Add “quarterback controversy” to the New York Jets’ list of problems this season.
Falling to 0-7 on the year, their 13-6 home loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday saw them bench starting quarterback Justin Fields at the half. Leading his team to just three points while going 6-for-12 for 46 yards and taking three sacks, he was pulled in favor of veteran backup Tyrod Taylor.
Taylor fared no better than Fields, going 10-for-22 for 126 yards with a pair of interceptions and three takedowns himself. It was bad before, it was bad after.
And yet, it was the only crd head coach Aaron Glenn felt he could play.
“As the head coach, you have to take a look at the team and see what is best for you, put yourself in position to go win the game,” he said after the game. “That’s the only thing that was going through my mind when I was walking in, and I told the offensive staff, then I went and I told Justin and Tyrod exactly what I was going to do and made the decision.”
Given the end result and the overall state of the franchise seven weeks into Glenn’s first season, changing quarterbacks felt less like a move to get their offense back on track and more like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The sinking is imminent, regardless of who is positioned where.
Of course, there is levels to this process of going down. For Glenn, his team showing signs of life especially at the most important position on the field would go a long way toward securing a second year at the job.
However, against Carolina there was none of that. The offense struggled regardless of quarterback, and continued to look fundamentally broken for yet another week.
“We have to improve,“ said Glenn. “We have to improve in this situation because now you see what they’re doing against the run. They load up the box against the run. Sometimes they put nine people in the box. So, in order to loosen guys up, you have to be efficient to some degree in the passing game. And that hasn’t shown up in the last two games. That’s something I have to take a look at that. And I’m putting a lot of the fault on me. As the head coach of this team, I have to make sure that we do whatever we have to do to get our passing game going.”
For the Jets, doing so starts at quarterback. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the promise Fields showed early on this season was merely a mirage: he is not the long-term solution he briefly appeared to be, and neither is the career journeyman Taylor.
And so, the Jets remain stuck in quarterback purgatory for yet another year. Glenn and his team can move them back and forth, but the fact remains that a fresh start is needed.
