HERTFORDSHIRE, U.K. — Jermaine Johnson leaned against a window on Friday and patiently waited for his turn at the podium. While he waited, he marveled as a gardener efficiently chopped branches off a small tree a few feet away. The gardener was removing excess leaves to give the tree a cleaner look, an attention to detail required at a nice hotel — The Grove — that’s been housing NFL teams since Aaron Glenn, now the New York Jets head coach, was still playing for the New Orleans Saints in 2008.
Johnson has been hurt since suffering an ankle injury in Week 2. On Thursday, he practiced for the first time since, thousands of miles away from home. He’s been doing a lot of observing, watching a once-proud Jets defense flounder into one of the most beatable units in the NFL — and helpless to do anything about it.
It’s hard for anyone to rally his teammates from the training room — and Johnson admits he has had a hard time staying sidelined in these moments. It’s why he sometimes responds to fans on social media, letting them know he is OK — and that, if it were his choice, he’d already be playing.
“Excuse my French,” Johnson said, “but it’s been a little sh—y.”
On Thursday, he was out on the practice field dancing with his teammates to the music of Kodak Black. On Sunday, he’ll officially return and start on a Jets defensive line that desperately needs some help, having mustered only three sacks in four games since getting four in Week 1.
The problems run much deeper than that. This unit is one of the most penalized in the NFL; tied for the league lead in missed tackles; yet to force a turnover in five games; and allowing opponents to score points at a rate worse than all but one other team.
That has led to some honest conversations this week, the first coming in a players-only meeting before the Jets left for London. Johnson was one of the players who led the charge.
“It’s just taking full accountability,” Johnson said. “Everyone was on the same page. We have to be better. We can’t be the reason we lose. That can’t happen. We have too much talent, and Coach (Glenn) has had our back in terms of how he’s run this thing, instilling a culture in here and we have to have his back by putting a good product out there. That’s our job. We definitely take full accountability and what we need to do differently this week.”
Johnson called the response “super good,” adding, “We’re being thumb-pointers before finger-pointers.”
Glenn called it a “really good week of practice.”
The harsh reality is that players-only meetings rarely work — and usually come about only when things have truly gone off the rails, which they have for the last remaining team in the NFL without a win. However, those conversations — the honest ones — might explain why defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, a team captain, dropped some harsh truths after practice Thursday.
“We are 0-5. The defense, to me, has been the problem, the reason why we are 0-5,” Williams said. “It’s one of those things that when you’re 0-5, no matter where you’re at, you’ve got to fix things. When you’re probably the worst defense in the league, no matter where you’re at, you have to fix things if you want to win football games and go in the right direction.”
That sort of brutal honesty and accountability has been missing at times around this team, even now, after it was a point of conversation during a disastrous 2024 season. However, the Jets need a heavy dose of that if they, especially the defense, are going to turn things around.
Johnson, a Pro Bowl player in 2023, should help — as should cornerback Jarvis Brownlee, acquired a few weeks ago and expected to take on a bigger role against the Denver Broncos on Sunday. However, they are only two players, and it would be unreasonable to expect them to be a cure-all for what ails the defense, which was once one of the best in the NFL under the previous regime.
Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks threw out three words: consistency, detail and focus. Defensive line coach Eric Washington used three others: fast, violent and coordinated.
Two more that Glenn has thrown around: mental toughness. Something that’s been missing in recent weeks — especially in the way the Jets have responded to moments of adversity.
After Braelon Allen fumbled the ball away as he approached the end zone against the Dolphins in Week 4, the defense allowed Miami to go 96 yards the other way to score a touchdown on the ensuing possession.
After Breece Hall fumbled the ball away in the red zone against the Cowboys last week, Dallas turned around and went 91 yards in seven plays for a touchdown.
“Well, we talk about it all the time: cause and effect,” Wilks said. “That’s in everyday life, but whatever caused the situation, it really doesn’t matter. It’s how we go out and allow it to affect us. We’ve got to take the field in that situation and say, ‘OK, they got a takeaway. Let’s go get the ball back.’ ”
Added Brownlee: “I think we all just gotta buy in. We all gotta trust one another. The guy next to me, he gotta trust that I got his back, and I gotta trust that he’s got my back. He’s gotta know that if he misses a play or he misses a tackle, I’m gonna be right there to make the tackle for him. It’s about confidence. We gotta get our confidence up. It’s about communication and making sure we’re on the same page. If we’re on the same page, we can click.”
The Jets know that needs to start up front, where the defensive line has struggled to make a dent as a pass-rushing unit. Defensive end Will McDonald has zero sacks and one QB hit in four games since getting two sacks in Week 1. Williams has zero sacks and zero QB hits since getting one and three in Week 1.
Those two could use some help — Williams pointed out how often he’s been double- and triple-teamed, while offensive lines have been effectively chip blocking McDonald to keep him out of the pocket — though he’s not using that as an excuse. Johnson’s return should help.
“I look at it like I gotta get to the quarterback, no matter if it’s one guy, two guys, three guys. I gotta attack it with the same mindset on getting QB hits, pressures, sacks and just being disruptive,” Williams said. “At the end of the day, nobody cares how you do it. It’s about doing it.”
The Jets know what needs to be fixed — and Williams said the coaches have given them the “solutions” to their problems; it’s up to the players to turn those solutions into action when the games start. All of Glenn’s declarations of the Jets’ good practice habits don’t mean much when practice doesn’t translate on Sunday — and it hasn’t yet.
“We’ve got to find a way,” Wilks said, “and we’re still chopping wood.”
Cut off the unnecessary branches — and clean up the tree.
