Who Fell Flat in NY Jets Week 7 Loss to the Panthers?

Following their brutal six-game skid to start the season, the NY Jets welcomed the Carolina Panthers to MetLife Stadium on Sunday. The Jets entered this game having lost their most recent game in Week 6 to the Denver Broncos across the pond, 13-11. Despite another terrible showing by the offense in that one, the defense has turned a corner. The Jets’ defense once again did its job, holding the Panthers to only 13 points; however, the offense continues to fall flat as the Jets lost this one, 13-6. The Jets now slip down to a 0-7 record to start the season.

The Panthers took a 10-3 lead into the half. Justin Fields had an abysmal first half, which led to Tyrod Taylor taking over as the quarterback for the Jets for the entire second half. Unfortunately for Taylor, he didn’t fare much better as he completed just 10 of his 22 pass attempts for 126 yards. However, the biggest killer for Taylor proved to be his interception issues. So, who fell flat in the Jets’ Week 7 loss to the Panthers?

3. Aaron Glenn, HC

The new Jets head coach, Aaron Glenn, has struggled in multiple areas during his first seven games with the Jets. This is a large part of why the Jets are 0-7 to open the season. While Glenn shouldn’t take all the blame, especially for the poor quarterback play, there is one area that we can pin entirely on the head coach, and that is game management. Unfortunately for Glenn, he is building up quite the list with his in-game blunders, and this week was no different.

While Glenn had an all-around better week this week than he did last, there were still two crucial plays, or lack thereof, that Glenn got dead wrong. With 15 seconds left in the second quarter, Glenn had a chance to right the wrongs he had made against Denver one week ago. The Jets had the ball at the CAR 44, and it was second-and-10. Fields ate a sack, and the whistle was blown with 10 seconds remaining. Glenn didn’t call a timeout and just let the play clock run out. This showed first-hand that Glenn didn’t have faith in Fields to make a Hail Mary-type throw, and didn’t have faith in any of his receivers to catch the ball.

The Jets were close enough to try a Hail Mary. However, Glenn just gave up, taking a 10-3 deficit into the half. The second bad play Glenn called came very late in the fourth quarter when the Jets were down 10-6. Glenn elected to punt the ball with 1:55 left in the fourth. Carolina iced the game, and the Jets never got the ball back. Yet another costly blunder by Glenn. Both of these mistakes have the same underlying message: Glenn gave up on his team. He was okay taking a loss and didn’t even try and go for it on fourth down. Fans knew we would experience some growing pains with Glenn, but these are just very rookie mistakes. Hopefully, he gets better and learns from it; if not, he may very well be a one-and-done coach.

2. Tyrod Taylor, QB

Tyrod Taylor took over for Justin Fields at halftime of Sunday’s game against the Caroline team. He came into the game trailing by just a touchdown to start the third quarter. Fans were pleased to see Taylor enter the game, as it seemed like this was long overdue. It would be hard to play worse than Fields, and fans gave Taylor a lot more of a leash to get them to win a couple of games, potentially. Unfortunately, this would be far from the case.

When Taylor entered the game, it seemed like things could have finally begun looking up for the Jets. Taylor is no slouch as a quarterback after all. Taylor finished the game, completing 10 of his 22 pass attempts, for 126 yards. Far more of a production than Fields provided, and that’s not up for debate. However, the big kicker with Taylor was his inability to throw the deep pass, resulting in not one, but two, interceptions.

One of his worst passes of the day came when he tried to get a little creative and looked for what should have been a touchdown pass to Allen Lazard. However, thanks to a massive underthrow by Taylor, Lazard couldn’t haul in a very easy six points. Taylor’s interceptions nixed any hope of the Jets truly making a run in this one. While Taylor may be the temporary answer at quarterback for the team, that’s not saying much at all. Entering the 2026 NFL offseason, the Jets desperately need a quarterback.

1. Justin Fields, QB

As long as Justin Fields keeps playing this poorly, he will continue to be on this list. Thankfully, it looks like he’ll be spared next week, as a benching seems very likely for him following his abysmal play in the first half on Sunday. Fields finished the first half, completing six of his 12 pass attempts for a measly 46 yards. Fields also took three sacks, losing 21 yards in the process, continuing to show his inability to read opposing defense blitzes.

With no Garrett Wilson this game, this just made the offense that much harder for Fields to control. However, Fields showed that without a player like Wilson by his side, he truly gives this Jets offense nothing to be proud of. This marked the sixth consecutive game where the Jets were unable to score just 10 points in the first half of a game. Jets head coach Aaron Glenn finally gave in and benched Fields in favor of Taylor, but as we see, that didn’t go much better.

What makes this that much worse is that this is now the third time this season that the Jets didn’t get anything going against one of the league’s worst defenses. First it was Miami, then it was Dallas, now it’s Carolina. Fields was a gamble from this front office since he first arrived in New York; however, it’s safe to say that this Fields experiment has now officially crashed and burned in the worst possible way. Now the only question that remains is who will become the Jets’ next quarterback when Fields is inevitably gone?

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