Jets' Harrison Phillips defends Aaron Glenn amid criticisms, 0-5 start

Shortly after Aaron Glenn became the first head coach in history to start his New York Jets tenure with five straight losses, Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson insisted that he still has "faith" in him. 

While speaking with reporters on Monday, Jets defensive tackle Harrison Phillips echoed Wilson's take. 

Harrison Phillips asks Jets fans to believe in Aaron Glenn

"He commands the room," Phillips said about Glenn, per Al Iannazzone of Newsday. "He has a very dominant presence. When he looks you in the eyes, it's like he's looking into your soul. You can feel the emotion and the passion about what he's saying. You can tell that he genuinely cares, and he really, really, really believes. What he’s saying, he actually believes in. ...He sees what we're going through, and he believes in it. So why shouldn't you?" 

Glenn became a subject of criticism largely because New York's defense seemed to have regressed while playing under the former Detroit Lions defensive coordinator. That was before the Jets fell into a 30-3 hole during Sunday's 37-22 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

ESPN stats show that the Jets enter Week 6 ranked 31st in the league in points surrendered per game (31.4). Additionally, New York's defense is the first in NFL history to have zero takeaways over the first five games of a season since turnovers became an official stat in 1933.

Jets still working toward Super Bowl goal amid bad start

"...I think it would only be fair if the fans would probably show this new thing a little bit of grace," Phillips added about what the Jets are trying to build with Glenn and first-year general manager Darren Mougey, according to Jack Bell of the team's website. "Unless they can look at other organizations and other turnovers, when a new regime stepped in, they found automatic, immediate success right away. It normally hasn't happened that way. There's not a lot of first-time head coaches with a brand new roster and a brand new GM and a brand coach that end up going to the Super Bowl and winning the thing. Those are the goals that we have for ourselves every season, and we'll still work toward those this year." 

For now, Phillips and Co. will need to concentrate on ending what's become a frustrating losing streak when the Jets face the Denver Broncos (3-2) in London in Week 6. As of Tuesday morning, ESPN BET had the Jets as 7.5-point underdogs for the matchup at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.