The quarterback cat-and-mouse game is on again with Jets head coach Aaron Glenn.
This time, though: The cat knows where the mouse is.
Translation: The Browns, who the Jets play Sunday at MetLife Stadium in the return from the bye week for both teams, know damn well that Justin Fields will be behind center for the Jets.
Even though Glenn refused to acknowledge it on Monday.
“You know I’m not going to give you that answer,” Glenn said when asked if Fields would remain the starter after playing his best game with the franchise and — more importantly — leading the team to its first win of the year.
“You [reporters] will find out soon who our starting quarterback will be,” Glenn went on. “Justin did a hell of a job against Cincinnati, but you know I’m going to keep that close to the vest.”
Fields was 21-of-32 passing for 244 yards with a touchdown and he converted two crucial two-point conversions that allowed the Jets to defeat the Bengals 39-38.
The other quarterback in question here is Tyrod Taylor, with whom Fields competed in practice for the right to start in Cincinnati.
In the end, Taylor didn’t even make the trip to Cincinnati because the knee he hurt in training camp acted up. This after there were some in the Jets building who believed that, had Taylor remained healthy by week’s end, he was going to be the starter in Cincinnati.
Listening to Glenn on Monday, it doesn’t sound like Taylor is completely healthy now as Glenn said he’d be practicing “to some degree” this week.
When asked if it would be important to the confidence of whomever is starting to know that he’s the guy, Glenn said, “It helps the quarterback’s confidence when the player and the coach talk and they know who the guy is, not that I’m telling it to you guys. That has nothing to do with the player’s confidence.”
Asked, as a follow, if either Fields or Taylor would be informed during the week of practice which player is starting, Glenn said, “That will be between me and the player.”
Asked what it would look like to the rest of the team if Fields, after his winning performance, wasn’t rewarded for it with another start, Glenn said, “Well, that is nothing for you to worry about, is it?”
“As we go throughout the week, I know you guys are going to ask me again and you’re going to get the same answer,” Glenn continued. “So, you’re going to know who the starting quarterback is when we go out there for Cleveland.”
Before the Bengals game, Glenn used the reasoning for not divulging who’ll start for “competitive advantage” reasons.
Asked on Monday what those are, he said, “My own reasons.”
In the meantime, Fields’ performance in Cincinnati seems to have forged his status inside the Jets locker room.
“It was great to see him go out and play a game like that,” Jets guard Joe Tippmann said Monday. “It’s definitely not something that surprised me. He’s prepared like he wants to go out there and win it for all of us.”
Jets tight end Jeremy Ruckert, a fellow Ohio State alumnus, called Fields “a true professional.”
“He doesn’t waver even through circumstances that might not go his way or what people say about him,” Ruckert said Monday. “He truly just believes in himself and believes in this team. He does a great job of being a professional, not changing his work ethic or his energy in the building, and guys feed off that.
“You want someone back there who’s confident, who’s sacrificing his body every day and making plays. And I think he did a great job of that.”
Defensive tackle Harrison Phillips said he was impressed with what Fields did in Cincinnati after such a trying week leading up to the game.
“To see that [the way Fields played] come to life, especially with the stressful week that Justin had, leading that group was super inspiring,’’ Phillips said. “Obviously [Fields] is one of the reasons we won. I think it’s a lot of the reason that we still have energy, even with our [1-7] record, because that’s contagious.’’
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
