NEW YORK — Woody Johnson was one of the last owners to show up for the start of the NFL’s fall meetings. When he finally arrived and pushed through the revolving door at the InterContinental Hotel, a crowd of reporters swarmed him. “I don’t really have any comments,” Johnson said.
The Jets owner then proceeded to answer questions for about seven minutes. He spent most of that time simultaneously defending and supporting head coach Aaron Glenn after the team’s 0-7 start. He also had criticism for the quarterback Glenn chose as his starter this offseason.
One word to sum up his feelings on the team: Hope.
“I see what you see,” Johnson said. “But I see more hope than you do. You can’t win with hope, but it helps.”
One word to explain his feelings on Justin Fields: Discontent.
The Jets are the NFL’s only winless team, raising questions about whether Glenn is the right coach going forward. A segment of the team’s fan base has already turned on him, some calling for him to be one-and-done. Johnson’s comments Tuesday would indicate that a coaching move is not really on the table. Johnson said he hugs Glenn “every day” and tells him “keep the faith, man.”
“I do believe in Aaron,” Johnson said. “I’ve known Aaron since 1996. I was a fan. I’ve always been a fan of him. I see the way he handles the room. If I were a player, I would respond to him because he’s the real deal. No BS. There’s no second agendas. What you’re hearing is the truth — a lot of time players don’t get the truth. They get a lot of gobbledegook.”
Johnson went on to rave about the defense and special teams and pinned most of the team’s struggles this season on the offense — particularly Fields, who was benched for Tyrod Taylor at halftime of Sunday’s loss to the Panthers.
“It looks like (Glenn’s) turning around parts of it,” Johnson said. “It’s hard when you have a quarterback with a rating that we’ve got. He has the ability but something just is not jibing. If you look at any head coach with a quarterback like that, you’re going to see similar results across the league. You have to play consistently at that position and that’s what we’re going to try to do for the remainder of the season.”
To Johnson’s point about Fields’ rating: He has a 91.1 passer rating this season, which ranks 18th among qualifying quarterbacks, though Fields’ performance the last two weeks has been especially poor. In losses to the Broncos and Panthers, Fields has a 58.3 rating, which ranks 31st of 33 quarterbacks, and he’s completed 51.7 percent of his passes and accumulated 91 passing yards on 15 attempts, with zero touchdowns. He also took 12 sacks over six quarters of play during those two games. The Jets’ offense hasn’t scored a touchdown since late in a blowout loss to the Cowboys in Week 5.
“I just think defense and special teams are doing better. The defense is pretty good,” Johnson said. “If we can just complete a pass, it would look good.”
Johnson’s quotes about the passing game didn’t end there.
“The offense is just not clicking,” Johnson said. “You can’t run the ball if you can’t pass the ball. That’s football 101.”
As for the decision about who to start at quarterback against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 8, Johnson said he’ll leave that up to Glenn and his coaching staff.
“That’s completely up to the coach,” Johnson said. “I’m not going to be involved at all with any of that. This is what they’re paid to do. This is what they’re experts at doing, so they’ll make the right decisions with what we’ve got.”
The Jets haven’t made the playoffs for 14 years, the longest drought in the NFL. That number will soon rise to 15 years when the Jets are eliminated this season — a near-certainty.
Why does Johnson feel that disgruntled fans should share his hope?
“If they’re a true Jets fan, that’s not a question you ask,” Johnson said. “They’ve been at it for a long time. They know exactly what’s going on. I think they’re the smartest fans in the world because they know what’s going on. They see it and they know it.”
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