Welcome to Woody's World.
In case you are new to this ride, in case you've never seen how low the New York Jets can go, welcome. That is the message fans and those who have seen this movie before have for the likes of Head Coach Aaron Glenn and his quarterback Justin Fields.
Because this week, amid a miserable, disappointing 0-7 season they are getting their taste of life under Jets owner Woody Johnson.
It all started Tuesday when Johnson held court with an impromptu press conference, when Johnson delivered over five uncomfortable minutes on the state of the team. We got weird quotes like Johnson saying he "hugs" Aaron Glenn, and tells him to "Keep the faith, man" amid this current disaster.
In so praising his head coach whom he says he believes in and has known for close to 30-years, Johnson then ripped Fields by saying:
"It's hard when you have a quarterback with a rating that he's got. I mean, he has ability, but something just is not jiving. ... You have to play consistently at that position, and that's what we're going to try to do for the remainder of the season."
Talk about tone deaf. It's funny that Johnson stopped himself mid-sentence when he mentioned ratings, because the Jets owner took severe criticism last year when The Athletic leaked out in a report that Johnson had leaned on his son Brick, who told him about players based on Madden ratings.
In case you are wondering, Fields has a rating of 91.3 and has completed 63 percent of his passes, four touchdown and zero interceptions. Those stats on the surface aren't bad until you watch the games, and you see that Fields has struggled for the past five games he's appeared in.
He holds the ball too long, takes way too many hits, and despite the high completion percentage has been inaccurate and unable to move the Jets offense. Not to mention, Fields has posted a career-low 32.1 Total QBR, ranking 31st out of 33 qualified passers.
When asked about the comments on Wednesday, Fields said he didn't even know about it, and didn't know Johnson that well.
"... (E)verybody knows I need to play better. We need to play better as a team. Of course, no matter how the offense does as a unit, I’m going to get the blame. I understand that. It’s just what comes with the job,” Fields said, adding he doesn't anticipate meeting Johnson anytime soon.
"I don’t think me talking to him is going to do anything,” Fields said. “Like I said, it’s not going to make me play better. It’s not going to give me more confidence on the field. I don’t think there’s necessarily a point in talking about that.”
Meanwhile, Glenn tried to deflect.
" [Woody] trusts me to make that decision. That comment was actually said by a number of guys, including our quarterback, as far as the efficiency that we play. I don't think there's anywhere in that comment where he said he doesn't like Justin...overall, we're on the same page when it comes to that."
On top of that Glenn said he remained noncommittal about his quarterback for Sunday in Cincinnati. Tyrod Taylor was listed as day-to-day with a knee injury, and Fields' status of course is up in the air. Chances are we will know Friday at the latest, but this is typical Jets, and very typical of life under Woody Johnson.
While we don't know what happens behind closed doors, after reports from last year regarding the Jets dysfunction, one can only imagine what might be happening.
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