HC Aaron Glenn spent most of Monday's press conference defending his decision making in the Jets 20-17 overtime loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, but there was one promising sign that stood out.
"I am encouraged by the way that we play early on in that game when it comes to, here are our keys to victory, here's how we want to play that game," Glenn said.
The next step for the Jets is to "close the door and finish those types of games."
"I feel like we dictated that game for the most part all the way until about eight minutes into the fourth quarter," Glenn said. "That's something I have to make sure that get our team in a position to do that, and I understand that, I take that and that's something I will never run away from."
Defensively, the Jets are consistently starting fast. The Green & White didn't allow the Packers to get a first down until the final play of the first quarter. Similarly, against the Titans, the Jets forced a fumble and seven punts after allowing a field goal on their opening drive.
"During one of the days of practice throughout the week, we have a start fast emphasis period. I feel like that carries over, that's the goal," S Dane Belton said. "We want to dictate what the offense can do and that's definitely been a goal of ours and the focus so it's encouraging seeing that transpire the first two games of the season."
Check out the top photos from the Jets' Week 2 game against the Packers.
How to Close the Door
The Jets couldn't convert all of their splash plays against the Packers into points on Sunday. The Green & White scored a field goal off their fourth-quarter fumble recovery but didn't score after RB Breece Hall's 43-yard catch and run.
"Anytime we get in those situations, that's something we talk about offensively all the time is making sure that we take advantage of those opportunities because to me, that's how you close the door on a team," Glenn said. "It's when you get those chances, when you get the ball in positive territory, man we have to be able to score. That can just be demoralizing when you're able to do that."
LT Olu Fashanu and the rest of the offensive line wants to improve in the run game to open up more opportunities throughout the offense. OC Frank Reich is a creative play-caller, but with limited productivity on the ground, it was hard for the Jets to sustain drives.
"No matter who you play, you want to establish the run first just because if you're able to establish that first, then that opens up the entire field and allows us to get a good grove," Fashanu said.
The third-year offensive tackle took the loss hard -- he typically does -- because of those missed opportunities. After speaking with the media, he was on his way to rewatch the game with his position group, and he had already watched it himself Sunday evening.
"At the end of the day, I always have to fall back on myself and know that I have to perform better, and I have to play better every play," Fashanu said about evaluating the offense's performance. "I feel like as an O-line that's the mentality that we have where no matter whatever the defense is showing us, it's on us to still execute no matter what."
Foot on the Pedal
The Jets will dive deeper into Detroit film as the week moves on, but DT Harrison Phillips, who spent three seasons on the Vikings, gave a brief analysis from what he already knows about the Lions' offense.
"I think they've got one of the best running backs in all football [Jahmyr Gibbs], they have a quarterback [Jared Goff] whose decision making is a really, really high level and then their offensive line unit always plays together really well, tight ends can block and get open in the pass game, they have a very dynamic receiving core," Phillips said.
Tuesday is an off day for players but once practices get going Wednesday through the rest of the week, Phillips wants to see an extra intensity coming from the Jets.
"I think that we're really going to have to make a conscious effort this week during our practice to really step up the intensity in the later part of practice when it's getting a bit tired," Phillips said. "Sometimes that first play of practice is like 'Yeah! It's practice time, pads are on, let's roll.' Well, by play 30 or 40 maybe that aggressiveness is kind of worn off.
"We're going to try to make an emphasis to keep our foot on the pedal the entirety of these practices and make sure that we finish strong."
