Jets (new) coach Aaron Glenn made his unofficial debut on Saturday night, and Glenn has to feel good about the tone his group set with most of the key names, including starting quarterback Justin Fields, taking the field for the first preseason game of a new era.
Glenn said winning was important to him. And the Jets did beat the Packers 30-10 in his first game as a head coach.
“Preseason or not, a win is a win,” Glenn said. “And I was always taught if you want to be a winner, not only do you have to understand how to win but understand how to consistently win, and this was a great win for our guys, a lot of good things that happened in this game.”
But that exhibition result won’t be remembered and doesn’t matter much compared to the fact that most of their key players stayed healthy and their biggest question mark seemed to take a big step in the right direction.
Here are the key things we learned from Saturday’s preseason opener.
Justin Fields in full
The Jets’ new quarterback struggled in recent practices as the defense seemingly had his number. But against the Packers defense, Fields showed more than a few signs that he’s tracking toward a solid regular season.
He completed 3-of-4 passes on his only drive and did it without making a risky or ill-advised throw. On third-and-5, he found No. 3 receiver Tyler Johnson over the middle for an easy first down. He also connected with fullback Andrew Beck for a couple of nice checkdowns, something he hasn’t done much of in training camp – likely by design as he tries to get through his full reads.
“There’s so much noise on the outside,” Glenn said. “I’ve told you guys this, and I’ll tell him this, he’s going to get criticized for every little thing, and the good thing about him is he is so mature, and we talk about this on a consistent basis – he doesn’t care. The only thing that we care about is how is he operating and is he getting better, and we see that in-house. We love where he’s at right now. Does he have a way to go? Absolutely, he does. Is he going to continue to work? Absolutely, he will, because that’s just who he is. We know exactly where he’s at, we know exactly where he’s going, and we’re going to continue to work our ass off until we get there.”
Most importantly, from an external perspective, Fields showed a strong sense of when to stay and leave the pocket, leading to the touchdown on his first – and only – drive of the night. He bolted from the pocket when things got a little hectic and easily scrambled the 13 yards for a touchdown.
In short, Fields showed that he can be a weapon without being a liability for the Jets. And that’s all they need him to do in 2025.
Encouraging offense
It’s clear that the Jets are going to lean on their run game and offensive line to drive their offense in 2025. And that’s what we saw to start the game on Saturday night. The Jets started with two straight runs and never pivoted far away from the run game. One of the highlights of the opening drive was Braelon Allen surging through a big gap in the middle created by Joe Tippman and Josh Myers. Tippman, the projected starting center, was playing at left guard in place of the injured John Simpson (back), with Myers (likely the backup center) filling in for him, so the fact that the Jets were able to dictate terms despite being less than 100% on the offensive line makes it even more of an encouraging debut for the offense.
I also liked how new offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand comported himself in his debut. He stuck with the run game to keep the Jets in manageable yardage situations, and then found ways to give Fields clear and simple options on high-pressure downs and distances – a check-down to Johnson on the first third down and a quick read situation on third-down in the red zone that allowed Fields to scramble for a score.
“I thought Tanner did a really good job getting the play calls in so the guys could play with tempo and play fast,” Glenn said. “It was good to see Justin use his legs also. We know he has that in his bag. The thing I think he showed for the most part, is we can call the play, we have a shot, and it’s a shot out there (and) he can check it down. He did a really good job of that, so he was patient. He did everything that we needed to get this win, and for him to be the quarterback that we know that he can be. But it wasn’t just that. I thought our run game did well. Just across the board, O-line pushed people back, knocked people off the ball and that’s who we have to be. That’s our brand of football.”
A reason for concern?
The defense had an overall strong night with the first-teamers shutting down the Packers’ starters. But there were a few less-than-ideal moments, with Sauce Gardner picking up an early penalty and defensive tackle Micheal Clemons, who struggled with silly penalties a year ago, getting into a shoving match that led to a strong talking to from Glenn on the sideline after he seemed to be removed from the game.
In the end, the Jets committed 10 penalties for 91 yards, and Glenn was tight-lipped about the issue when asked about it.
“I have to address that,” Glenn said. “Between me and them. I have to address that. That’s all you need to know.”
Penalties are inevitable, obviously, but it’s the silly ones – before and after the snap – that the Jets must cut down on because those kinds of plays have been a major reason for their futility in recent years.
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Andy Vasquez may be reached atavasquez@njadvancemedia.com.
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