Aaron Glenn makes Super Bowl comparison for Jets’ offense

The NFL has always been a copycat league. When an organization dominates for a long period of time, others try to figure out ways to copy their success.

The New York Jets have been trying to copy many of the league’s top teams for years. That has led to many mistakes, whether it’s failed coaches, quarterbacks, or philosophies.

In recent years, the Jets have seen top teams like the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, and Baltimore Ravens find extended success thanks to dominant quarterback play. It’s left fans around the NFL clamoring for their teams to find the next Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, or Lamar Jackson.

The fact that New York brought in Justin Fields, a deficient passer, has Jets fans concerned that the team isn’t trying to compete for championships in the near future.

That isn’t necessarily the case – especially considering head coach Aaron Glenn’s answer following practice on Tuesday.

Jets’ Super Bowl comparison

Many Jets fans have grown concerned over Fields’ lack of improvement as a passer throughout training camp. Those concerns were exacerbated when New York’s passing offense struggled mightily in its preseason loss to the New York Giants on Saturday. There have been too many inconsistent days for the Jets faithful to have trust in their new passing system.

Glenn doesn’t think it will hold the team back as a collective unit.

Ever since Glenn was hired as head coach of the Jets in January, he has talked about building a sustained winner that is predicated on physicality and toughness. Many took those comments as a comparison to what the Detroit Lions have been able to build over the last few years.

Detroit has managed to field an excellent passing offense through the years. What the current Jets are trying to do, though, is to build a team similar to the one that just won the Super Bowl in dominant fashion.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Glenn was asked whether the team should be worried about its passing offense and whether it could survive as a run-fist team.

“The team that won the Super Bowl, what were they in passing? 29th. What were they in running? 1st,” Glenn said.

The Philadelphia Eagles showed in Super Bowl LIX that a run-first team can still win the big one.

Philadelphia’s model directly defies the rest of the league’s pass-first philosophy. It has given Philly an edge that allows them to overwhelm their competition.

They intentionally built their roster to complement that philosophy.

“From our perspective, you get to a situation where you kind of try to find, is something being undervalued?” Philadelphia general manager Howie Roseman told Adam Schein last year. “Is there a way to zig when everyone’s zagging? Or I don’t know if it’s the opposite, and you’re freakin’ zagging when zigging.”

Defenses have gotten smaller and more athletic in response to the pass first prowess of the Chiefs and Bills. The Eagles punished those trends by building an offensive philosophy based on size and physicality.

The Jets are attempting their own spin on that philosophy. With the decision to sign Fields, the organization is looking to do everything in its power to overwhelm teams the same way Philadelphia did last year.

New York doesn’t have the same passing weapons that Philadelphia currently enjoys. That much is obvious. But they do have the kind of physicality that should make them a tough matchup in 2025.

With a few years to build the culture and roster, perhaps they can even get to where the Eagles are now.