The New York Jets saved the worst for last in what will go down as one of the most forgettable seasons in team history.  Gang Green got their doors blown off by the Buffalo Bills backups in a 35-8 loss.

The Jets had no answer for Mitch Trubisky, Ray Davis and Ty Johnson as they ran roughshod over a Jets defense that became the first in NFL history to go a full season without a single interception.  Pair that with the team being the first since the 1970’s to lose by at least 23 points five times in a row and Aaron Glenn’s club put together one heck of a year.

The good news however, is that the Giants won their game earlier in the day, meaning the Jets jump up to second in the NFL draft which means if Oregon’s Dante Moore declares, the Jets can land a quarterback without having to give up a bounty of picks to move up.

Glenn put the failed season on himself after the game, saying it’s “on me” in coming up short of any and al goals the team had before the season.  The head coach said he’s looking forward to meeting with owner Woody Johnson, who he has “a lot of confidence” in, along with Darren Mougey, to right the ship.

Given their current situation, you could argue that the Titanic, in its current state, is in better shape than the Jets.  They don’t have a quarterback, they don’t know if they have a coach, the running back’s future is up in the air, and only one wide receiver has proven himself to be an impact player.  And let’s not get started on the defense that couldn’t, to quote Bart Scott…stop a nose bleed.

It’s going to be a long offseason, Jets fans.

The Jets season might be ending, but JetNation Flight 29 is just getting started. What we know is that it’s not a great time to be a Jets fan. Our latest NY Jets Podcast episode is here, featuring Rami Lavi and Bilal Powell.

Will Aaron Glenn be fired? Will he be back? Even if you know he won’t be fired, it can still be talked about. Sure, you owe him 50 million, but it needs to be discussed.

Finding an identity. This reminds Bilal Powell of the Patriots last year. Is anyone safe?

What is the brand? Rami says until Woody removes his ego and removes himself from the equation, they won’t win. Bilal says Woody does care about the team.

What we know is that none of it is working. Bring on the NFL Draft.

Listen to “Let’s Talk About Aaron Glenn Getting Fired; JetNation Flight 29” on Spreaker.

Those fans hoping to see the new York Jets select Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza in the NFL draft with the first overall pick won’t be thrilled with the way things have played out in recent days.  Even after losing yesterday’s meeting with the Patriots, the Jets are unlikely to have a shot at Mendoza.

With the Raiders losing their game to the New York Giants, they hop up to pick  number 1 and realistically, need a quarterback just as badly as the Jets do.  Sure, they’ve got Geno Smith, but he’s a quarterback at a point in his career where he should be replaced.  Head coach Pete Carroll’s future with the Raiders is uncertain which could mean a full reboot in Vegas with a new head coach and QB.  And what better time to do it than when you have the top pick in the draft?

Some have suggested the Jets “trade up no matter what the cost”, but that assumes the QB needy Raiders are dying to swap places with the QB needy Jets and move forward without a signal caller of their own.

While it is possible the Oregon QB Dante Moore could declare, the Jets will have to ask themselves if they’d be willing to hand the franchise over to yet another inexperienced college quarterback.  Given how things worked out with Mark Sanchez, Sam Darnold’s first few seasons and Zach Wilson, that could mean extending their playoff drought a few years closer to the two-decade mark.

It’s never easy with the Jets, and things just got a lot harder.

With just two games left on the schedule and the first overall pick in the draft at stake, the Jets have made some key roster moves along with both the Raiders and Giants that could help each time come out on top (or bottom, depending on how you look at it) in the race for the NFL’s top pick.

For the Jets, shutting down Garrett Wilson for the season and going with Brady Cook at quarterback while placing Will McDonald on IR, they all but guarantee they’ll close the season with a pair of losses to the Patriots and Bills.

Meanwhile, the Raiders placed tight end Brock Bowers on injured reserve before superstar defensive end Maxx Crosby walked out on the team just a day after meeting with the press and telling them he didn’t care about draft position and only wanted to win games.  For their part, the Giants are likely to sit starting center John Michael-Schmitz along with IR’d offensive tackle Andrew Thomas and safety Tyler Nubin.

With multiple players landing on IR, the Jets have elevated wide receiver Quentin Skinner, quarterback Hendon Hookier, offensive lineman Marquis Hayes and defensive back Tre Brown.

We’ve signed WR Quentin Skinner, OL Marquis Hayes and DB Tre Brown to the active roster.

We also elevated QB Hendon Hooker for #NEvsNYJ

: https://t.co/V5Sg172znH pic.twitter.com/7mGK9HRkMG

— New York Jets (@nyjets) December 27, 2025

Skinner, an undrafted free agent out of Kansas, might have the best chance to get on the field and make a play or two if he finds his way on the field.  The 6′ 5” wide receiver made a name for himself in college as a long, physical deep threat who averaged just under twenty yards per reception (19.8) for his career.

For those Jets fans rooting for draft position above all, today was a good day.  Anyone hoping to see improvement from rookie quarterback Brady Cook in his second pro start however, will be less enthusiastic.

