Aaron Glenn's out of answers after brutal loss to Raiders | Gang's All Here

Hello and welcome to Gangs All Here. This is our Monday episode reviewing the Jets' loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, 38-33. We're here to break it down with our Jets beat writer, Brian Costello, as always on a Monday. They fall to 2-6 on the season. Things could not be more bleak when you look at this Jets team right now. But I am really interested to hear everything Costello has to say. Mr. Costello, how are you doing today, buddy? I'm good, Ryan. How are you? How are you? I'm good. I'm good. It's nice that we are... Seeing this team put Jets fans in a spot of season's over, and now we can focus on the draft. A little early, right? I wish they could have given us a little more season. I don't think you wanted that November 1st. You wanted to feel like the season was over, right? We talk about the holidays all the time. I was hoping they could get us to Thanksgiving, you know, and... We'd still be talking about, you know, even if it was going to be a long shot of it being a season that they could do something, they could at least finish around 500, it'd be respectable and you'd feel, have some hope going into 2027. But yeah, right now it's all about tank-a-thon. Sure is, especially when the Jets hold three of the top 10 picks currently as it stands after the games yesterday. And that'll be for future discussions when we get into that. But we still have to talk about this team and what happened on the field yesterday. Kaz, it's been said over and over, but this team continues to find new ways to lose football games, even after putting up over 400 yards of offense and giving up another 300 on defense. And despite scoring sick on the first six drives of the game, the Jets still lose this one. So now that you are almost 24 hours removed, how do you view this game? Yeah, inexcusable, Brian, and unbelievable, embarrassing, all the words you want to use. For the Jets to score in their first six possessions, I compared it to seeing Halley's Comet in my column because there's been a lot of bad football in the last 16 years, but most of it has been bad offense. They've had some good defenses under Rex, under Bowles, under Sala. There were some good defenses. It's been bad offense. It's been bad quarterback play. It's been a lack of weapons. It's been bad offensive line. None of that was the case yesterday. They played well on offense. They could have scored more touchdowns in the red zone. There's no doubt about that, but this was just an abomination on defense. Against a Raiders team that's not that good, against a Raiders team that you don't have to be Bill Belichick to figure out that number 89 is where the ball's going and you've got to take him away, and they didn't do that. You know, it's just hard to fathom the third down penalties were brutal. Yeah. Do you agree with his assessment again today? Glenn referenced that in the presser this morning that the reason they lost is because the third down penalties, they had two of them. No. Yeah, they had two of them. They were bad. I don't think they're the whole reason they lost. I don't think that's the biggest problem on defense right now. I think they don't have playmakers on defense. That's the biggest thing I look at, especially when David Bailey's not playing. I think he has the potential to be a playmaker, and he's shown flashes of that this season. When he's not on the field, you know, there's not much going on. They didn't affect the quarterback hardly at all. They're not good in coverage. You know, one interception in the last 25 games is just inconceivable. They didn't even, you know, force the fumbles yesterday that we've seen them force in the past. So they did pretty good against the run, but, I mean, the Raiders are a bad running team to begin with. But, you know, you knew. If you're kind of drawing it up on the board, 89 is the number one target, 87 is the number two target, number four is the number three target in the passing game, and all of them had big plays against the Jets. And that's just tough. And I think, right, I know everyone wants to kill Aaron Glenn. I get it, and make the jokes about the superpower. They're easy jokes to be made. But the players have to play better, too. I mean, this wasn't about the play calling to me. This was just about they don't have... The talent on that side of the ball, and this is kind of what I talked about in the summer, and they played pretty well in the beginning of the year. I was surprised, and now I think you're kind of seeing the real Jets defense. Well, I'll say this, and I read your column this morning on Post Sports Plus. You all should be subscribed to that already if you want to follow Kaz along for his coverage on this Jets team. You know, I agree to an extent about the talent is not good. And especially when you don't have Tavondre Sweat and David Bailey healthy for that game yesterday, it impacts you and what you want to do. But I still think the fact that they had spent all that money in the offseason on Demario Davis and Minka Fitzpatrick and Joseph Osai, who wasn't healthy as well yesterday, and Kingsley Nabari, you'd expect them to be able to bottle and stop. The one thing that you couldn't let beat you, which was Brock Bowers and Mayer. And for some reason, this Jets team cannot cover the tight end. We saw it now in Dulcich and the tight ends this week. They killed you. They killed you in the pass game. And Kaz, I'm not sure if you saw, but I did some research after the game yesterday with Frankie in the postgame show. Aaron Glenn's defense in the last five losses. Do you know how much they're averaging in those five losses? Yeah, I saw you at 390 or something like that. 390, Kaz. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not excusing him, Ryan, at all. I do think scheme is part of the problem, absolutely. But I think I've seen a lot of people just going blasting him and they're not blasting the players. They paid DeMario Davis a lot of money. He is not playing that well. They're paying Minka Fitzpatrick a lot of money. He is not playing that well. How about the leadership comments from him yesterday too? Yeah, we can get into that, but I think if you really look at, like, if you're sitting there going, all right, who on this team would other teams want? There's not a lot of guys on the defense that I think other teams would be clamoring for, right? I just, I don't see it, and I think, you know, Brownlee had pretty good coverage on that. Bowers on the first touchdown, and he made an amazing play. Amazing plan. Sure. Sherwood clearly messed up on the touchdown in the third quarter. You saw Glenn getting after him on the sideline. I think Vilma pointed it out that he should have had Bowers on that play. He drifted too far. Yeah, so there's mistakes being made by players. But yeah, the blame can go all around. I want to remind people that the players deserve some, too, not just the coach. So I hear you on the players' part, and I think my counter would be to you is if the players should be more held responsible for these losses. The Jets have lost a lot of one-score games here, Kaz, and that's where I would turn it a little bit is like, If the coach had put these guys in better – maybe this comes down to the players just not making the plays, but do you think the coach should still be responsible for the fact that the Jets have lost now, what is it, five, six one-score games now this year already? Yeah. I think there's plenty to go around. I think the coach definitely deserves some of it. But I think – You know, the issues, it wasn't an issue this week, but obviously the two-minute issues we've seen are on the coach. I think red zone issues fall on the coach in some regards. I think third down issues fall on the coach in some regards. So, yeah, I'm not excusing him at all, and I'm not saying that. I just think sometimes we get a little bit lost because it's easy to blame the coach, and it's harder to blame all the players. It's hard because we don't know exactly what we're looking at in terms of what their responsibilities are and things. But, you know, how many times, you know, Brandon Stevens getting called for holding in the end zone. Thank Brownlee had issues yesterday. A.Z. Thomas gave up the touchdown to Jalen Naylor, where he just, it was third and goal. If there's any play where you cannot take off, it's third and goal at the two-yard line. I don't think he took the play. I think a lot of people are questioning his effort. I'm wondering, because Brownlee was kind of underneath there. Do you think Brownlee was going to drop there? you. And, like, you know, I wouldn't question a player's effort. So I think he just messed up there. I think he read it wrong for some reason. He jammed him. It seemed like he jammed him and kind of released him, thinking he had help inside, and then realized at the last second he didn't. But, yeah, I mean, there's very few players on this Jets defense that are playing well right now. Yeah, and the other thing I want to ask you is, From a defensive personnel standpoint, you're more limited to what you have on your roster. D'Angelo Pons, one play yesterday, one snap on defense. And Brownlee was benched last week for disciplinary reasons, for missing team meetings, it seems like. And he went back into the starting lineup yesterday. I know Pons is not a slot corner. I got it. But what you've gotten out of Brownlee thus far has been below average. AZ Thomas and Brandon Stevens are not lockdown corners. Why is D'Angelo Pons not playing in these games? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. And it's a good question. It's one we need to ask Glenn later in the week. We had, you know, a short one today with him. We had to hit a lot of topics, but I think that's a topic for later in the week. I'm You know, I would, I'm guessing it's playbook related. starting We're this deep into a season with a rookie not playing, a second round pick. I have to think he's not picking up the position or the defense quickly. I do think Brownlee provides a physicality that no one else on the defense gives them. to I thought they missed that last week against the Dolphins. It kind of stood out to me that they didn't have the violence speak. that Brownlee brings, and I'm sure coaches like that. I'm sure that that's what they like about Brownlee. Now that comes with coverage issues, and that comes with penalty issues because he gets those. But, yeah, I'm with you. I'd like to see more