Coming into the year, the New York Jets and their fans knew it would take time to rebuild. Not only was head coach Aaron Glenn attempting to usher in a new era of culture, but the roster needed serious improvement.
The latter is certainly showing up early in the 2025-26 campaign. New York is 0-3 to start the season and while their offense has been poor, it’s their defensive shortcomings that may be even more alarming.
Quality tackling, in particular, has been absent. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Glenn tried to answer that on Monday.
Aaron Glenn Addresses Jets’ Early-Season Tackling Woes
Speaking to the media, Glenn said there isn’t a magical solution to this problem. All the Jets can do is simply put in the work.
“It’s continuing to emphasize it and continue to talk about how you get yourself in positions because the one thing that you see when it came to the tackling was that we were on the ground quite a bit, and it was more that we were diving instead of running through tackles,” Glenn said. “So it comes back to emphasizing that, and you can always improve in those things. That’s why you practice.
“Listen, I’m not saying that you go out there and you practice tackling at this point of the season, but you make sure that every guy gets in position to try and do that. There are a ton of things that every coach in this league is trying to emphasize, and we hope that every game comes out to where those things show up. The thing is you go back to work, you emphasize those things, and you do everything you can to get yourself in positions to where you can actually operate the right way.”
The eye test shows the team’s struggles clear as day. The data backs it up, too. The Jets have been credited with eight missed tackles in Week 1, 10 in Week 2 and a staggering 16 in Week 3. According to Pro Football Focus, they have the fifth-worst team tackling grade in the sport. Pro Football Reference has them with five more misses than the next-closest team (Pittsburgh Steelers).
That isn’t conducive to wins. For Glenn’s sake, he better hope the practice reps translate to in-game execution.
Glenn Optimistic About Defense Improving as Season Rolls on
It’s been a floundering start for the Jets’ defense as a whole. Three weeks into the year, Steve Wilks’ group ranks 28th in scoring and 22nd in yards allowed. That includes a No. 23-ranked defense in rush yards allowed and the 30th-slotted group in turnover production. On a points per drive basis, New York is 29th.
Advanced stats further signal poor performance. Per SumerSports’ analytics, Gang Green has the No. 27-ranked defense on an EPA/play basis. This is despite surrendering the ninth-lowest success rate in the sport. Getting more routine stops via tackles would be a nice step in the right direction.
Glenn says he has “total confidence” in his team to right its wrongs.
“There are some things that we’ve got to work on, and I understand that,” Glenn said. “I mean, you can’t give up the number of points we have given up and expect to just be gung-ho about it, and every guy knows that. We’re all a part of that and we’re all going to do everything we can to fix that. To me, I look at that as just common sense.
“Listen, we gave up 34, we gave up 30, and then we ended up giving up 22, taking the pick-six out. We have to do a better job there, and the most important thing when it comes to defense is limiting points, and that’s one thing that we are struggling with right now and we have to do a better job of that.”