Following a relief appearance and a start last week in which Cook showed some signs of life in  his first NFL action, the undrafted free agent out of Missouri struggled mightily in his second effort.

Now, in fairness to Cook, we saw the return of dumb Jets penalties as Gang Green committed one infraction after another, repeatedly costing the offense first downs or at least moved them from short yardage situations to much longer distances needed to convert.

The Jets committed 7 penalties for 54 yards with five of them counting for 44 yards on offense.  John Simpson was flagged for the 10th and 11th times this season with his first flag wiping out a third-down conversion on a 3rd & 1 Brady Cook sneak.  But this doesn’t mean Cook was without blame.

Several times we saw a hesitant Cook hold on to the football for too long and take a sack.  There were also several plays in which Cook tried to get away from pressure and ran himself right into a defender. On the day, New Orleans got to the rookie eight times, bringing his total to seventeen sacks in just three games.

Asked after the game if he thought about going to veteran Tyrod Taylor in the second half, head coach Aaron Glenn said that he did not, as the Jets continue trying to evaluate the signal caller ahead of  next season.

Things weren’t much better on defense where the Jets surrendered 29 points to a Saints team that had no running game to account for.  Rookie quarterback Tyler Shough dropped back to pass fifty times and got off 49 attempts for 308 yards.  For the second week in a row, the folks at PFF had linebacker Quincy Williams down for allowing three touchdowns, bringing his total on the year to eight.

There were some bright spots in that Jamien Sherwood played what may have been his best game of the year under new coordinator Chris Harris, while Jowon Briggs, Malachi Moore, Dean Clark, Jordan Clark and Will McDonald flashed at times.  In fact, Ross Tucker who was calling the game for CBS, was effusive in his praise for Sherwood early on, and then for McDonald as he dialed it up a few notches in the second half.

For the second week in a row, the New York Jets defense no-showed and asked rookie quarterback Brady Cook to overcome an insurmountable lead.

Last week it was a quick 21-0 deficit against the Dolphins, and this week it was Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars who jumped out to leads of 14-0 and 31-10 just before the half.  The Jags were off and running from the first snap of the game and never looked back.  Lawrence led the Jags on back-to-back scoring drives with a touchdown strike to Brian Thomas Jr. on the first drive and a 15-yard scramble for a score on their second drive.

The Jets would counter with a Brady Cook TD pass, the first of his career, to AD Mitchell to make it 14-7.  That was as close as the Jets would get before Jacksonville ran away with it.

Rookie running back Bhaysul Tuten pulled in a 16-yard TD reception to make it 21-7 before the team traded field goals to push the score to 24-10 before Jacksonville managed two more TD passes on a day in which Trevor Lawrence had five scoring strikes.

On offense, the Jets just couldn’t keep up.  In his first pro start, quarterback Brady Cook completed 66% of his passes, going 22 for 33 for for 176 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions.

The loss drops the Jets to 3-11 and moves them from 7th to 5th in their draft position for the 2026 class.

Brady Cook will be making his first NFL start this Sunday when the Jets take on the Jacksonville Jaguars as head coach Aaron Glenn is ruling out both Tyrod Taylor and Justin Fields.

Now, official: Brady Cook will start at QB on Sunday, per Aaron Glenn. Tyrod Taylor and Justin Fields are out. #Jets

— Rich Cimini (@RichCimini) December 12, 2025

Cook made his debut in relief of Taylor last week and had little support from a group of receivers that dropped one pass after another.  Cook would finish they day 14 of 30 with no touchdowns and two interceptions, but the seven drops by his pass catchers, including a would-be touchdown to John Metchie, skew the reality of his performance quite a bit.  While Cook did throw a pair of red zone interceptions, it’s going to be interesting to see if he takes as different approach when not handed a huge deficit to come back from.

Every single throw from Brady Cook's @nyjets debut. Did the drops hit double-digits?@JetNation https://t.co/XmJ8jQqDJ0

— Glenn Naughton (@JNRadio_Glenn) December 8, 2025

So now for Cook, rather than entering a game already down 21-0 as he did last week, it’ll be a scoreless start and hopefully a game in which he gets a little bit of support to see what he can do.

An undrafted free agent out of Missouri, Cook managed to stick with the Jets practice squad after a solid pre-season and now finds himself about to line up as a starter.  A mobile quarterback with more than adequate arm strength and off-the-charts leadership in college, the Jets will use this week to begin their evaluation of Cook in determining whether or not he has a future with the club.

JetNation Flight 29 is back, our weekly New York Jets podcast hosted by Rami Lavi and former Jets running back Bilal Powell. Each week, we offer Jets fans a veteran’s perspective on game results, coaching decisions, and developing storylines. This week’s episode mixed nostalgia and honest evaluation as Powell reacted to Leon Washington showing up in number 29 at the game on Sunday and people thinking it was Bilal. They also discuss Fernando Mendoza draft buzz after a standout throw, and dove into the frustrations of facing AFC East opponents for the second time. Powell also opened up about quarterback traits, coaching concerns, and lessons he learned in his own career, all while answering questions submitted by members of the JetNation Forums.

