During the New York Jets’ rocky 23-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, head coach Aaron Glenn took a gamble at a moment where the team could not afford to come up empty.
With the Jets trailing 10-7 in the third quarter and still in their own territory, Glenn kept the offense on the field for a fourth-and-2, marking another bold fourth-down decision for the first-year head coach.
This one didn’t land.
Glenn, who has trusted his gut and stayed aggressive all season long, took heat from fans and analysts almost immediately for this decision. On fourth-and-2, Tyrod Taylor fired toward John Metchie III, but the pass skipped incomplete on an apparent miscommunication, flipping the field and gifting Baltimore prime position.
The Ravens punched in a touchdown moments later, cracking the game open and turning a tight battle into an uphill climb the Jets couldn’t recover from.
Speaking on SNY’s “Jets Postgame Live,” former Jets offensive lineman and Super Bowl champion Willie Colon delivered a blunt assessment regarding Glenn’s decision to leave the offense out on the field in that situation.
“There is a fine line between being aggressive and dumb, and that was just dumb,” said Colon.
When addressing reporters following the loss, Glenn backed his choice to leave Taylor and New York’s offense out on the field.
“I wanted to be aggressive,” said the first-year head coach. He also added that he liked how New York’s defense was playing, which also impacted his decision to go for it.
It’s easy to rip Glenn for the call now that it backfired, but the decision itself wasn’t reckless. The data actually supported it. Analytics showed that going for it in that moment gave the Jets a noticeably better chance to win than simply punting the ball away.
Glenn bet on his offense to deliver, and unfortunately, that did not transpire, burning New York’s chances of compiling a second-half comeback.