Aaron Glenn has a verbal spring in his media step this midweek, primarily because of one of the several rules that he holds himself and his team to is no looking in the rearview mirror.
"After Monday, I flushed that game," Glenn said of the 34-32 fall-from-ahead opening-day home loss to Pittsburgh. "I'm excited about the things we're continuing to build on and how we're moving forward. I try my best not to look back and focus on what just happened. I focus on what we're trying to do right now, continue playing our brand of football, because I think that speaks louder than anything."
The Jets will have to be at their vociferous best Sunday when they welcome Buffalo, their longtime AFC East rival, to MetLife Stadium. The Bills were primed to enter this season as one of the league's elite, having won five consecutive division titles, earned six straight playoff berths and featuring the reigning NFL MVP in QB Josh Allen.
Then came Sunday at their Western New York home against the Ravens. The Bills showed how dangerous they are by scoring 16 points in the final 3:56 to pull out a 41-40 win fashioned on 497 total yards and no turnovers.
"They're a really tough opponent," Glenn said, pointing to some of the Bills' individual performers, such as Allen — "he is a hell of a player" — RB James Cook — "we have to make sure we understand exactly what he brings" — and DT Ed Oliver — "he's a disruptor, he's a penetrator, they move him around quite a bit, he's very athletic. He's a problem."
Glenn did allow himself one quick backward glance at last season, when the Lions and Glenn, then their defensive coordinator, were outscored at home by the Bills, 48-42. "They bring a lot to the table," he said, "when it just comes to understanding how to play the game of football."
Yet, Jets-Bills could be this week's Exhibit A for why AG preaches no peeking, at your last game or your opponent's. The Jets did many things well, especially on offense, that they expect to do this season but that pleasantly surprised a good portion of the Green & White fan base despite the loss. But throwing their helmets on the MetLife FieldTurf is not going to automatically give them another 394 yards and 32 points, and fearing the Bills' explosiveness is a sure way to fall to 0-2.
"I tell this to the players quite a bit, that this is an imperfect game that we're trying to perfect," Glenn said. "There's always things we have to fix. And we always look for those little details, discipline that we have to try to improve on. We have to look forward and how do we consistently do that, what are the things we have to do as a team collectively to make sure. The offense didn't do that just by themselves. There were a lot of things that happened in practice with our scout team that allowed that to happen.
"We want to be consistent. We don't want to be a flash in the pan, 32 one week and 10 the next week. And I know that happens because there are some good defenses out here. But for the most part we're working to be consistent on all levels."
The consistency Glenn wants to instill in his team played a part in another one of those tough player transactions that are inherent in the NFL. The coach announced at the top of his news conference that the Jets have waived three-year WR/KR Xavier Gipson.
Glenn was optimistic for Gipson's future in the NFL and stressed that his lost fumble on a fourth-quarter kickoff return that led to the Steelers' short go-ahead touchdown drive wasn't a kneejerk reaction, and it wasn't just about accountability, another of AG's coaching points.
"I want it to be known that the decisions that are made are not rash decisions and they're never based off of one incident," Glenn said. "There were a number of things that led up to this. Xavier's going to play in this league, and I know he's going to correct things because of who he is as a person. I just felt it was time to make a change, and between me and [GM Darren Mougey], we had conversations about it and we made the change."
In the transaction, Glenn and the team also reinforced another talking point after Sunday's game about turnovers and undisciplined penalties. But as a tough-love coach, he also sees the best in his team, even as the Jets head into Sunday's potential Buffalo buzzsaw.
"I'm excited about the players we have," he said. "I do think we have damned good players on this team. And with the coaching staff, man, we're going to do everything we can to coach these guys up to beat a good opponent that's coming into our building. This will be a really good challenge for us, but I know for a fact that our guys are looking forward to the challenge."
