FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Aaron Glenn’s words echoed across Northern Jersey and the NFL.
“You will not be on this field with this team,” the New York Jets first-year head coach said, “if you’re going to cause us to lose games.”
The Jets were coming off a 34-32 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in which the Jets entered the fourth quarter with a 26-17 lead.
A fumbled kickoff return had helped the Steelers score not one but two touchdowns in the first four plays of the final period, while two penalties had advanced the Steelers 29 yards on the road to a game-winning, 60-yard field goal.
So when Glenn reflected on his team’s performance, he wasn’t focused primarily on his offense’s expectation-exceeding day or the way his defense affected Aaron Rodgers in the pocket.
Glenn looked at the quarter that got away and identified quickly what went wrong.
“The one thing to me that turned this game is, ‘Man, we can’t have turnovers,’” Glenn told reporters. “We can’t do it. We have to be a more disciplined team.
“There were some penalties that happened in that game that were true discipline issues and, again, that’s something that will be addressed.”
It was then that Glenn warned players who violated those rules wouldn’t be on the field.
The warning reverberated Wednesday when the club released Xavier Gipson, who had fumbled the kick return. When news broke, reaction was predictable: Glenn was putting his money where his mouth was and making an example of Gipson. Turnovers won’t be tolerated.
But Jets players in their locker room didn’t agree with the external perception.
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“It wasn't necessarily a threat or anything indicating fear or a fearful message,” safety Andre Cisco told Yahoo Sports. “He was just delivering a message about how discipline is going to be our identity, and really just relaying the message that this is our brand: being detailed, disciplined, smart, relentless, all these things.
“So if you're not that, you are not going to be able to represent this team.”
Penalties, as much as turnovers, a pain point for Jets
At practice Wednesday, Glenn told his players: “We’re playing an imperfect game. But we’re trying to be perfect.”
The tone resonated with players, who appreciated how their coach struck the balance between demanding accountability and acknowledging there will be growing pains.
“We’re looking to be perfect, but we all understand that it's not necessarily going to be like that,” quarterback Justin Fields said. “But that's what we're striving for.”
The Jets will not cut a player each time he turns the ball over, but they will hold players accountable for turnovers or other costly mistakes, like penalties.
The Jets’ seven penalties for 74 yards irked Glenn even as the marks ranked more favorably than the club’s 2024 data. While the Jets led the league in both number of penalties and total penalty yards last year, 14 teams incurred more penalties than the Jets in Week 1 while eight surrendered more yards.
The comparison won’t help Glenn sleep at night. Nor will it help his players, who have heard about their errs from their coach throughout this week.
In order for their identity to be discipline, they must improve further.
“No defense, no team wants to have penalties in generally, so that's where the discipline part comes in,” cornerback Sauce Gardner told Yahoo Sports. “Especially unnecessary penalties like late hits or unsportsmanlike conducts or things like that. Just us being disciplined. Certain things going to happen: [Pass interferences], holdings, maybe a roughing the passer here and there.
“But those unnecessary penalties that we have full control over, we can't have those.”
The Jets’ seven Week 1 penalties ran the gamut, from an offensive delay of game that coordinator Tanner Engstrand said reflected his late play-call to an unnecessary roughness penalty when left guard John Simpson went after cornerback Jalen Ramsey for a hit on Fields.
The Jets also incurred penalties for having too many defenders on the field, a false start, a defensive pass interference, an illegal block above the waist and a second unnecessary roughness penalty.
“Some of those are more like hustle penalties, some of those are penalties where you just have to call it off,” linebacker Quincy Williams said after he drew an unnecessary roughness penalty. “I was in pursuit, didn't really know the measure of how far the sideline was or anything like that. I could say it was one of the hustle plays, but me being me, I can't have those.”
No player was flagged twice, leaving an impression that the Jets all needed to sharpen up. The fumble was costly — but not their only punishing blow.
Nine teams lost the turnover battle in Week 1. Eight of them also lost their games.
“Turnovers, they lose you games,” Glenn said. “Discipline issues, they lose you games. Those are some things that we’re going to fix.”
Jets already know what turnover vs. Bills can cost
The Jets are 6.5-point underdogs entering a home game against reigning MVP Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.
They watched their division rival come back to unseat the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football last week and can expect arguably a taller task than the Steelers presented in Week 1.
“The message is Josh on the run, obviously when he's scrambling, just ironing out how we're going to react to that and the best ways to play,” Cisco said of the defensive vision. “Although it’s a chaotic style of play, he’s very poise. So on the run, his eyes are always downfield. He's big, athletic, he's tough.
“So yeah, he has a lot of elements that make it challenging.”
One of those elements: the Bills’ ability to ride the momentum of a takeaway and never look back.
Baltimore first took a lead over the Bills less than 90 seconds into the second quarter last weekend, a potent run game from Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry powering much of the explosion that would follow.
Up until the last second of the game, Baltimore held that lead. Then, as time expired after the Bills rallied to what would be 22 points in the fourth quarter alone, Buffalo edged the Ravens with a field goal as time expired.
The key: Henry’s fumble with 3 minute and 10 seconds to play.
Allen scored the final touchdown of the game four plays later, paving the way for the field goal that would win it all.
Fields is wary of protecting the Jets’ run-heavy attack from the same fate.
“The ball is the most important thing in this organization, and we talk about it all the time to where, if you have the ball in your hands, you have the most precious thing in the organization,” Fields said. “Before making a juke move, before trying to make a move on a defender, you got to take care of the ball. You got to put two hands on the ball.”
Forward-thinking messages like those color Glenn’s approach, the head coach shifting from what some interpreted as a threat fresh off the loss to a zoomed-out lens when the Jets released Gipson.
The decision wasn’t only about a turnover, Glenn said, expressing confidence that Gipson would land with his next team soon.
“I want it to be known that decisions that's made are not rash decisions,” Glenn said. “And they’re never based off of one incident, and I'll keep it at that. Xavier's a really good player. He's going to play in this league, but I thought it was time for us to move on in another direction. So I'll leave it at that.
“As far as accountability, it’s accountability in everything that we do.”