Pons. I'd like to figure out a way to get him in there. And I know, like, cornerback is a position where the guys, if there's 70 plays in the game, the guy plays 70 plays. I don't think that's a rule, right? Like, can we, I don't know, maybe slip him in there for Brandon Stevens on a series, or maybe slip him in there for A.J. Thomas on a series, and let's see what he can do. I think you're reaching that point in the season now where you need to start... Thinking about evaluation for 2027. Yeah, certainly have to. And I think, you know, the question is on Woody Johnson of how you're going to evaluate this coach now, who is unfortunately 5-20 in his first 25 games, because the wins are just not there. I'm sure you've seen the PFF wins over expected. The Jets are last. They have. They're expected to win more games than what they currently are compared to their PFF grade on the field. How... How do you think, because I saw your column on this too, how do you think Woody Johnson is feeling right now watching this product on the field and another loss to a team that was in their weight class, like you said? Yeah, he can't be happy, right? I saw him briefly after the game getting into a golf cart to be taken away from the locker room to his car or whatever, to a helicopter. I don't know where he was going, but he was in a golf cart. He can't be happy. I don't know how much it translated on TV, Ryan, but the way the Raiders fans took the building over yesterday was crazy. And, like, it's something you see from the Steelers or the Cowboys and no one really else. I mean, Olu jumping because of the crowd noise was pretty crazy. So that's humiliating. I'm sure Woody wasn't happy with that. You know, he can't be happy right now. Obviously, we haven't heard from him or anything, but I think he's got to be incredibly frustrated. And, you know, he's tried all these different ways to hire coaches, and nothing's worked. So I imagine he's extremely frustrated right now. I hear you that he could be frustrated about this. And I think you know where I'm going with this. We're frustrated just as well. And I think that's why fans are not going to show up to the stadium to buy the product, to watch the product. Because why would I spend my hard-earned money to watch a team just that continues to find new ways to lose football games and a coach that just does not seem to understand how to win football games. And that's ultimately what's going to be the indictment for him and his career cause. Because I heard, you know, him respond today about. The wins are really what's going to ultimately determine how long you can be a coach here in the league. And I think it's a weird tone from yesterday after the game, and I'm curious to hear you discuss this. To point out that you thought the good things you did yesterday is you handled the end-of-first-half situation, and Francesca had a great rant on it. It's like, those are elementary things that we criticize you on because you can't handle them. And you're coming out and saying that's a positive after your defense gave up almost 350 yards again and you blew a big lead in that game? I don't know, Kaz. It just feels very off with him. Yeah, I've been shocked at how he kind of doesn't have a feel for what people want to hear after games. And also, right, I wrote this in my rewind that I do on Monday mornings. You know, last year, he was so defiant. And I know he got criticized for that. I get it. But I don't know, I'd like to see a little bit of that right now. Like, you know, he seems to have kind of accepted that this is how it's going. And, um... You'd like it like Rex was very good at this. Rex would come out after bad losses and swear and curse. And, you know, he wouldn't call guys out, but he kind of just promised to fix it. But he wasn't it wasn't as Pollyanna as it's coming across from Glenn. And I think I'd like to see a little fire from him after a loss like that. I'd like to see him be pissed off that they lost that game. And, yeah, I agree with you. You have to be praising. You know, I think the offensive praise is fine. They played pretty well. But I wouldn't be pointing out all the things we did well in the game that we just lost. Yeah, and combine that with the sideline antics we've seen with the referees and the memes that he continuously gives to all of us Jets fans when we watch these games. It's just – Yeah, I mean, look, the sideline stuff, right, my opinion on that is coaches can't win, right? Like, because Salah was too stoic. You know, now Glenn is doing too much. The bottom line is if you're losing games, whatever the coach does pisses you off. Right. So like if the coach, I've never seen a coach trying to give a high five to a, to a referee though. You know what I mean? Yeah. I feel like I've seen like quarterbacks do that kind of stuff though. And they get like, they get pretty like holding the challenge flag like this. in front of the referee. Yes, I know. But I think he should be himself on the sideline. I think it's fine. I think if he's winning games, you'd be celebrating that stuff. I think when you're losing games, your sideline behavior becomes, you know, a problem. Yeah, it does. Look, we can continue to talk about Glenn in his future, but I think his fate seems sealed