The Jets left Detroit with a loss, but not with the kind of performance that gets dismissed in a hurry.
Down 24-10, New York rallied to tie the game before giving up another touchdown in a 31-24 defeat to the Lions. By the end, the Jets were 28 yards away from either a win or an overtime chance, a narrow margin that made the final score feel less like a blowout than a test of how much a close loss can reveal.
Aaron Glenn leaned into that part of it afterward.
“I like the way we fought, I love the men we have but obviously there’s a way to go to get to where you’re trying to get to,” Glenn said, while also stressing that the team is “right there.” He said the Jets need to close the gap in performance, but he also pointed to the work the team believes in from OTAs and training camp.
That tension — between encouragement and unfinished business — defined the day. Detroit came in as a contender, with extra days to prepare after a primetime embarrassment, and it played at home against a Jets roster that was beat up. New York was without three key pass-catching starters and then lost its primary running back during the game. Against that backdrop, the Jets still found a way to make the fourth quarter matter.
They did it with two touchdown drives in the final period, enough to briefly tie the game at 24. Geno Smith finished 31 of 37 for 320 yards and three touchdowns, and Garrett Wilson added 7 catches for 107 yards and a touchdown, with 55 of those yards coming in the fourth quarter.
The most concrete offensive development, though, came from the tight ends.
Kenyon Sadiq caught 7 passes for 105 yards and a touchdown, and his diving 24-yard score helped turn the Jets’ passing game into something Detroit had to account for snap after snap. Glenn said, “Those tight ends really stepped up, and [Smith] looked to make sure that we gave the ball to our tight ends.” The Jets used multiple tight ends on 22 of their 61 offensive plays, and those snaps produced 188 yards and two touchdowns.
It was also a rare day in franchise history. This was only the fourth game in Jets history in which three tight ends each had at least 20 receiving yards. Sadiq’s touchdown catch came on a play he described this way: “When you hear the play called in the huddle you know it’s got a chance to go to you and then it comes out and you have a man-to-man look.”
Sadiq’s production carried a milestone with it, too. He became the first rookie tight end in Jets history to record both a rushing and receiving touchdown in the same season.
That’s the part of the loss that will linger for New York: not just that it lost, but that it had enough offense to make the game feel winnable late. Glenn’s postgame tone reflected that split. He was proud of the fight, but he also made clear that being close is not the same thing as being there.
Some outside observers went even further, suggesting the shootout may have been the best-coached game of Glenn’s Jets career. That kind of praise only sharpens the question the result leaves behind: what does progress look like before it shows up in the standings?
For now, the record says 1-2. The film says the Jets were in position to make Detroit sweat until the end.