Jets vs Browns 2026: A Review and Some Thoughts

Now that I have had the rest of the day to come home, dry off, warm up, & re watch today’s game, I wanted to offer up some long-form thoughts as someone who sat in that weather to scream my head off for Jets vs Browns, the 2026 edition:

• This week was basically going to tell us everything that we needed to know about the players’ mindsets after 3 brutal losses. I also felt that it would tell us a ton about how they felt about Aaron Glenn and the rest of the coaching staff.  It’s been stated ad nauseam by the fan base, even by some members of the beat as of late, but you can’t preach how things are going to be different day-after-day, how you aren’t the same old Jets, that they just need to buy-in…then go out & lose because of crucial coaching mistakes, poor play calling, etc. The wins need to start coming…& fast.

• How did the team respond? Well…they played hard, particularly on defense. Was it perfect? No. Especially on offense. Despite my own feelings on Aaron Glenn, was there enough there to tell you that this team still believes in this coaching regime and that they feel they can go toe-to-toe with their opponent every week? Absolutely. The effort was outstanding & AG deserves credit for that, whether he flames out or not.

• Expanding on the above, AG got up on the podium after the GB loss & preached about learning how to close games out. We finally saw them do that today. The message was heard loud and clear. If he’s going to have any chance whatsoever of turning his head coaching career around, more things like that need to happen. I have my doubts, but I also had my doubts that we’d see what we saw today. At the end of the day, I root for the laundry, and if Glenn can be our guy, I’ll happily eat my crow.

• Geno Smith: He’s playing well, but there’s a lot of room to be better because it’s painfully obvious that he isn’t seeing the field 100% clearly right now. Personally, I think a lot of that is because he’s caught between wanting to air it out & also not being the reason a drive goes into the gutter, or worse.

I’m unsure if they showed it on the TV broadcast, but he threw an out route late in the game that was intended for Garrett Wilson but tipped by the Browns DB. On this same play, he had Braelon Allen underneath, completely uncovered, & a simple check down to him probably goes 50+ yards.  He was also, obviously, very late to read a 3rd down comeback route to Wilson earlier in the game that resulted in the play getting broken up & the drive stalling.

• Jason Sanders drew my ire in the preseason, but the guy deserves some praise. He’s been a bright spot.

• Sticking to the Special Teams, while not anywhere near where they were last year, or even Week 1, they have been better as of late. Kudos to Chris Banjo on (hopefully) righting that ship.

• I want to shout out the attending Jets fans for the first time in a while. They showed up today, loud & proud, especially at the end, forcing a few delay-of-game penalties with their noise. It was the best crowd I’ve been a part of since #TheRodgersEvent.

• Braelon Allen is going to generate some very hard & interesting discussions if he continues this while Breece is out. I love Hall…but it bears mentioning.

• David Bailey. That’s the note.

• My final thought for now: the NFL needs to do something about the officiating, & I am tired of saying that. Bill Vinovich and his crew were absolute tier-1 terrorists out there today with some of the most incompetent calls (+ egregious no calls) I have ever seen in my 21 years attending NFL games. The NFL needs to figure it out.

That’s all I got for a midnight post. Discuss away in the Jets Nation community.

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