at this moment. We can get into that in future episodes. I want to talk about the offense with you because yesterday it exploded. They had a ton of explosive plays yesterday, the most in any game this season by any team in the NFL, which is crazy. That's crazy. What did you make of this offense, and what are you most looking forward to seeing as it goes forward here? Yeah, I want to know how much it had to do with the Raiders. Yeah. Right? Because I think if you trash the Jets' talent on defense, the Raiders have Max Crosby, and then... Who's their second best player on defense? N'Kobi Dean, maybe? I don't know. It's not great. So not to take anything away from the Jets. They took care of business. They did what they had to do. But I'm curious how much that had to do with the Raiders yesterday. Can they do that against teams with better defenses down the stretch? Can they get it going? I mean, look, another great performance from Braylon Allen. Great performance from Mitchell. They got Garrett involved. I thought Geno played well until that last. You know, whatever that Hail Mary thing was at the end of the game. Um, So, a lot to build on there. Two of six in the red zone is where I would go. And you question Glenn not going for it on fourth and two on the first drive. Fourth and three, I think it was, the first drive. You question him on the second drive where he kicked it from the 17. Maybe they end up with touchdowns if he goes for it in those situations and the red zone numbers look better. But right now they're the worst red zone team in football. ball. So that's something they've got to clean up. Yeah, clean up. Like you said, it's the worst in football. Like we were talking about last week, they have no problem moving the ball between the 20s. It is when it gets to crunch time by end of the first half and end of game and then in tight situations where it's third and short, fourth and short, or in the red zone, they just struggle right now as a unit. And that stinks because I think you would agree, guys, they have the personnel on the field, you would think, to win those matchups and win those situations. Yeah, and there's a lot of talent on the field right now. We've seen it. We've seen Sadiq have games. We've seen Cooper have games. We've seen Mitchell have games, have a game. So there's a lot of guys. Braylon's playing excellent. Where's that go? You've got to figure it out. What's that? Where does that go with Braylon and Brees? Because there's two things here. There's two things to discuss with the Braylon-Brees thing. First being, if Brees is back this week, how does he mix in with Braylon, who's been arguably the best running back in football the last three weeks? So, I'd say this. I think Braylon would get an injury report on Wednesday. Braylon did not look good to me after the game last night. The one time he came up, he left the game. He came back in, I think, adrenaline carrying him the rest of the way. But in the locker room, he was moving really slow. It would not shock me if we show up Wednesday and Braylon's not practicing. So maybe he has a reduced role this week if Brees is back, or maybe they held him out to give him a week to recover. Because remember, he was dealing with the ankle last week in practice. He didn't practice last Wednesday with the ankle. They might be able to push it. They might be able to kick the can down the road for a week. The question to me is, do you trade him, Brees being him, and what can you get for him? What would you move him for? I mean, he just gave him a contract, so I wouldn't think teams are going to be lining up to just give them premium picks for him. So are you willing to trade him for a fourth-round pick? No, I think you can get a third for him, though. There's enough teams out there that need running backs. He's under contract, like you said. I mean, that's the question. I think I would move him for a third-round pick. I'm not sure you'd get a third-round pick for him. He's got to play Sunday so the team can see he's healthy, I think, in order to move him. You would risk that injury, though? You would risk the re-injury? I would. I think if I'm trading for him, I'm like, hey, I need to see if this guy can run, right? No one's seen him run for five weeks, so I want to see that he's okay, that the quad isn't going to be an issue. Taking him, yeah, I would risk that. So is it BS on Aaron Glenn's part saying we want to keep our best players or do you think they could be shot? Well, I mean, look, they traded Sauce and Quinn last year. Those were pretty good players. I know Sauce, there's a lot of people who don't like Sauce right now, but he was one of the better players. And they got a deal that they couldn't refuse. So I think it's the same thing. I think if someone calls up and gives them a trade that they feel like I think it's super value for Breece. Anyone else you think that could get moved? Will McDonald had a sack yesterday. Yeah. Does he get moved? Do they think about Minka Fitzpatrick and Demario Davis, the veterans? Or is this just going to be a very quiet deadline for the Jets? I don't think you could trade Minka or Demario with those contracts, to be honest with you. Will is an interesting one. I think that's the one that you debate. What do you