The Jets win may have placed them in range for Fernando Mendoza, and Rami highlights the third down throw that he believes put the quarterback firmly into the draft conversation. Powell also discussed how the Dolphins’ latest win may have helped Mike McDaniel keep his job. That led to a wider point, Bilal Powell cannot understand why the Jets consistently struggle more in the second matchup with divisional opponents. He agreed with Bart Scott’s criticism of Steve Wilkes and questioned whether Aaron Glenn truly believed Wilkes was the right choice at defensive coordinator. Powell wondered why Glenn hasn’t considered retaking play-calling duties, warning that things “will only get uglier from here.”

Tua Tagovailoa being a left-handed quarterback was one of Powell’s biggest points of emphasis. He believes the Jets should attack him from the left side and finds it frustrating that the defensive approach hasn’t consistently reflected that. Listener Liam Johnson also brought up how quickly the Jaguars and Bears have turned things around, and Powell agreed the Jets must stop relying on excuses while other franchises show faster and more effective rebuilds.

Powell spent time discussing quarterback development, including Brady Cook, the wide range of places successful quarterbacks are drafted from, and even jokingly comparing Fernando Mendoza’s personality to a “goofy” Ryan Fitzpatrick. He shared how Anthony Lynn taught him to read defenses pre-snap, shaping the way he saw the game. The episode closed with JetNation Forum questions: Mr. Rogers asked whether the Jets should address wide receiver help through the draft or free agency, and Powell stressed the need to bring real support for Garrett Wilson. Slick TP asked what offense Powell would run if he were a coordinator, and Powell described a motion-heavy system built around quick reads and horizontal stress for young quarterbacks.

The New York Jets did exactly what you are supposed to do in this league, take care of business at home against a bad team. It was not flashy, it was not dramatic, it was simply a professional, business like win. Winning the games you should win is part of becoming a real NFL team again. We are back with another episode of JetNation Flight 29, our NY Jets Podcast.

There has been a lot of noise about rooting for losses, draft position, blowing it up, and chasing picks. Winning matters, culture matters. You are not turning over one hundred percent of the roster, so these reps and these moments matter for the young core. Let them play, let them compete, and see who can grow into real roles going forward.

That includes Brady Cook, you might as well see what you have in the kid. It also includes Justin Fields. Does he have a place here next year, could there be a package for him, trick plays, read option looks, designed runs, anything that gives you a spark. Would he even be open to that kind of role, these are the evaluations you make while still trying to win football games.

Identity is the real priority for this team right now. Players like John Metchie are starting to show something. Young defenders are flashing. Pieces are forming, and the organization has to decide who fits the long term plan.

The NFL Draft is part of that conversation, but the biggest names are not always the answer. The Jets quarterback of the future might be in this class, but the path to finding him starts with building a real foundation now.

In this episode of JetNation Flight 29, Rami Lavi and Bilal Powell break down where the Jets stand, what the young players are showing, and how this team should approach the final stretch of the season while still expecting to win.

Listen to “Jets Win – NY Jets Podcast – JetNation Flight 29” on Spreaker.

Plenty of Jets fans won’t like it, but Nick Folk and his teammates were loving it.  The veteran kicker drilled a game winning 56-yard field goal as time expired to give the Jets a 27-24 victory over the Falcons.

And it's a 27-24 @nyjets win after Nick Folk drills the field goal as time expires. pic.twitter.com/EiHBUAJknI

— Glenn Naughton (@JNRadio_Glenn) November 30, 2025

The win moves the Jets to 3-9 on the year and to the chagrin of many fans, drops them to sixth in the NFL draft standings.  So those hoping for Fernando Mendoza to land at 1 Jets Drive can put that off and start looking elsewhere.

Things started off slow for both offenses as Gang Green and the Falcons punted eight times in their first ten possessions with each team scoring just one touchdown.  The Jets had an easy go of it on their first score as a fumble recovery on the 2-yard line led to a Breece Hall finding the end zone untouched to put the Jets up 7-0.

Atlanta answered back with a score of their own on a 10-play 62 yard drive that was capped with a TD run from Bijan Robinson which led to a 7-7 tie at the half.  But there were plenty of fireworks to come.  Following a 95-yard touchdown drive that put the Falcons up 14-7, Tyrod Taylor hit wide receiver AD Mitchell on a 52-yard touchdown pass; the longest play from scrimmage for the Jets on the season.  Mitchell would finish the game with a career-high 102 yards on eight receptions.

Both teams would trade a pair of missed field goals after their touchdowns as Nick Folk was wide right from 55 yards, giving him his first miss of the season.  Some sloppy tackling on Atlanta’s ensuing drive put the Falcons up by a touchdown on a David Sills catch and run but the Jets would answer back.

Tyrod Taylor’s 10-yard TD run capped a 65 yard scoring drive and made it 24-24 before the Jets got a stop on defense, and Nick Folk nailed the game-winner as time expired.