\n New York Jets quarterback Justin Fields (7) and running back Breece Hall (20) run drills during practice last month in Florham Park, N.J.
\n AP\n <\/p>\n
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. \u2014 Justin Fields and the rest of the New York Jets’ starters will play for at least some of the team’s preseason opener at Green Bay on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re playing,\u201d coach Aaron Glenn said Thursday after the team’s final full practice before the game against the Packers. \u201cI can’t tell you how much guys are going to play. That’s going to be affected by how the game goes, but we’re playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many teams typically sit most of their starters for the first preseason game, something the Jets’ most recent previous regimes often did. But Glenn wants to see his players on the field during a game after more than two weeks of training camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I want to play,\u201d Glenn said when asked for his reasoning to play the starters. \u201cThat’s the reason. I want our guys to play. That’s the reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the first-year head coach also wants the final score of his debut to be in the Jets’ favor.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time we go on the grass, the first thing I expect is to win, I do,\u201d Glenn said. \u201cBut I expect to win in ways that we really talk about trying to create during camp. And everything that we talk about trying to build, as far as how we’re trying to get this team to operate, I want to make sure that’s showing up on the tape.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision by Glenn was expected by his players, who figured that would be the case from the way the coach has run practices during camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, if y\u2019all look, we\u2019ve been tackling in practice,\u201d cornerback Sauce Gardner said. \u201cSo I was pretty sure that he was going to want us to be able to tackle another team, you know? So I\u2019m embracing that and I\u2019m looking forward to it, but I definitely was not surprised. None of us was surprised when he said that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gardner played in the preseason opener as a rookie after being the fourth overall pick in the 2022 draft, but hadn’t done so the last two summers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love football, like, you know, I\u2019m obsessed with football,\u201d Gardner said. \u201cSo any chance that I’ve got to play, I am always going to, like, love the idea of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having the starters play will give Glenn and the coaching staff an even better idea of where Fields and the Jets’ passing offense \u2014 which has mostly struggled through camp \u2014 is at this point.<\/p>\n
Fields, in his first season with New York, bounced back from a few subpar practices with a solid showing Thursday. He was unofficially 8 of 14, including a pass that deflected off tight end Jeremy Ruckert\u2019s hands and was intercepted, and had a pretty touchdown toss to Garrett Wilson.<\/p>\n
\u201cMan, he\u2019s a very mature person,\u201d Glenn said of Fields. \u201cAnd listen, he understands the highs and lows of this game and there\u2019s so much outside noise to try to beat him down. And he\u2019s so mature and he doesn\u2019t allow that to be a factor in how he\u2019s going to go about his business.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe understands the noise. It\u2019s just part of the business, a part of being a quarterback, so he can’t hide from that. And I\u2019m proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bad memory<\/p>\n
Aaron Glenn recalled his first preseason game with the Jets as a rookie in 1994 with a bit of anxiety.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to really talk about it. It wasn\u2019t good,\u201d he said, drawing laughs from reporters. \u201cIt was against Philly. Herschel Walker was a personal protector and I was catching punts. To see a 240-pound man just streaking down the field right at you trying to catch a punt, that\u2019s not a pretty sight.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I tried to wipe that memory out of my mind. But you just brought it up, so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Injuries<\/p>\n
Defensive tackle Byron Cowart has an ankle injury that will sideline him for the preseason game.<\/p>\n
Among those previously ruled out were defensive tackle Quinnen Williams (calf), rookie tight end Mason Taylor (high ankle sprain), left guard John Simpson (back), backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor (knee) and special teams ace Kris Boyd (shoulder).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Jets quarterback Justin Fields (7) and running back Breece Hall (20) run drills during practice last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[2910,769,7,226,1917,255,2321,2097,6,767],"class_list":{"0":"post-271338","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-jets","8":"tag-associated-press","9":"tag-content-providers","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-jets","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-jets","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkjets","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-pro-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114992531897235089","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}