Glenn was nervous when he started his playing career in New York, and he said those same feelings will be there Sunday.
— A look at what’s happening around the New York Jets:
1. Deja debut: Aaron Glenn makes his head coaching debut Sunday against the 12th-winningest coach in NFL history: Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s a tough way to start, but no tougher than his first game as a player in 1994.
Against the Buffalo Bills in the old Giants Stadium, Glenn faced a couple of future Hall of Famers and was tested immediately. On the Bills’ first play from scrimmage, Glenn found himself lined up against Andre Reed. Jim Kelly saw it and attacked the Jets’ rookie cornerback, looking for his favorite receiver.
The pass was incomplete — a positive harbinger for Glenn. He held his own that day, just as he did the next two weeks against John Elway and Dan Marino — a Murderers’ Row of quarterbacks. As then-Jets coach Pete Carroll said at the outset of the gauntlet, «[Glenn] will find out what the Hall of Fame is all about.»
«I was nervous — I know I was — and I’m sure I’ll be nervous for this one», Glenn said, comparing his 1994 debut with Sunday’s opener at MetLife Stadium. «And that’s just who I am. I’ll always have that within my body, and I can feel it.
«But at some point, man, it goes away really, really, really quick, and I get dialed into what I have to do as a coach, and as I did as a player.»
In terms of daunting challenges, this is on par with having to face Kelly-Elway-Marino. Glenn takes over a franchise that hasn’t fielded a winner in nine straight seasons, and his first three games are against 2024 playoff teams: Steelers, Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
On Sunday, Glenn will be opposed by a certain future Hall of Fame quarterback who would absolutely love to ruin the coach’s homecoming party even though he downplayed it this past week. Aaron Rodgers, who never forgets a slight, believes he was mistreated by Glenn on the way out the door seven months ago — an unceremonious end to his two-year run with the Jets.
All of which puts Glenn in the crosshairs. Tough opener. Tough job, period.
«It’s extremely, extremely challenging», former Jets linebacker Jason Glenn, Aaron’s younger brother, said on the «Flight Deck» podcast. «It’s New York, right?»
Jason Glenn, who finished his career with the Minnesota Vikings, said his brother reminds him of his Vikings defensive coordinator in 2006. That coach landed his first head coaching job the following year. Glenn knew his old DC would be a success in his new city because «you can just tell how some guys fit organizations.
