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There's more to blame than Aaron Glenn in Jets' Week 2 loss

AG played a role in the Jets' loss, but wasn't all on him.
ByRichard Louis
New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn
New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The New York Jets fell short to the Green Bay Packers 20-17 in a gut-wrenching overtime loss. In this game, the Jets held a 17-7 lead in the fourth quarter before blowing the lead.

Head coach Aaron Glenn has gotten plenty of criticism for how he handled the clock, which played a role in the loss.

Game management has been one of Glenn's biggest flaws and played a part in the defeat, but there were other factors that led to the loss that didn't have anything to do with Glenn.

Aaron Glenn isn't the only one to blame for the New York Jets' Week 2 loss

There's a running joke among Jets fans that this franchise is the worst at recovering fumbles. While fans can be dramatic at times, that was the truth against Green Bay. New York forced five fumbles but only recovered one. We all know how important it is to create turnovers and flip field position, but the Jets didn't take advantage of that.

Entering this game, the Jets were expected to have the edge on special teams, but that wasn't the case either. Isaiah Williams muffed two punts but was saved by Qwan'tez Stiggers, who recovered both. Those mishaps forced the Jets offense to start inside the 20-yard line.

Not only did Williams struggle to hold onto the ball, but there were several penalties by the special teams that also pushed the offense back.

The special teams problems continued. Arian Smith missed a tackle on Skyy Moore during a punt, as New York was up 17-14 with 4:42 left in the fourth, and that resulted in a 63-yard return. For a team that needs every edge they can get, special teams was supposed to be one of them, but they dropped the ball.

New York Jets offense didn't play to high enough standard

Going into this game, there was belief that the Jets' offensive line would be able to win the battle up front, but that wasn't the case. They failed to open any holes in the run game, finishing with 67 rushing yards, averaging 2.5 yards per rush.

In addition to that, tackles Olu Fashanu and Armand Membou didn't play as well as needed. Fashanu allowed eight QB pressures and a sack. Membou gave up four pressures, two QB hits, and a pivotal sack in overtime.

For a team that wasn't known for having a stout defensive line, the trenches for New York didn't take over the way they needed.

And Frank Reich's 4th-and-1 call left plenty to be desired. Calling a run play from shotgun in short-yardage situations is something coaches do that will never fully make sense. That play call is a constant, but it has shown it can and will get stopped. Running from center is the better approach for short-yardage run plays, yet Reich didn't roll with that.

Aside from the call, the players on the field didn't execute their blocking assignments, leading to the play being blown up.

Yes, Glenn not calling a timeout to stop the clock with 50 seconds left was the wrong call. You could also question the team not going for it on a 4th and 1 with 11:04 remaining in the fourth and settling for the field goal instead. While taking the points made sense, the Jets should have gone for the kill shot and potentially gone up 21-7.

Nonetheless, in this Jets loss, there's blame to go all around, and it's not all Glenn's fault. This team is learning how to win and close out games. Hopefully they take this loss as a lesson and apply improvements going forward.

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