The New York Jets undoubtedly played better in their first two games of the 2026 season than they did in Aaron Glenn’s first campaign as head coach. However, some questionable decisions by Glenn in the Week 2 collapse against the Green Bay Packers linger.
Glenn's first surprising choice came late in the fourth quarter of a tied game, when he declined to call a timeout to give his offense one last shot with the ball before overtime. On Monday, Glenn doubled down on defending the decision.
“When we have the punter at the logo, we don’t want to put ourselves in a situation where we get our guys in a backed-up situation,” Glenn said, via the New York Daily News. “I know we are talking about getting our offense going in that situation. But the thing is, they also had two timeouts.
“I just felt like it was the right decision to do at that point. And we actually wanted to play for overtime when it came to that.”
Perhaps nothing would have come of a last possession in regulation, but I believe Glenn missed an opportunity to see if something could pop that would tilt the game in the Jets' favor. Crazier things have happened for teams with roughly a minute left and a timeout. The choice to play conservative even surprised Packers coach Matt LaFleur.
“Oh yeah, I was really confused by that,” LaFleur said after Sunday’s game. “That’s why we called the timeout and tried a Hail Mary.”
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Glenn's other debatable call came with the decision to take the ball first in overtime. With the rules allowing for both teams to possess the ball, clubs have become more likely to want the ball second. Glenn said after the loss that he wanted the ball to control the clock during the 10-minute overtime. Instead, a series of miscues pushed the Jets back and into a quick three-and-out. From there, the Packers had a relatively easy drive to win the game.
On Monday, Glenn was asked if he regretted any of his decisions. He said the game didn’t come down to one or two plays.
“There are always going to be decisions in that case,” Glenn said. “I think every coach has that – that’s offense, defense and special teams. I think when the clock got to 11 seconds, I could have easily called a timeout there and forced a punt. We actually ended up getting a sack on the play, so there are other plays in that game that determined the outcome of that game.”
The reality for Glenn is that, in his position, coaching under the microscope in New York and coming off a horrific first season, his decisions will be picked apart after a loss, especially after a 10-point fourth-quarter lead was withered away.