🔥 Aaron Glenn Hot Seat Meter Week 5: A great defensive coordinator and a struggling head coach

Is Aaron Glenn doing a good job?

Obviously, that’s the entire point of this series. But through five weeks, it’s weird how unclear the answer is. There are some good things happening on the field, but there are also losses.

The defense is clearly better than last year, but the offense is starting to plateau. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out why I can't figure it out. Until, during this week's game, it finally dawned on me.

Aaron Glenn is succeeding as defensive coordinator, but failing as a head coach

There is a reason that coordinators and head coaches are separate positions.

It's not that hard, really. Just like any industry, separate positions have separate responsibilities. Operating in these siloes allows organizations to place individuals with specialized skills in the right spot.

What it also does is draw direct lines, connecting results and individuals. When Linda in accounting counts wrong, it's clear who did the math.

With Glenn taking over defensive playcalling this year, he's created a unique scenario that needs to be unpacked in order to complete his performance review.

What are 'head coach' responsibilities?

Great head coaches are like parents. Even though some lean heavier into certain parts, their first responsibility is to the collective.

Above all else, a parent's job is to instill values, moral philosophy, and core character in their children. Reason being, as those children grow up, in the moments when parents aren't around, those serve as the non-negotiable north stars for them to fall back on.

There are still a million other responsibilities of a parent on a daily basis, but failure at this piece cannot be overcome. You can be the best lunchbox packer in the history of parenting, but Cheez-Its don't teach your kid not to be a murderer.

"Creating a culture" is a phrase often used to describe this. Building an identity is another.

Regardless of verbiage, it certainly appears, to me, that Glenn has started to sink back into his comfort zone of defense and is not paying enough attention to his other role, which happens to be head coach.

As a single parent in this analogy, Glenn doesn't have the luxury of a partner picking up his slack.

There are little clues everywhere

If you've been reading my work, you'll know I have an affinity for extrapolating the little things. When it comes to Glenn's performance as head coach, there's been a decent amount of fodder.

In this game specifically, there were two that stood out.

The first is one I've been critical of before. On several occasions, Glenn has been seen smiling, dancing, or, most commonly, being almost playful in his interactions with refs. I'm sure there's already a meme of him cheekily shaking the challenge flag from this week's game.

As a coach/parent, your kid/players are always taking after your cues. They subconsciously look to you for what they should be doing, what they should be thinking, and, most importantly, what they should be feeling.

To be outwardly whimsical while on the verge of 1-4 and in an ugly dogfight with the other league laughing stock doesn't convey the attitude or urgency this team should be playing with right now.

I'm all for keeping fun in sports, and I believe it can sometimes help a tense team play freely. However, this isn't the Little League World Series, and this fanbase is starting to get angry watching our coach not reflect that.

The next reference point has been the moments between Glenn and players. There are two disciplines in this regard-- the Nick Saban I'm not your friend school of coaching or the Pete Carroll even though I'm seventy, we're just a couple of cool buds approach.

It looks like Glenn routinely tries to hop between the two. On each big David Bailey play from this game, I kept waiting to see him actively find and hug Glenn while running off. Or maybe it's just a respectful acknowledgement, paired with an additional coaching point.

As a defensive playcaller and cornerstone defensive rookie, you'd think that would be a symbiotic bond. However, I saw no such interaction.

The people upstairs must like Aaron Glenn

By this, I mean both NFL leadership and whatever God you believe in. Within these first five games, Glenn has been the beneficiary of many small fortunes.

Opening the year with what we're finding out might be the worst team in football, followed by a run of games against familiar opponents and two rain-soaked anomalies, has all helped the Jets and the perception around Glenn.

However, had it not been for a Browns' special teams disaster, this team would still have one win. And while these articles are meant to dissect, records trump analysis in this league. Add the very real effect of recency bias, and the heat must come down.

Current Heat: 8.0 ⏳

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow