Throughout his first season as Jets head coach, Aaron Glenn repeatedly pointed to his time in Detroit. He often cited the 2021 Lions — the team Dan Campbell inherited as head coach, with Glenn serving as defensive coordinator — as proof that a franchise can recover despite a bleak record and begin building toward something better.
Detroit finished 3-13 that season and opened 0-10-1. Yet by the end of 2022, the Lions had improved to 9-8, remained in the playoff hunt late in the season and completed much of the foundation that has since made them, for the most part, a consistent NFC contender.
That makes Sunday’s matchup especially fitting. After two weeks of largely encouraging football ended with a game-management collapse last week, Glenn and the Jets will travel to Detroit to face the 1-1 Lions. The game offers New York a chance to respond to the criticism surrounding the Week 2 defeat while also providing an early measure of Glenn’s tenure as Jets head coach.
In Week 1, the Jets appeared capable of being a respectable team. In Week 2, they came close to opening 2-0 before a late collapse changed the outcome. Now, against the franchise Glenn helped shape, he has an opportunity to show that these Jets are not the Same Old Jets — that his vision for a different future is possible, and that the blueprint he witnessed in Detroit can work in New York.