NEW YORK — Jets owner Woody Johnson said on Tuesday afternoon what a lot of his team’s fans were thinking after being forced to watch an historically inept offense in recent weeks.
“If we can just complete a pass, it would look good,” Johnson said at the NFL’s Fall Meeting in Midtown, an apparent criticism of Justin Fields, the team’s starting quarterback who was benched at halftime of Sunday’s loss to the Panthers.
Even before Johnson spoke, it seemed as if coach Aaron Glenn was strongly leaning toward permanently benching Fields for backup Tyrod Taylor (a move that will likely be announced before Wednesday’s practice). But if there was any doubt, it was hard to entertain it after listening to Johnson on Tuesday.
“It’s hard when you have a quarterback with a rating that he’s got. I mean, he has ability, but something just is not jiving,” Johnson said of Fields. “You have to play consistently at that position, and that’s what we’re going to try to do for the remainder of the season.”
Johnson didn’t stop there.
“The offense is just not clicking,” Johnson said. “And you can’t run the ball if you can’t pass the ball. That’s football 101.”
Johnson’s analysis isn’t wrong (other than the QB rating: Fields’ falls in the middle of the NFL pack at 91.1, but that isn’t indicative of his play for the season). Fields has been ineffective after looking great in his first game with the team. The Jets only non-garbage time touchdown with Fields at quarterback since Week 1 was a spectacular 42-yard run in the third quarter of the Week 4 loss to the Dolphins. It’s arguably his only really good play since the season-opener.
But think of the flood of questions that will now dump onto his coach and locker room, all because the owner opened the gate.
And we’re not just talking about Glenn, who Johnson publicly defended, having to potentially explain his apparent daily embraces with the owner.
“I hug him every day,” Johnson said when asked how he lets Glenn know he still believes in him. “I really do. ... I tell him, ‘Keep the faith, man.’”
(Yes, that is a real thing that Johnson said on Tuesday.)
But seriously, Glenn will have to face questions about if he shares the owners views on Fields, likely right after he announces his decision to bench him on Wednesday. Glenn will have to explain to Fields and his locker room if he feels the same way.
The players in the locker room are obviously just as frustrated with the results, and they know Fields hasn’t played well enough to keep his job. But Fields is also respected and well liked within that room, and they’ll have to grapple with whatever feelings they have about the owner publicly dunking on the quarterback. And then they’ll have to answer questions about it as well.
There’s GM Darren Mougey, who in tandem with Glenn made the decision to commit $30 million guaranteed to Fields. This doesn’t exactly reflect well on him. And it certainly doesn’t make it easier to keep Fields as the backup next year, which might be a good option if the Jets draft a young quarterback. And he’ll have to face questions about it when he speaks, likely next week when the Jets reach the bye.
And of course there’s Fields, who will have to deal with whatever internal baggage that comes with the owner publicly blaming you for the team’s 0-7 start, will have to have an awkward conversation with his coach about it, and will have to answer questions about it the next time he speaks to reporters. And, of course, there’s still 10 games left in the season and there’s a very real chance that he will start several games for the Jets.
It’s not the first time that Johnson has done this. It’s a lot like last January, when he publicly dissed then quarterback Zach Wilson, by saying the horrible 2023 season could have been avoided but the Jets “didn’t have a backup” quarterback. At the time the Jets were obviously trying to find value in a trade for the former No. 2 overall pick. They ended up getting only a late-round pick swap when they traded him to the Broncos two months later.
But this is different, and worse, for all the reasons we listed above.
It’s hard to criticize Johnson for being honest and available to answer the questions, he easily could have walked past the assembled horde of reporters and said nothing about the Jets 0-7 start. It was the right and smart move to publicly defend Glenn, who is under immense fire after his slow start. But he also could have simply issued a public vote of confidence for Glenn and moved on.
Of course, it didn’t stop there. It never does. And now his coaches and players have to deal with the fallout. And that’s a big part of the reason the Jets find themselves in this perpetual mess.
It starts at the top.
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