Jets' Aaron Glenn says he and owner Woody Johnson on same page for building foundation in 2-9 season

Audio By Carbonatix

Aaron Glenn speaks to Woody Johnson regularly throughout what has become another lost season for the New York Jets.

The first-year head coach has stressed building a foundation for the franchise, which Johnson has overseen as the owner since 2000. During a 2-9 season that has extended the Jets' playoff drought to an NFL-leading 15 years that includes 10 straight losing records, staying optimistic about the future might be false hope to some.

Glenn insists, however, he and Johnson are on the same page.

“Every player, every coach, ownership, personnel — everybody — they want to win now,” Glenn said Monday, less than 24 hours after the Jets' 23-10 loss at Baltimore. "But there's also an understanding of you have to build things a certain way to consistently win. And he understands that.

“But that doesn't take away from the fact that he wants to win now, just like the same with me, same with anybody else on this team.”

And same with the frustrated fans, who have tried to remain patient through multiple rebuilds since Rex Ryan last led the Jets to the playoffs during the 2010 season.

There are still plenty of questions — with the future at quarterback at the top of the list — and doubts among the fan base about whether things are in the right hands. And Glenn has to answer some of them from Johnson when they chat.

“Those conversations are always good conversations between me and him,” Glenn said. "They're always honest conversations. I'm not going to BS him and he's not going to BS me. But listen, there are some things that I tell him that he wants to see us get better at, but there are some things that I explained to him on, here are the reasons why and here’s where we’re going.

“And he does see those things, but that doesn’t take the fact away from him wanting to win now and me myself wanting to win now.”

Veteran defensive tackle Harrison Phillips, in his first season with the Jets, said he has gotten "positive impressions" from Glenn, Johnson and general manager Darren Mougey. He spoke to his teammates earlier this season — before their first win against Cincinnati in Week 8 — and focused on the mentality of a team trying to move in the right direction.

“I said to them, you might have beat me yesterday, you might beat me today. Hell, you might even beat me tomorrow, but you will not beat me in the end,” Phillips said. “And you have the power to be unstoppable. But the issue with that message is that sometimes you feel like there’s a lack of depth perception.”

In other words, sometimes the ultimate goal seems too far away to ever accomplish. And a losing attitude creeps into the minds of the players who have to somehow shove aside the negativity.

That's where these Jets are at now. This is a season when the final record has become secondary to what Glenn wants to achieve for the winning-starved franchise.

“You have to have the mental toughness to play the long game,” Phillips said. “But you also have the maturity to recognize that it’s not as far away as you think.”

Run defense. The Jets held Derrick Henry to just 64 yards on 21 carries, although the Ravens star had two short-yardage TD runs. Baltimore finished with 98 yards rushing, the second straight opponent New York has held under 100 and the fourth this season.

Getting takeaways. The defense has no interceptions, an NFL record through a team's first 11 games. The franchise record for fewest in a season is six, a mark set in 2014 that appears very likely to be broken. The Jets also only have one takeaway, a fumble recovery by safety Andre Cisco — who's now on IR — in Week 6.

“I can't really answer that,” linebacker Quincy Williams said when asked why so few turnovers. “It's something that we talk about every day. It's something that we work on in practice. We do see those visions of us doing it in the games and stuff like that, but it just hasn't went our way.”

WR John Metchie III. Acquired from Philadelphia before the trade deadline, Metchie has had early success with the Jets. Against Baltimore, he had a career-high six receptions for 65 yards and a touchdown, the third of his career and second in as many weeks.

“It's been super impressive how quick of a start he's gotten,” center Josh Myers said. “I love his positive attitude and the way he shows up every day and then just seeing that reflect on the field so quickly, it's been great for us.”

DE Will McDonald. After having just the fourth four-sack game in franchise history, McDonald has no sacks and just one quarterback hit in the two games since. The Jets' pass rush needs the 2023 first-round draft pick to be a more consistent force coming off the edge.

Glenn reported no new injuries. WR Garrett Wilson (knee) remains on IR for at least two more games.

10 — The Jets have lost 10 consecutive games after scoring first, tying them with Jacksonville (2019-21) for the second-longest streak in NFL history. Cleveland has the record with 11 in a row during the 2015 to 2018 seasons.

The Jets return home to take on Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons next Sunday.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL