New York Jets defensive tackle Harrison Phillips had a lot to say.
The veteran leader was asked on radio row at the Super Bowl why fans should believe in Aaron Glenn and his vision moving forward.
“I think AG inherited a very cancerous, truculent group — whole, top to bottom, and it’s not individual people’s fault. I was there for one season, and it was a very difficult season; I almost wanted to waver on some of my thoughts, my beliefs, and my optimism. So I can’t imagine being there for year after year after year and not seeing the results that you wanted. It tainted people,” Phillips told Richie Mollura of Roundtable Sports.
“Because my coach is going to get fired, my teammates are gonna get fired, I’m gonna be a free agent, I might get fired, I gotta play for me, I gotta make sure that my tape is hot regardless of what the system or scheme is telling me what to do. Then young players come in and see, oh, that’s my vet, and that’s how they’re acting, so I’m gonna act like that too. It’s a long chain of things, and it can’t be fixed like that. I think AG’s mindset of any coach I have been around to deal with what he had to deal with this season to be as consistent as he was to us through that whole thing was super cool to see,” Phillips explained to Roundtable Sports at the Super Bowl.
Phillips Explains Why He Is Confident That AG Can Turn Around the Jets
“Making the jump from year one to year two … more of his people in the building … more of his thumbprint on the culture,” Phillips said.
Year one didn’t go well for Coach Glenn. The team only won three games, and Glenn’s decision-making came under fire.
Glenn should have learned a lot from year one that he can implement into year two.
The latest reporting says Glenn will call defensive plays in 2026. That should bring AG closer to the game. That will influence his roster construction in the offseason. The mission is to find more AG guys to plug in on defense.
The more AG players that are brought in will help him influence the culture to what he wants on the team.
Some Clarity on Comments
Phillips’ very blunt take on the “cancerous” group that AG inherited went viral on social media.
Brian Costello of the New York Post caught up with Phillips to clarify his comments.
He told Coz that the Same Old Jets mindset was “cancerous” and he explained that he wasn’t “criticizing individuals.”
“He felt when [the] Jets started losing, they slipped into ‘same old Jets.’ That’s a cancerous thought to have,” Phillips told Costello.
Storytime With Phillips About the Jets
ESPN radio host Jake Asman asked Phillips what his message to Jets fans is.
“So a quick story then: the twin sons of an alcoholic father, I don’t know if you’re familiar with it. Twin sons are born in a household with an alcoholic father: beats them, violence, heavy alcohol abuse, & then they go & they leave.
30 years later, we go & interview these twin sons. They go to the first one & as someone might expect, he’s homeless, on the street, addicted to drugs, & he’s an alcoholic. They say why are you like this? He said my father was alcoholic.
They go interview the twin. He’s married, active in his church, business owner, & kicking [expletive] in life. They ask him why are you like this? He says well my father was an alcoholic.
So often times heroes & villains have the same origin story. Someone might say I’ve been hurt so much, I’m going to cause hurt. Someone else might frame it as I’ve been hurt so much, I’m going to make sure no one else hurts again,” Phillips explained on “The Jake Asman Show.”
‘So a quick story then: the twin sons of an alcoholic father, I don’t know if you’re familiar with it.
Twin sons are born in a household with an alcoholic father: beats them, violence,
Jets Leader Delivers Eyebrow Raising Aaron Glenn Comments