The Jets keep talking about progress.
Aaron Glenn’s record keeps saying otherwise.
His mentor, former Giants and Jets coach Bill Parcells, famously said, “You are what your record says you are.”
Right now, Glenn is a 4-17 coach overseeing a 1-3 team that has lost three straight games. Whatever improvements the Jets believe they have made since last season’s 3-14 finish, they haven’t produced enough wins.
A 23-12 loss to the Bears with backup quarterback Tyson Bagent under center only intensified the scrutiny. With frustration mounting among fans, Glenn needs to give them something more tangible than assurances that the Jets are getting better.
“It’s on everybody,” Jets cornerback Brandon Stephens told the Daily News. “At the end of the day, each person has to do their [job] and that’s all you really can do and do it at a high level. We have to do that collectively.
“We are just focused on going 1-0 each week and this is the next one coming up.”
This season was always going to shape the debate over whether Glenn should lead the Jets into 2027, when they will have three first-round draft picks. In four games, he’s done little to quiet that debate.
Throughout his tenure, Glenn has talked about establishing an identity. The problem is that the Jets still haven’t consistently shown one.
Gang Green wants to be a physical, violent team that controls the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Too often, opponents have been the ones imposing their will.
After ranking first in yards allowed through the season’s first two weeks, the Jets defense has looked alarmingly similar to last year’s unit. In losses to the Lions and Bears, the Jets allowed an average of 181.5 rushing yards, 436.5 total yards and 27 points.
They also haven’t been able to run the ball effectively, ranking 27th in the NFL with 84.0 rushing yards per game.
The offensive line, expected to be one of the team’s strengths, has struggled to meet those expectations. Opponents have pushed the Jets around up front and attacked them with frequent blitzes. Gang Green has allowed 12 sacks, the fifth-most in the league.
Breece Hall missed the Bears game because of a quad injury suffered against the Lions. He will miss Sunday’s game against the Browns, but the ground game’s problems began before he went down.
The failures extend beyond running the ball and stopping the run. Glenn’s game management continues to raise questions. Against Chicago, the Jets also went 0-for-7 on third down.
Despite those deficiencies, players continue to back Glenn and say their sense of urgency hasn’t changed after three straight losses.
“Our process don’t change, it’s the right way,” Jets linebacker Demario Davis said. “I’ve been around a lot of programs and we are doing the things that lead to winning.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten those results on Sunday. But, we just continue to sharpen the process, we just continue to come back to work the right way. There are some things we can clean up, and we want to keep sharpening those things. But the sense of urgency isn’t changing and if you need to change your process when things go wrong, that means you weren’t doing things right early on. We are not going to flinch, we haven’t gotten the results that we wanted, but we got the right guys that are resilient, and we are also not going to waver.”
The next four games could go a long way toward defining Glenn’s tenure.
On Sunday, the Jets host a Browns team that is 3-1 under first-year coach Todd Monken. Cleveland has endured plenty of dysfunction of its own, particularly during the Deshaun Watson era, but has still found ways to exceed expectations.
Then the Jets travel to Foxborough to face the Patriots, who handed the previously unbeaten Bills their first loss last weekend. Games against the Dolphins and Raiders follow before a trip to Kansas City on Nov. 8.
The Browns and Raiders are both 3-1, but this stretch still offers the Jets a chance to salvage their season. It also threatens to bury them.
Lose Sunday, and the Jets will head to New England with a possible 1-5 start—and another season slipping away before Halloween.
“The reality of it is we have an AFC team and a team that I felt like I’ve played every year since I’ve been in the league, so we always know the stakes with this team,” Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson said. “It’s the part of the schedule that we are going into and you can gain a lot of ground and you can lose a lot, so just we know the stakes.
“A three-game losing streak, no one wants to endure that, but that’s where we are at right now. It definitely kicks up the human aspect in all of us. We gotta get on the board and we gotta get on the board now.”
Glenn has preached patience, telling Jets fans that “big ships turn slow.” But this fan base has heard variations of the same promise for years.
Only Rich Kotite, who went 3-18 through his first 21 games coaching the Jets in 1995 and 1996, won fewer games over that span than Glenn. Glenn played on those teams. He knows the history and how little patience remains for repeating it.
Owner Woody Johnson hasn’t spoken to the media in the past year, leaving his assessment of Glenn—and his willingness to stay the course—unclear. Glenn can keep asking for patience. His players can keep pointing to progress. But only Sundays will provide convincing evidence.
Until the wins arrive, Parcells’ verdict stands.