The first New York Jets game of the 2025-26 campaign is in the books, and it brought plenty of good and bad alike. Gang Green also got its first real look at quarterback Justin Fields, perhaps the club’s most important player for success this year.
The end result was a loss in disappointing fashion. Despite putting up 32 points overall, New York got outscored 17-6 in the fourth quarter to lose 34-32. Old friend â enemy, really â Aaron Rodgers got the last laugh.
Head coach Aaron Glenn isn’t letting that take away from Fields’ regular-season debut.
Aaron Glenn Gives Initial Review of Justin Fields’ Week 1 Performance
Speaking to the media after Sunday’s game, Glenn provided an early review of Fields’ Week 1. He believes his starting quarterback delivered a great performance.
“I thought he did an outstanding job,” Glenn said. “Outstanding. Again, I want to go back and look at the tape and really dissect everything but just from the naked eye, I thought he did a really good job.”
Fields sparkled on the stat sheet. He completed 16 of his 22 pass attempts, averaging 9.9 yards per pass en route to a 218-yard effort. His 119.1 passer rating marked the fifth-highest single-game figure of his career. Fields also ran the ball 12 times for 48 yards. He took just one sack all afternoon and scored 3 all-purpose touchdowns.
Twenty-two passes won’t always be the Jets’ recipe, which Glenn acknowledged on Sunday.
“We’re going to be whatever we have to be to win the game,” Glenn said. “If it goes into that, it is what it is. There might be times where we have to throw it more than 22 times. There are some times we might have to run it 40 times. Whatever it costs us to win games, that’s what we’re going to be.”
Either way, Glenn seems incredibly encouraged by the first true test of the Fields era.
Fields Frustrated With Loss but Focused on Responding
The nature of the loss may have been the most puzzling. It was the Jets’ defense that shoulders a big chunk of blame for a letdown defeat. After ranking fourth in points allowed in 2022, that slotting has consistently declined to 12th in 2023 and 20th last year. The hope was early in Glenn’s tenure, things would rebound on that front.
Despite allowing Pittsburgh to average just 5 yards per play and 2.7 yards per rush, it was a rough afternoon. Rodgers went 22-for-30 with 244 yards and a whopping 4 touchdowns. Even with the defense racking up four sacks, the Jets fell short.
Speaking after Glenn, Fields said he expected to keep firing regardless of the score.
“I think the most frustrating part is the loss,” Fields said. “But within a game, [with] all the lead changes, you’ve got to expect it. In my mind, it’s like I’m kind of expecting them to score. If they score or not, I’m ready to go. That’s the mindset that I pretty much had all day. It’s football, at the end of the day. You’re going to take punches, you’re going to punch, that’s just how this game is â especially when two good teams go at it. You can’t let any of that faze you. You’ve just got to keep going out there and driving the ball down the field.”
Fields and company may need to string together even more production in the coming games. Week 2 sees them host reigning MVP Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, then they hit the road to square off against Baker Mayfield and the high-powered Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
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