If his track record as the defensive coordinator at Detroit is a guide, the Jets' new head coach Aaron Glenn is likely to bring the same philosophy to his once and current team: Attack the quarterback.
Though Glenn, in his first gig as a HC in the NFL, is more likely to assume a CEO-like role, his decision to hire Steve Wilks as the team's new DC shows Glenn will delegate responsibility to his assistants. That said, the message from the top will be clear and unmistakable.
"One thing we know about his defense is that they did attack," said Field Yates, an NFL Insider with ESPN. "They were unafraid to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks, and they were unafraid to let cornerbacks do their thing on an island. So I don't know exactly how the defense will look schematically, but if it looks anything like it did in Detroit under Aaron Glenn, you can expect that guys like Sauce Gardner to have a lot of opportunities to earn their keep as a one-on-one corner."
During last week's Senior Bowl practices in Mobile, AL, newyorkjets.com team reporter Ethan Greenberg asked a handful of league analysts and pundits for their thoughts on a first-time HC who was the Jets' first-round selection in the 1994 NFL Draft, played 11 seasons in the NFL and cut his coaching teeth as a scout for the Green & White.
"What more could you ask for?" said Connor Rogers, an analyst with NBC, Pro Football Focus and on SportsNet New York. "A guy that has had success with the team as a player, has started his career scouting with the team. And then it all comes full circle, and you just listen to Aaron Glenn talk to a locker room that after a tough season, a disappointing season, they need somebody that can galvanize this group, and Aaron Glenn is the guy for that."
Mike Tannenbaum, a founder of The 33rd Team, which consulted on and aided in the search with Chairman Woody Johnson and others on the hiring of Glenn and GM Darren Mougey, said: "To be candid, I just knew this is somebody that's a first-round draft choice who obviously had great talent, but you're not a first-rounder or play for as long or at as high as a level as he did without innate competitiveness, discipline, whatever. And again as Coach [Bill] Parcells said, start from a team-building standpoint, scouting, and obviously, the rest is history. And he's paid his dues."
For a defensive mastermind, a shutdown corner in his days on the field and a canny DC who played a pivotal role in helping the Lions become a force in the NFC Central, Glenn's philosophy can be summed up in four words: Get to the quarterback.
"I mean, every defense has to start with, how are you going to affect a quarterback?" said Brian Baldinger of NFL Network. "Are you going to be a four-man rush team and are you going to try to win with your four the way the Eagles do and are doing right now? Or are you going to be a team that wants to bring a variety of different pressures, like Kansas City to get to the quarterback? I think it starts with, how are you going to affect the quarterback? Because we've all seen that it really doesn't matter what the name of the back of the jersey is if you give those guys time and they're not hit, they're not affected – they all can be successful."
As a former Jets player, and a current NFL analyst and newyorkjets.com contributor, Leger Douzable said that Glenn is the right man at the right time for the Green & White.
"I just think when you talk about a guy that's been in the building, that's bled green and white, I think we needed that in the building to change the culture, right?" Douzable said. "He's a guy that also was an undersized corner; he's got a scrappy mentality."
Referring to Glenn's introductory press conference, Douzable added: "I thought he hit it out of the park, Again, people say: Did you win the press conference or not? I don't think that has anything to do with what your career path is going to look like. But he aced that, right? I thought he brought that energy and hunger. And I think Jets Nation is excited to have one of its own back at home."
