Is there a worse team in the NFL at the end of the first half than the New York Jets? Not even close. One trend has defined the Jets’ Aaron Glenn era more than any other, and it showed up again in Sunday’s loss to the New England Patriots.

The Jets cannot make anything happen in the final two minutes of the first half. They also can’t stop opponents from doing exactly that against them.

The numbers behind the Jets’ first-half collapse

Since the start of last season, which covers nearly all of Glenn’s tenure as head coach, the Jets have scored six points in the final two minutes of the first half. That’s the lowest total in the league by 27 points.

On the other side of the ball, New York has allowed 100 points in that same window. That’s the most in the NFL by 11 points.

Put those together and you get a point differential of -94. That’s it. -94 in the final two minutes of first halves, and Glenn hasn’t even been on the job for a year and a half yet.

Look, that is inexcusable. I think it’s coaching malpractice, and it’s also a complete lack of execution from the players. Both sides of that equation have to be better, because this isn’t a one-week blip. It’s a pattern.

Same story against the Patriots

Sunday was a textbook example. The Jets got the football back trailing New England 10-3 late in the first half with 1:46 left on the clock. That’s plenty of time to get into field goal range, or at minimum to run some clock and head to the locker room down a touchdown.

What did they do instead? A quick three-and-out.

The Patriots got the ball back and scored a touchdown before halftime. Just like that, a manageable 10-3 game turned into a 17-3 hole.

The frustrating part is what came next. The Jets clearly had the upper hand in the third quarter. New York made some big plays coming out of the break and cut the deficit to 17-13. For a stretch, this looked like a game the Jets could steal.

It didn’t matter. They had dug too deep of a hole to climb out of and take control of the football game. That falls in massive part on the failure at the end of the first half. Swap that three-and-out for a field goal, or just keep the Patriots off the board, and the second half looks a whole lot different.

A better roster with the same old problem

Now, the Jets do have a better team this year. This is a more talented football team in year two under Glenn, and you could see it in that third-quarter push.

But again, the same thing keeps happening in this specific situation. When a roster improves and a problem stays the same, that points straight at coaching. And the coaching staff is completely different from Glenn’s first in 2025. It tells me the staff isn’t putting guys in the proper position to make plays in these critical moments. Really, it tells me that this is an Aaron Glenn problem, that obviously is now a Jets problem. 

Two-minute situations are where coaching shows up the most. Play calling, clock management, personnel, and defensive calls are all on display in a compressed window. The Jets even brought in a veteran quarterback in Geno Smith, who should be a great help in times like these. For whatever reason, the Jets have been the worst team in football at handling that window since the start of last season. It just hasn’t gone their way. 

This has to get fixed, and fast. If it doesn’t, the Jets will keep dropping winnable games like Sunday’s, and the improvement on the roster won’t show up in the standings. A -94 differential isn’t a fluke. It’s an identity, and it will keep costing New York games until Glenn changes it.