Good Signs toward the future but a familiar result in Aaron Glenn's Opening Game

 New York Jet fans, you’ve been here before. Here, is sitting on your couch or finishing up your last beer at a bar as the seconds tick off the clock with the opposing team kneeling on the ball to secure a Week 1 victory. 0-1 again.

Unlike a lot of those opening week losses, this one does feel slightly different. Mostly because the Jets looked like an offensive juggernaut under brand new defensive-minded head coach Aaron Glenn.

The biggest takeaway from the Week 1 34-32 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers is the play of Justin Fields. In his Jet debut, Fields finished 16/22 for 218 yards, three touchdowns (one passing and two rushing) with 48 yards rushing. Fields commanded this offense with incredible confidence and fluidity. The Jets offense was 7/14 on third down, had an average of six yards per play, and finished with 394 yards of total offense. Part of the reason why Fields looked so comfortable is the second thing that jumped off the screen on Sunday; play calling of first-time offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand. Engstrand looked like a veteran and passed his first test against a defense that finished tied for first in turnovers in the league last year. Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson looked like the rookie versions of themselves and to Jets fans delight, were prominently featured in the flow of the offense. Wilson had over 90+ receiving yards for the first time since Week 14 last season. With Aaron Rodgers, Wilson only finished with 90 or more receiving yards five times. Breece Hall rushed for over 100 rushing yards for the first time since Week 6 of last year. Last season with Rodgers under center, the Jets had one of the worst rushing attacks in the NFL (tied for 30th in touchdowns, 31st in yards per game, and last in rushing attempts per game).

Speaking of Aaron Rodgers, he played well (22/30 for 244 yards and four touchdowns) but wasn’t the reason Pittsburgh exited MetLife Stadium victorious. Yes, he had four passing touchdowns for the first time since Week 14 of 2021. Yes,  he showed signs of being “vintage” Aaron Rodgers, but still something was missing. Rodgers had only one pass thrown in the air for more than 20 yards. Geno Smith in the Raiders win over Patriots had four such passes. Daniel Jones in the Colts blowout win of Miami had two. Rodgers’s stats might look good on your fantasy team or in a box score, but those stats were aided by great concepts of Steeler Offensive Coordinator Arthur Smith and shotty tackling by the Jets. The 41-year-old quarterback looked almost identical to the guy who led the Jets offense last year. Good on paper but underwhelming when you watch the games.

Chris Boswell played a bigger part in securing this victory by hitting every extra point and nailing two field goals of 55 plus yards (56 and 60). If Boswell doesn’t drill the game winning 60-yard field goal Aaron Rodgers is not saying “I was happy to beat everyone associated with the Jets” following the game. But he did earn that right.  

 Unfortunately, the reason why Rodgers was able to utter those words was because the new head man and his defensive coaching staff let down what looks to be the most explosive offense in over decade because of the same mistakes the last coaching staff continued to allow to happen.

“We have to be a more disciplined team, there were some penalties that happened in that game that were true discipline issues, and again that will be addressed because you will not on the field with this team, if [you’re going to] cause us to lose games.” Those were among the very first words spoken by the new Jets Head Coach Aaron Glenn following the loss. That quote is great for the discussion surrounding this loss, but cleaning up those discipline issues was the primary reason this new coaching staff was brought in. On two of the last three scoring drives for Pittsburgh (including the drive of the game-winning field goal) the Jets had a key penalty. On the Jalen Warren touchdown drive—Quincy Williams had a late hit out of bounds that gave the Steelers 15 yards when the result of the play was a two-yard loss for Pittsburgh on the first play of their drive. On the drive that won the game, Brandon Stephens committed a 19-yard pass interference penalty that dropped the Steelers on the fringe of field goal range. Divine intervention got Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh offense into field goal range thanks to a deflected ball falling into the lap of D.K. Metcalf for an 11-yard gain. The last positive yardage Pittsburgh would gain in the game. The Jets had seven penalties for 77 yards. Pittsburgh, a perennial playoff team drew only four yellow flags for 26 yards. The 77 yards were the 8th most penalty yards in the league yesterday. For now, there is positivity surrounding this new coaching staff, and optimism that things could be changing, however the underlining problems of regimes of the past remain. Until this group can show that the game-losing mistakes aren’t as prominent—fans will still sing the tune of “Same ‘Ole Jets.”