There’s rarely any room for moral victories in the NFL, and the New York Jets are learning that early and often. Gang Green is off to a winless start to the year, with Monday night’s 27-21 loss to the Miami Dolphins seeing them drop to 0-4 on the season.
It marked yet another disappointing showing, even with quarterback Justin Fields back in the lineup following a one-game absence. In his return from a concussion, how did New York’s QB1 fare?
Both head coach Aaron Glenn and Fields himself weighed in following Week 4’s crushing intra-division defeat.
Aaron Glenn & Justin Fields Share Thoughts on QB1’s Return
Taking the podium late on Monday night, Glenn emphasized that further evaluation is necessary. There’s no definitive takeaway from Fields’ reintroduction, but he does believe the young signal-caller did a decent job in a tough situation.
“I need to look at the tape,” Glenn said. “I thought he did some really good things. Obviously, he was running around out there and made some plays with his feet. I thought towards the end of that game, he was dealing the ball pretty well. But I really want to look at the tape and look at the decisions, things like that, to see exactly how he operated. To me, just from the naked eye, he looked pretty good.”
The raw numbers back up Glenn’s assessment. Passing the ball, Fields went 20-for-27 with 226 yards and a touchdown. He was also a major threat on the ground, tying running back Breece Hall with 81 rushing yards but doing so on half the number of carries. On his 7 rushes, Fields averaged a staggering 11.6 yards and even notched a 43-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
Fields wasn’t nearly as optimistic as a still-disappointed Glenn. Given the Jets‘ three turnovers — one of them from him — and 13 accepted penalties, there was plenty of room for improvement.
“Felt alright,” Fields said. “Felt like we could’ve started better. I know our first drive was a good drive but, like I said, it was the turnover that killed it. I think we played alright as a team but, like I said, those penalties and turnovers are unacceptable.”
Fields Confident in Jets’ Ability to Turn Letdown Season Around
Advanced stats reflected a nice outing for Fields. According to the rbsdm.com box score, the fifth-year man averaged 0.27 EPA/play on the evening, good for the 77th percentile. New York’s 57% success rate on passes was even nicer, slotting in at the 89th percentile. Moving the ball wasn’t an issue for Tanner Engstrand’s group on Monday. It was the mistakes that cost them.
In the end, New York pulled to within six and lost in somewhat respectable fashion. That isn’t enough to make anyone satisfied, but it is enough for Fields to think the team is close to turning a corner.
“Like I said, we’ve lost three games that were within one score,” Fields said. “We’re going to be in this position a lot more and I feel like all three games, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot. Just constantly preaching and honing in on that no penalties and no turnovers. I’m going to continue to say it.
“I told the guys after the game I’m not losing faith. We have 13 games guaranteed left. We can go on a run here and just keep building, keep working and just keep going. It’s early in the season, it’s four games. Obviously, we want a better start than that. But like I said, if we keep working, we know the team that we can be if we just eliminate the penalties, eliminate the turnovers and get it going.”
For the Jets‘ sake, they better hope better execution is coming. Glenn is one of three Jets coaches to begin his tenure with an 0-4 stretch. Even with three mostly close defeats out of four, that simply won’t cut it. This is an organization that won five games a season ago and seemingly had better culture in place coming into 2025-26.
The results aren’t showing it yet, but perhaps Fields is a silver lining if he plays like he did in Week 4.
Jets’ Aaron Glenn & Justin Fields Review QB’s Return From Concussion