interviewed for the Jets\u2019 offensive coordinator role<\/a>, recently agreed to jump aboard John Harbaugh and Matt Nagy\u2019s New York Giants offense as their rushing-game coordinator. Previous stops include two OC stints under Jim Harbaugh (San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers) and one under big brother John (Baltimore Ravens).<\/p>\nHe also served as the Buffalo Bills\u2019 OC in 2015 and 2016, under \u2026 none other than Rex Ryan \u2014 the very same Rex Ryan who couldn\u2019t help but marry his defensive brain with the late Tony Sparano in 2012 (R.I.P.).<\/p>\n
Yeah, as much as Jets fans tossed it away as nothing more than a fever dream or horrific acid flashback, Sparano was the man who replaced Brian Schottenheimer. Yes, Tony Sparano \u2014 without the help of Dr. Jennifer Melfi or Paulie Walnuts (well, when he decided it was in his interest to help) \u2014 ran the Tim Tebow-infested Jets\u2019 offense in 2012.<\/p>\n
Mr. Ground-and-Pound simply could not help himself. He sat down with Sparano, ate up his power-rushing philosophies, and decided to give him his first offensive play-calling position in the NFL.<\/p>\n
Choosing Frank Reich matters<\/p>\n
Truth be told, I was fearful Glenn would do the same with Roman. (Please accept my apologies in advance, Mr. Roman, as I know you and Sparano are worlds apart in the offensive play-calling game.)<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more is the quarterback situation. Justin Fields is still under contract, and if Roman were to be tabbed as the guy, it would make little sense not to bring back the Ohio State product. <\/p>\n
Remember, it was Roman who led the way in the NFL\u2019s brave new zone-rushing, read-option world of 2012 \u2014 with help from Kyle Shanahan and Robert Griffin III on the East Coast. Roman, working under Harbaugh, used Colin Kaepernick\u2019s dual-threat nature to perfection. <\/p>\n
Instead, Glenn chose somebody else. Better yet, he chose a contrasting mindset altogether. <\/p>\n
While Frank Reich goes way back with the Jets\u2019 head coach, the potential for a buddy-buddy-system hire here doesn\u2019t hold much water. <\/p>\n
Granted, Reich isn\u2019t a hot commodity by any means. No active NFL teams were interviewing him (no less targeting him as a potential OC candidate). More critical to the crux of the argument is the idea that he does not think like Glenn.<\/p>\n
Frank Reich thinks like a quarterback, which is precisely what drives offensive football these days. Though potentially foreign in nature to Glenn, that\u2019s exactly what New York\u2019s head coach needed from his offensive play-caller.<\/p>\n
Admittedly, Reich has some screen work to do. Missing just one season of the NFL creates a learning curve for a coach. For the Jets\u2019 new offensive architect, it\u2019s been a year and then some (considering he was fired midseason by the Carolina Panthers in 2023).<\/p>\n
The good news is simple: Reich is a much better hire than the general consensus would have you believe. Whether he leaned on pistol and outside zone in Carolina with Bryce Young, or he tailored his Indianapolis Colts offense to suit multiple quarterbacks \u2014 Andrew Luck, Carson Wentz, Philip Rivers, etc. \u2014 Reich\u2019s tape makes it clear that he\u2019s a week-to-week, wholly flexible OC.<\/p>\n
Deploying a week-to-week offensive game plan was wholly absent this past season, and it\u2019s doubtful that Tanner Engstrand could be blamed the most. Remember, coordinators work within a specific framework that the head coach creates. <\/p>\n
With Reich, the chances increase that such a framework is more lenient.<\/p>\n
Although he still has much to prove, Aaron Glenn quietly passed a critical test with this hire. Tabbing Frank Reich as the New York Jets\u2019 offensive coordinator runs counter to the head coach\u2019s football philosophy.<\/p>\n
Heading in this direction instead aims to fulfill a more week-to-week, modern football edict that funnels everything through quarterback efficiency. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everybody knows who Aaron Glenn is as a football coach. At least, everybody believes they know who Glenn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[429,620,51527,7013,6768,9,11,430,10,22,13589,38486,38590,7016,12660,7018],"class_list":["post-126321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-aaron-glenn","tag-featured","tag-frank-reich","tag-free-content","tag-justin-fields","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-jets","tag-new-york-news","tag-nfl","tag-ny-jets-coaches","tag-ny-jets-column","tag-ny-jets-image","tag-ny-jets-players","tag-rex-ryan","tag-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}