to start their tenure with five straight losses
The Dallas Cowboys ran riot at MetLife Stadium, cruising to victory over New York on Sunday
Jets running back Breece Hall had a costly fumble in the first half of a miserable afternoon
But the Jets’ problems ran far, far deeper than Hall’s drop – the running back actually had a fine game. Everywhere else? It is hard to overstate how grim this was. Glenn’s defense struggled badly once more, with more missed tackles – 13 in the first half alone – and more unnecessary penalties.
And so, for the fourth time in franchise history, the Jets are 0-5. Never before has that happened in a coach’s first season. And perhaps the most damning aspect of this capitulation?
The Cowboys arrived in New York without CeeDee Lamb or four starting offensive linemen. Their fans heckled owner Jerry Jones. And yet New York still couldn’t lay a glove on quarterback Dak Prescott.
Glenn insisted before this game that he has absolute faith in his plan and that a ‘breakthrough’ is coming. When it arrives, he said, ‘this thing is going to pop exactly like we all want it to.’
None of those fans who streamed out of MetLife before the end will be holding their breath. ‘It’s gonna take time, fellas,’ Glenn warned after this loss. That much seems clear.
To think that at one point on Sunday, it seemed the Jets’ fortunes might have turned on the width of a wire. The Jets began with some snap in their punches, marching 66 yards down the field over 12 plays and seven minutes.
Fields found his receivers and Hall made an early dent in the Dallas defense. But then, at third and goal, Fields’ pass to his running back was tipped into the air by Dante Fowler. As Cowboys defenders swarmed, sniffing a pick, the ball clipped the sky cam and dropped safely to the turf.
Quarterback Justin Fields was sacked five times as the Jets offense struggled once more
His opposite number, Dak Prescott, led the Cowboys to a comfortable victory at MetLife
Earlier this season, Glenn went viral over his dance moves against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
It was a remarkable and rather comical let-off that allowed the Jets to draw first blood. Alas, their 3-0 lead was soon erased and before long New York was undone by familiar failings without the ball.
The Jets defense has misfired all season and in the first half here they were – again – too easy to bypass.
First, Ryan Flournoy was allowed to escape 40 yards up field after yet another missed tackle. He was eventually hauled down but – a few minutes later – no one got close to Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson as he coasted in for a 26-yard touchdown.
All of a sudden, that early promise had been replaced by a familiar sense of foreboding. Fields was sacked on back-to-back plays and, as halftime approached, a hush had descended over MetLife Stadium.
What can you expect when these teams were feeling so charitable? Between them, they shared 14 penalties across the first two quarters.
But so far this season, no team has been worse than the Jets when it comes to fumbling the ball. And how costly it proved on Sunday once more.
On New York’s penultimate drive of the first half, Hall dropped the ball twice. He survived first time round, after being called down.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was heckled before the game but he could soon celebrate a win
But then, after reaching the red zone, the ball came out once more. Who knows what Glenn will do with those boxing gloves next?
Seven plays later, the Cowboys led by 14 but somehow the Jets weren’t done. After another three-and-out, they punted the ball back to Dallas with 36 seconds left in the half. Ferguson was back in the end zone with 15 seconds on the clock.
Cue more boos and another painful second half. George Pickens scored a 43-yard touchdown; the Jets could only respond with another field goal.
New York did eventually reach the end zone in the fourth quarter, courtesy of Andrew Beck and then Garrett Wilson. By then, though, this place was largely empty. So those fans also missed Javonte Williams and the Cowboys twisting the knife with yet another score.
Postgame, Dallas laid on sandwiches from Katz’s Delicatessen outside the visitors’ locker room. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer was New York’s offensive coordinator from 2006 to 2011 and, on Sunday, his players earned the right to tuck in.
As for the Jets? They travel to London next week to face the Broncos. Denver just toppled the Eagles, the reigning Super Bowl champions. It doesn’t get any easier for Glenn.
