Aaron Glenn said playing this first game as head coach of the Jets meant a lot to him, even though it was the preseason opener at Green Bay. And the way the Jets went about taking it to the Packers — 30-10 victory, Justin Fields' successful opening drive to a patented touchdown scramble, a 403-188 yardage advantage, 2-0 in takeaways — a Green & White fan might have thought AG would be bubbling over at the visitors podium in the bowels of Lambeau Field in Titletown, USA.
And Glenn was happy, with just a few reservations.
"Preseason or not, a win is a win," he said, "and I was always taught that if you want to be a winner, you not only have to understand how to win but to understand how to consistently win. And this was a great win by our guys. A lot of good things happened in this game.
"But there are a lot of things we've got to clean up. A number of things. And we will clean those up."
It wasn't hard to figure out what ruffled his feathers in this one. The one unfavorable set of numbers was 10-for-91, as in penalties and yards marked off against.
"I've always talked about how with undisciplined teams it's hard to win in this league," Glenn told WCBS-TV going in at halftime. "I'll address that when we get into the locker room."
Afterwards, AG was still not AOK with the penalties but saw a lot to like in his first game of any kind as an NFL head coach.
"I want to watch the tape and really evaluate it, but obviously Justin did a really good job," Glenn said of his starting QB, who was also making his game debut in green and white and led the Jets to their first opening-drive TD in a preseason opener since 2019, taking the ball the final 13 yards on a trademark JF scramble to the right pylon for the score. "
Fields was one-and-done after his 10-play, 79-yard drive, but Glenn was also positive about the play of his two backups on this night, rookie Brady Cook and first-year QB Adrian Martinez.
"I thought our quarterbacks in general, all those guys, did a really good job getting the ball off their hand, understanding the coverage of the defense and being efficient in the way we play," the coach said, not stopping there. "All of our backs did a really good job. ... I thought our offensive line did a hell of a job creating movement so we could get those tough yards. ... I thought our front on defense did a hell of a job as far as attacking the run and getting after the quarterback. ... I thought our DBs did a really good job of making plays on the ball, too."