The winless Jets’ quarterback picture grew murkier on Wednesday with New York’s Tyrod Taylor now considered day-to-day with a knee injury.
New York head coach Aaron Glenn, who provided the injury update, declined to say whether he is sticking with a struggling Justin Fields or making a switch to the veteran backup Taylor on Sunday at Cincinnati.
“We’ll have a quarterback on Sunday, I will tell you that,” Glenn told reporters on Wednesday, adding that he knows who will start under center but does not want to give the Bengals “a competitive advantage” by announcing it.
Glenn said he hasn’t lost confidence in Fields despite the team’s offensive struggles. The Jets rank 27th in scoring offense at 18.4 points per game and 29th in total offense at 271.3 yards per game.
“I have all the confidence in the world in Justin, I have all the confidence in the world in Tyrod, and I have all the confidence world in Brady (Cook),” said Glenn, referring to the undrafted rookie on the practice squad.
Signed to a two-year, $40 million contract with $30 million guaranteed, Fields has failed to deliver results. During the past two losses to Carolina and Denver, he completed a combined 15 of 29 passes for 91 yards and no touchdowns.
Fields, 26, has completed 63.7% of his passes for 845 yards, four TDs and no interceptions in six starts this season.
Taylor, 36, who took over in the second half of last Sunday’s 13-6 home loss to the Panthers, has completed 62.3% of his passes this season for 379 yards with three TDs and three picks in three games (one start).
Jets owner Woody Johnson weighed in on Fields’ performance earlier this week.
“It’s hard when you have a quarterback with the rating that we’ve got,” he said. “He has the ability, but something is not jiving. If you look at any head coach with a quarterback like that, you are going to see similar results across the league. 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.”
Glenn didn’t take offense publicly to Johnson’s comments. He said he address the owner’s comments in a team meeting and also spoke individually with Fields.
“He made a comment, and he has every right to his comment,” Glenn said of Johnson. “That comment was actually said by a number of guys, including our quarterback, as far as the efficiency of how we play. We’re not going to fight that. We understand that we have to get better.”
The Jets (0-7) have a bye in Week 9 following their date with the Bengals (3-4).
–Field Level Media
