New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn has had this game circled since the schedule came out.
In Week 3, he will return to his old stomping grounds with the Detroit Lions. Glenn spent four seasons with the Lions as their defensive coordinator from 2021 through 2024.
On Wednesday, September 23, he was asked what Lions HC Dan Campbell has meant to him.
“There’s so much history there when you think about it, and I can go back to when we were teammates all the way to, well, we went to the same alma mater, too. And then getting a chance to coach in New Orleans for those six years, man it was constant communication when it came to football and then once he started getting these opportunities as far as being a head coach, he would come in, and I didn’t even know he was doing it at that point, I’m assuming he was interviewing, but we were just talking defense. I just thought we were talking philosophy and he told me if he got one, he wanted me to be his coordinator, and I will always remember that,” Glenn told the media.
“I felt honored for him to be able to come to me and ask me to be his coordinator. And when he got the job, I was the first guy he hired and it took, I don’t know, maybe a week before we hired anybody else, and we just sat in my office, and we talked football, and how we were going to change this program around. Those things will always stick with me because the things that we talked about, we actually did and Detroit actually ended up being exactly where they are now. Really good friend, really good person. That friendship will always last,” Glenn continued.
Glenn Has an Advantage Heading Into This Matchup
From Weeks 2 through 4, Glenn and the Jets will be playing teams from the NFC North. We already got our first taste in Week 2. While it was a loss for the Jets against the Green Bay Packers, Glenn clearly had his team ready to go. They held a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter against Green Bay.
Some bad coaching decisions and a variety of other issues cost the team the game, but it appeared that Glenn’s prior knowledge of the Packers certainly helped. He was the Lions DC for four seasons playing against these teams, studying them, and game-planning for them.
You’d have to figure the Lions will be the team in this stretch that he knows the most about.
“Things change so much from year-to-year, and going on my second year being removed, obviously I know a lot of those guys on the defensive staff in that system. The same goes for the offensive system, a number of tweaks within that system. I know how that program is ran and I know that we have a challenge, we have a challenge just like every week. But I can sit back and hear him right now saying certain things, but it’ll be a good challenge for us, and we’ll be up for it, we’ll be ready,” Glenn stated.
Vegas Spread on the Game
According to Vegas Insider, the Lions opened as 9.5-point home favorites over the Jets. However, the line has shifted with the Jets as a 6.5-point underdog.
There are several games on the Jets’ schedule that appear daunting. One of the ways Glenn can save his job in 2026 is with coaching. Can you beat a team that you aren’t supposed to? This would be one of those games in that category.
This game clearly means extra to Glenn, whether he admits it or not. This is the team that put him in a position to eventually become an HC in the NFL. Most paths to a head coaching job include a stint as a coordinator. Glenn didn’t receive that opportunity at the NFL level until Campbell gave it to him.
Glenn told the media last week that the Packers loss “won’t define them.” We’re about to find out if that’s true.
Jets HC Aaron Glenn Gets Emotional Ahead of Lions Revenge Game