After all the drama about the quarterback situation in New York, head coach Aaron Glenn continues to trust Justin Fields. They failed to rack up their third win of the season, falling to the New England Patriots 27-14 at Gillette Stadium. Now, with a 2-8 record, Fields says he will have to stray away from the head coach’s plans and take matters into his own hands.

“Whatever I have to do to get this team as successful as can be. For us to reach our highest potential, I’m willing to do whatever. If that’s me running the ball, that’s what it is,” Fields said in the post-game presser.

The strange part is that the Jets actually opened the night leaning into that idea. Fields ran the ball five times on the opening drive alone, chewing up eight minutes and punching in a touchdown on a designed keeper. It looked like Glenn was finally ready to let him play to his strengths, until he wasn’t.

After that 14-play march, the quarterback runs disappeared, the next three drives went three-and-out, and the entire offense slid back into the same static form that’s defined their season. Glenn pushed back on the suggestion that the staff went conservative, insisting the hesitation wasn’t about distrust, but fear of overexposing his quarterback.

“We don’t want to make it a habit of our quarterback just continuing to run because we can put him in harm’s way,” he said. “Justin ran the ball quite a bit… we just have to be calculated when we do those things.” It was a cautious approach that clashed with what Fields clearly felt the game was calling for. And once the Patriots settled in, the Jets never regained the rhythm they had on that first drive.

So, that’s the disconnect in the Jets’ offensive identity: Fields wanting freedom to use his legs and Glenn trying to protect him. They want him to run, but only in doses. They want him to throw, even though the passing game still hasn’t clicked. And somewhere in the middle, the offense continues to stall.

And yet, amid it all, the quarterback managed to have his most productive rushing game of the season so far since the Dolphins matchup, accounting for 11 carries for 67 yards and a touchdown. Well, it didn’t lead to much. The Jets managed just 14 points and dropped their eighth game of the year.

Still, the outing did reinforce something important: if the Jets are going to get anything out of Fields, they need to structure the offense around what he does best. We’ve seen it work. Glenn acknowledged as much, saying, “We got to have some guys that make some plays for him, too.”

In Pittsburgh, he ran a simplified attack to a 4–2 record, throwing for 1,106 yards with five touchdowns and just one pick. Even after being bumped for Russell Wilson, he remained part of specific packages and still finished with 289 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 62 carries. Not close to that 1000-yard mark he reached with Chicago, but enough to show the threat is still there.

Right now, the passing game isn’t coming along, and there’s little reason to believe it will be a consistent strength this season. Glenn needs to commit to making the most out of Fields’ legs, because that’s the only part of this offense that can tilt the field. But comments on being impressed with what he saw from Fields suggest we might see Fields start again next week.

As for tonight, Fields knew it wasn’t good enough. And he didn’t try to deflect blame.

Justin Fields assigns the blame to himself

When Justin Fields was asked whether he thought he played well enough on tonight, he didn’t sugarcoat a thing. He hasn’t all year.

“Not good enough. We lost the game, so it weren’t good enough. Everytime we lose, my performance isn’t good enough,” the quarterback said.

And he’s not wrong. It wasn’t just about the output, but the mistakes. Late in the fourth quarter, a third-down throw ricocheted off the back of left tackle Olu Fashanu’s helmet. On the very next snap, Fields mishandled the ball, fumbled it away, and handed the Patriots three more points that essentially sealed the night.

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Jets leaned into his legs on the opening drive, and it worked. But that was probably the only thing that did. Fields finished with 116 passing yards, and while a handful of drops didn’t help, the passing game continues to look stuck in the same gear it’s been in all season. Nearly two and a half months in, nothing is trending upward.

What stands out, though, is how steady Aaron Glenn’s belief in Fields remains. Week after week, loss after loss, Glenn hasn’t wavered. But at some point the Jets have to find a better way to tap into what Fields actually does well. If Glenn can’t uncover a blueprint that plays to Fields’ strengths, it’s hard to see a path forward for the Jets.