Our Turn

Edition #1115: The Jets can take confidence from the success of their neighbours.

Good Morning ☕

NEW YORK KNICKS - NBA CHAMPIONS!

It’s been 53 years since the Knicks were able to stroll down the “Canyon of Heroes”, and if the Knicks can do it after all this time, so can the Jets.

As a Knicks fan, Saturday night was special on it’s own. But it’s hard to not take some confidence for our Jets as well.

Like the Jets, the Knicks have very recently been the joke of the NBA.

In recent memory they have 17 and 21 win seasons. They missed the playoffs in 7 straight seasons (actually much harder to do in the NBA than NFL) and were rejected my superstar after superstar.

In an era where stars followed each other chasing a chip, the Knicks put together a team, an obvious phrase but not all “teams” are created equal.

The Spurs were led by an immature and reckless superstar who sulked off the court without shaking anyone’s hand, then petulantly made snide remarks to the media with arrogance and a lack of class.

The Knicks were led by a captain who’s first stop after tying Michael Jordon for the 3rd most points (45) in a title clinching performance was the opposition coach, followed by an embrace from his father who’s on the Knicks staff.

The construction of a roster, the DNA of a team is vital. It’s not always about having the most talent.

Over the weekend in the World Cup, Turkey’s captain said in his pre-match press conference that they would dominate Australia because they had more “talent”.

In the tunnel one of their marquee players Arda Güler was heard shouting “We’re much better, let them feel it from the first minute”. Australia didn’t react, they had their focus forward. In the end they did their talking on the pitch

As someone who had an Australian mother, this was extremely satisfying. Australia also happen to have a Norwich player, so double satisfaction.

It’s not about having all of the best players, it’s about having the best team.

That hire of Leon Rose started the fire, but the process from bottom dwellers to the mountaintop took time. Around 6 years to be exact. It took a lot of trades and the signing of Jalen Brunson was ridiculed in the media with “experts” deriding the Knicks and Rose for thinking he could lead them anywhere, ESPN had a segment where they questioned whether he was even a top 14 guard in the league.

In the end the Knicks have been justified and the Knicks fans patience rewarded.

I’ve said it before but Darren Mougey can be our Leon Rose. We just need to find our Jalen Brunson and surround him with the right people.

Easier said than done, but if the Knicks can do it, so can the Jets.

I’ve often said on here that bad teams are bad until they aren’t.

Usually the turnaround coincides with a HC and QB pairing that click.

People forget that the Kansas City Chiefs went 21 seasons without a post-season win before the recent resurgence under Mahomes and Reid.

I’m fairly confident the Jets are on the right track, but it’s a long way to the final destination.

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NEWS & NOTES 🗞️

• The Jets focused on adding some beef to their defense this season, starting with the trade for Sweat:

  • “It’s a big man’s game -- it will always be a big man’s game -- and for us to be able to add large men that have the ability that those guys have, the agility that those guys have, it only makes us better as a team,”

• Rich Cimini believes the Jets are waiting for some other dominoes to fall before signing their fourth-round pick Darrell Jackson Jr:

  • “I think from what I understand, they’re just waiting. There’s a cluster of guys at the top of the fourth round who haven’t signed yet. I think the Jets are waiting for some of those guys to fall into place. It’s probably just on how much guaranteed money is there. We know what the total amount is going to be, and that much we know. These are pre-slotted. What we don’t know is how much of it gets guaranteed [and] what’s the timetable on the payout?”

• We all know about David Bailey’s strength, but the Jets first-round pick has spent much of OTA’s working on his weaknesses:

  • “The first step quickness is something that pops off the tape, like immediately,” said head coach Aaron Glenn after a recent OTA. “… The physical part of it you just can’t get as much as you want in that aspect. But you do see the hand usage, you do see the moves he’s trying to create, and this is the time when you want to work on some things that you might not feel as comfortable with – this is the time to work on those things. So, he’s working on some of his weaknesses, but you do see the strong points of what he has, and I don’t ever want him to lose sight of that, of the things we know that he can do.”

• Highly respected defensive line coach Karl Dunbar also spoke about Bailey:

  • “Can he rush the passer? That’s what we’re going to do with him, alright,” Dunbar told reporters. “But you saw that, there’s a lot of guys who weren’t asked to play the run, weren’t asked to do those things in college. Have you been watching our practices? Have you been seeing what we’re doing? We’re teaching him how to do what? Play the run. Because you’ve got to earn the right to rush the passer. If you don’t stop the run, they’re not going to throw the ball, so we’re going to teach him and everybody else in the room how to stop the run and then we’re going to get after the quarterback.”

• The Jets aren’t about to completely revolutionise Geno’s throwing motion and mechanics, not at this age. But they will tweak their system to ensure they’re putting him in a position to succeed:

  • “Think the mechanics are what they are, especially with Geno at his age, really with a lot of QBs, they’ve kind of evolved to be in where they are mechanically,” Musgrave said of Smith. “We can work on footwork all day long and that’s good because we want to be on time, and at times even early with a lot of our throws. So, the footwork is always at the forefront of what we talk about technique wise, but otherwise we’re really thinking players before plays, and what Geno does well we want to be able to tailor our system, which Frank does to a great degree. Tailor the system, tailor the concepts to fit Geno’s skillset.”

• NFL.com highlighted that there could be a lot of new faces on the Jets defense this season when they line up against Tennessee:

  • “The Jets join a number of teams whose number represents change entering 2026. For Gang Green, there could be as many as eight new defensive starters this season. Highlighted by rookies David Bailey and D’Angelo Ponds and veterans Minkah Fitzpatrick and Demario Davis, New York’s defense will look extremely different after infamously recording zero interceptions and just four total takeaways in 2025.”

• PFF believe that Aaron Glenn is on the hot-seat in 2026

Aaron Glenn, New York Jets

Glenn wasn’t necessarily expected to complete an about-face in his first year with the Jets, a team that was clearly one of the most flawed in the league in 2025. But the results were far worse than imagined to start his era.

Under Glenn, New York finished 31^st in overall PFF grade while going 3-14 with a -203 point differential, the 14^th-worst in a single season. The Jets were no better than 29^th in both offensive and defensive EPA per play, and only one Jets player — Breece Hall — earned at least a 75.0 overall grade while playing over 200 snaps.

The Jets swapped out almost everything about their coaching staff except for canning Glenn, including hiring Frank Reich and Brian Durker as coordinators. New York did improve its roster this offseason with David Bailey, Kenyon Sadiq and Omar Cooper Jr. as its three first-round picks, plus adding Minkah Fitzpatrick, Demario Davis and others via free agency and trade. But if New York doesn’t get off the ground well, Glenn’s leash figures to be short considering that he looked rather in over his head.

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