Woody Johnson leaving decision between Justin Fields, Tyrod Taylor to Jets' staff

At 0-7 as the last winless team in the NFL, a lot is on the table right now with the New York Jets. That’s specifically so at quarterback, with ownership leaving it to Aaron Glenn to make the call at the position between Justin Fields and Tyrod Taylor.

At the league’s fall meeting this morning in New York, Woody Johnson was asked about the state of his winless team, including at quarterback. He said that the decision is up to their first-year head coach, with reporting suggesting that it could be Taylor taking the starting job from here over Fields.

“Woody Johnson said the QB decision is ‘completely up to the coach'” ESPN’s Rich Cimini posted amidst the media scrum with Johnson. “Aaron Glenn hasn’t announced his plans yet, but he’s moving toward naming Tyrod Taylor his starter, sources tell ESPN.”

That said, Johnson had some other comments that were clearly very negative towards Fields. He said the Jets “would look good” if “we could just complete a pass”, while criticizing his play through their first seven games.

“It’s hard when you have a quarterback, you know, with a rating that we’ve got, you know. I mean, he has the ability but something is just not jiving. But, if you look at any head coach with a quarterback like that, you’re going to see similar results if you go across the league. You have to play consistently, you know, at that position, and that’s what we’re going to try to do for the remainder of the season,” Johnson said to the media. “If we could just complete a pass, it would look good. We got to complete some passes. You’ve got to convince them that you can do something, otherwise it’s hard, you know, to have a game that you can win.”

So far this season in his first with the Jets, Fields is 86-135 (63.7%) for 127 passing yards per game, and four touchdowns thrown while also rushing for three more scores. With that, New York is averaging the fewest passing yards per game so far in the league as one of the worst offense in the league, in scoring and in total offenses, they’re posting just 18.4 ppg..

Taylor has then made three appearances so far this year as Fields’ backup. That includes starting the second half of their latest loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, where he was 10-22 (45.5%) with two interceptions. He, on the season, is posting 62.3% completion for 126.3 passing yards per game, with three passing touchdowns and picks apiece.

“Well, that’s something that, you know, I want to continue to look at. Again, it’s early on Monday, you know. So, I said this yesterday that there’s a lot of thought that goes into that, for me personally. And then being able to give the staff, and then just being able to ask other coaches that have been in the situation how would they handle that. So, I’m not running away from the question at all. The thing is I want to make sure I make the right decision, and I don’t want to make rash decisions either, you know. So, I just want to make sure, when the decision is made, it’ll be the right one, and you guys will know that real soon,” Glenn said on Monday of the Jets’ stance at quarterback. “It’s always based on who gives you the best chance to win. And, again, that’s what I think. This is a week-to-week league, and you have to make sure you get yourself prepared to win every week. So, my mindset right now is who gives us the best chance to win, to be honest with you.”

New York has yet to name a starting quarterback going into their next game this weekend at Cincinnati. But, it sure doesn’t sound like things are going well there, in just a short time with the franchise, for Fields.