Three weeks into the NFL season, after suffering two losses by a combined 10 points, New York Jets coach Aaron Glenn held his index finger and thumb inches apart to illustrate how close he felt his team was to a breakthrough.“How do we close that gap?” Glenn said Sunday in Detroit, after a loss to the Lions that left the Jets 1-2.
“I challenge myself, I challenge the staff, I even challenge the players on let’s identify a couple things that we need to improve on and let’s make sure that we hone in on those things.”One area isn’t hard to find: No team has been worse at intercepting passes in NFL history than the Jets.The league’s record-setting interception-less streak grew to 20 games during New York’s Week 3 loss at Detroit.
New York last picked off a pass on Jan.5, 2025, when it recorded two.
Ever since, the Jets’ defense has faced 608 passes with nary a pick to show for it.“That’s hard to do,” former NFL coach John Gruden said on social media this week.
“You would think a ball would ricochet into somebody’s hands.”During Glenn’s 15-year playing career as a defensive back, interceptions were a specialty.He collected 41, tied for 73rd on the NFL’s all-time list.
As the Jets’ streak grew last December, Glenn admitted that “it’s disappointing that we don’t have an interception because coming from what I’ve always played, you expect those things to happen.” During Glenn’s 15-year playing career as a defensive back, interceptions were a specialty.Focus On Sport / GettyThe Jets know all about turnover.When Glenn was hired in January 2025, after a successful run as Detroit’s defensive coordinator, he was the franchise’s fifth coach since its last winning season in 2015.
Glenn told fans to “expect a winning team that you will be proud of.” But only weeks into his first season, as the Jets staggered to a 3-14 record, the team traded two of its best defensive players in cornerback Sauce Gardner and defensive t...