After signing him in March, Aaron Glenn said the Jets were going to let Justin Fields “play quarterback.”
Through six weeks, it is time to cut the Fields experiment short.
On Sunday, the Jets suffered a 13-11 defeat to the Broncos, marking their sixth consecutive loss to start the season. Fields’ performance was absolutely dreadful as he completed only nine out of his 17 passes for 45 yards. He was also sacked nine times, resulting in the Jets posting just -10 net passing yards for the game, which is the worst figure in the franchise’s history.
When asked about possibly benching Fields for backup Tyrod Taylor, Glenn scoffed at the idea despite saying the Jets’ passing game was “nonexistent.”
“Come on, man, what kind of question is that?” Glenn said. “Sometimes, this league is up and down [motioning his hand]. Players have bad games. That doesn’t mean you bench them. You know better than that.”
Considering Fields’ dreadful showing against the Broncos, the question posed to Glenn was fair. However, Glenn’s response seemed significantly out of touch because it’s evident to everyone how poorly Fields has performed this season.
Sunday saw the worst passing display in Jets history, finishing with -10 net passing yards, a figure unparalleled since the Chargers’ -19 against the Chiefs in 1998. The Jets managed only 82 total offensive yards against the Broncos.
Offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand’s playcalling didn’t alleviate the issue. His approach was extremely conservative, seemingly to avoid having Fields lose the game rather than attempting deep throws down the field.
The worst sequence happened at the end of the first half when the Jets faced a 4th and 1 at their 47-yard line but chose not to run another play with 32 seconds left. Moreover, the offense displayed no urgency, seeming content to head into halftime with a 10-6 deficit.
An angry Garrett Wilson expressed his displeasure with Glenn on the sidelines as they walked to the locker room for the halftime break. Glenn explained his decision by saying he didn’t want to give the ball back to the Broncos before halftime. After the game, Wilson appeared to be still upset at Glenn’s choice.
“I didn’t know exactly what the plan was,” Wilson said. “Once we converted the fourth down, I just thought we were going for the, trying to make the play. Obviously, we get to another fourth down and it’s a tough spot to be in.
“I think we’ve got to truly have a ‘we’ve got nothing to lose’ mentality. If that’s how we feel, it’s got to be obvious. If you’re out there as a player, you should feel like, ‘Oh, yeah, let’s go.’ Even on the TV, I feel like y’all should see that. As a fanbase watching the team and the media, y’all should be able to tell we’re playing like we have nothing to lose. I don’t think that was evident today. I think that’s where we’ve got to… we’re 0-6. Let’s let it fly. I’ll say that.”
Fields was pressured on 48% of his drop-backs against the Broncos, according to New Gen Stats. But just like he has been during certain games this season, Fields was indecisive and failed to identify open receivers downfield. Fields was sacked nine times, but a lot of those were his fault.
Entering the game, Fields led the league with an average time to throw of 3.27 seconds, according to Pro Football Focus. Against the Cowboys last week, Fields was also sacked five times.
The Jets’ defense, which has been under fire for its poor performances during the first five games of the season, played well against the Broncos. Special teams also stood out after Nick Folk‘s three field goals and Austin McNamara pinned the Broncos back and even got a safety out of it after Quinn Meinerz held Micheal Clemons in the end zone.
Although he isn’t the sole reason for the Jets’ 0-6 start to the season, Fields has played a significant role in that. His stats may say that he’s doing a solid job, but Fields has been a garbage-time merchant by throwing three of his four touchdown passes when the game is already decided.
The Jets also have just 11 offensive touchdowns this season, and seven of them have come in games in which they were losing by double digits in the fourth quarter.
“It wasn’t good enough and it starts with me,” Fields said. “I got to get the ball out. They got a good D-line. They got to the backfield fast.
“Once you get in that rhythm, you got to go one, two, get the hell up out of there. That’s kind of what we talked about on the sideline, is just when we get a team that’s getting that much pressure, getting to the backfield like that, one, two, maybe three sometimes, go. It wasn’t good enough, though.”
The Jets released Aaron Rodgers and signed Fields to a two-year, $40 million contract in March, hoping he could revitalize his career in a new zip code like Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold have done. But clearly, the experiment is not working. Teams are loading up the line of scrimmage to stop the Jets’ rushing attack.
This year was supposed to be a transition year for the Jets after the failed Rodgers era. Still, I’m not sure if they even imagined being winless in mid-October. The Jets built this offense around Fields’ ability to scramble out of the pocket. Although Glenn is committed to him, the Jets have to be ready to pull the plug on Fields if this trend continues.
Glenn cannot risk losing the Jets players inside the locker room by continuing to run Fields out there with bad performances after bad performances. They are 0-6, and yes, the Jets are not going to make the playoffs for the 15th consecutive year. But Taylor may give them the best chance to win right now instead of Fields.
“Everybody’s played a role in that,” Glenn said about the Jets record. “It’s not just Justin. I understand where you guys are trying to take this.
“Listen, there’s a number of guys that have picked their game up, too. I don’t want to sit there and pin this all on Justin.”
Either way, the Jets will undoubtedly be in the market for a new quarterback next season. But before then, they need to get a win against any team at this point. Fans are already comparing Glenn to Adam Gase and Rich Kotite and that’s never a good thing in Jets land.
“Got to keep going,” Fields said. “I mean, there’s no other option. There’s what, 11 games left? Like I said, that’s the only option. There’s no, I don’t know, nothing else. Just keep going.”