get for him? They don't have a lot of depth at that position. Who knows what's going on? Osai was running on the side field last week, so maybe he's coming back soon. I would think Bailey will be okay, but do you risk moving him? That's a decision. That's kind of like a where are we going as a team this year decision. Are you still trying to put your best team out there, or are you waving the white flag and saying, you know? Well, I mean, Glenn's not going to be like, hey, let's trade all our players away. I don't care if we lose them. There is the fact of you have to send a message to if there's 53 guys in the locker room. And last year, the Jets sent the message, we're giving up. And you saw what that looked like in the last five weeks. And it's tough. It's tough for guys like Garrett Wilson or now you're teaching David Bailey that as a rookie. We talk about all the time the frustration of losing in the Jets locker room. Well, if the organization tells them, You know what, guys? We're 2-6, maybe 2-7 after Sunday. We're just going to—we'd rather get that fourth-round pick in 2028 than compete this year. That's a tough message for guys in the locker room who are, you're asking them to risk injury every week to play for you. So that's a decision that the organization has to make and Darren Muggs has to make and, you know, in concert with it, with Woody Johnson. Well, I think this goes into that old debate of what's best for the organization right now. I understand what you're saying with the 53 on the... On the roster, there's a strong debate. I could fire the head coach right now and be better off the rest of this year, to be honest with you. So that's one thing from my standpoint. And the other thing I'll say is if Darren Muggs is to be the GM moving forward, I think he should be the one to make that call of... We are not competing. We're not going anywhere fast this year with this team. And if I can get a pick back for one of these players to help set us up for the future, oh, and at the same time, it'll help us tank for that top pick, which I know they don't care, and they don't do, and I know that. But at the end of the day, the Jets' best... What they're what's happening right now with this team where they're losing these close games is probably best for the future of this franchise cause because of that pick that can get taken rise higher and higher up the board. Yeah, I get that part. I think the question is, it's probably a math equation, Ryan, right? Like if I'm going to give you. A fifth-round pick for Will McDonald. That's probably not going to have much impact for you going forward. A fifth-round pick is going to be a flyer pick. So is it more valuable to just keep Will McDonald around now and try to move him in the offseason just so you get through these last weeks with a respectable defense versus what you had last year? You guys saw it last year. I mean, you want to live through that again. No, I hear you, but they're giving up 390 yards a game. That's not a respectable defense, even with the players they have on the field right now. Yeah, yeah. You're going to have to hope you play better. This is against Kirk Cousins, Malik Willis, who was the Bears quarterback. I'm blanking now, but like all of these guys that they're giving up huge games to, it's not Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen who you are facing in the next couple weeks. Yes. Yeah, but they've been one-score games. Like, it's not – it doesn't – think about what it looked like last year in New Orleans and Jacksonville and against New England at home and Buffalo up there. Like, it doesn't look like that right now. Uh, they. They are in these games. They're competing. If you start selling off players, you're going to be in a situation where you're giving up, you know, 45 points. Trevor Lawrence is going for seven touchdowns or whatever he did last year against you. If you decide that's what you want to do, okay, but it's got to be worth it. I think the Sauce and Quinn trades last year were worth it because of what they got back was so valuable. Those are picks that you can turn the franchise around with. I'm not sure you're doing that for late-round picks is my point. Ultimately, I know you've said over and over here that they're not going to move on from Aaron Glenn midseason. Have you changed your thinking at all after yesterday? I haven't. How much worse can it get? Is it a dangerous question to ask around the Jets? I mean, two and eight, two years in a row, if they lose these next two against the Bills and Chiefs in embarrassing fashion again. I guess the only pressure point I see coming up is the bye week coming up at the beginning of December. Maybe you do it then and say, all right, let's just put the guy out of his misery and we'll start the search now. I guess that could happen, but still, I think he's going to finish the year. Kaz, like you said at the beginning of this today, I can't believe we haven't even reached Thanksgiving and Christmas and the season just does not feel like it's going to go in a positive direction at all this year for the Jets. Thank you, as always, for hopping on here, giving us your analysis, and we're looking forward to catching up with you later this week, man. All right. Thanks, Ryan.