Three weeks into the NFL season, after suffering two losses by a combined 10 points, New York Jets coach Aaron Glenn held his index finger and thumb inches apart to illustrate how close he felt his team was to a breakthrough.
asserted
team → suffer → breakthrough
“How do we close that gap?” Glenn said Sunday in Detroit, after a loss to the Lions that left the Jets 1-2.
asserted
that → close → Jets
“I challenge myself, I challenge the staff, I even challenge the players on let’s identify a couple things that we need to improve on and let’s make sure that we hone in on those things.”
asserted
we → challenge → things
One area isn’t hard to find: No team has been worse at intercepting passes in NFL history than the Jets.
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team → find → Jets
The league’s record-setting interception-less streak grew to 20 games during New York’s Week 3 loss at Detroit.
asserted
streak → set → Detroit
New York last picked off a pass on Jan. 5, 2025, when it recorded two.
asserted
it → pick → two
Ever since, the Jets’ defense has faced 608 passes with nary a pick to show for it.
asserted
defense → face → it
“That’s hard to do,” former NFL coach John Gruden said on social media this week.
asserted
Gruden → ’ → media
“You would think a ball would ricochet into somebody’s hands.”
asserted
ball → think → hands
He collected 41, tied for 73rd on the NFL’s all-time list.
asserted
He → collect → list
As the Jets’ streak grew last December, Glenn admitted that “it’s disappointing that we don’t have an interception because coming from what I’ve always played, you expect those things to happen.”
asserted
things → grow → what
The Jets know all about turnover.
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Jets → know → turnover
When Glenn was hired in January 2025, after a successful run as Detroit’s defensive coordinator, he was the franchise’s fifth coach since its last winning season in 2015.
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he → hire → 2015
Glenn told fans to “expect a winning team that you will be proud of.
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you → tell → that
But only weeks into his first season, as the Jets staggered to a 3-14 record, the team traded two of its best defensive players in cornerback Sauce Gardner and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams.
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team → stagger → Gardner
That defensive fire sale didn’t help a unit that would allow 29.6 points per game, second-most in the league.
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that → help → league
When the streak reached 12 games last December, Glenn called it “really puzzling.”
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Glenn → reach → it
When the streak reached 15 to break the previous record held by the San Francisco 49ers in 2024, Glenn said that, “I hate the fact that we didn’t get an interception,” after a loss to New Orleans.
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we → reach → Orleans
“But the thing is we got a turnover, and then we got a fourth-down stop, so these are some things we can build on.”
asserted
we → get → stop
Unfortunately for Glenn and the Jets, turnovers of any variety have been hard to come by.
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turnovers → come → variety
Since the start of the 2025 season, New York has forced a league-low six turnovers in 20 games.
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York → force → games
The next-lowest team produced 13.
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team → produce → 13
The league leader in that span, Chicago, has 39.
asserted
leader → have → 39
New York set out to address its defensive shortcomings in the offseason.
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York → set → offseason
In its secondary, it signed safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, drafted a safety and cornerback and signed Nashon Wright, whose five interceptions last season helped Chicago pick off a league-best 23.
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Chicago → sign → 23
Yes, Wright had heard of the streak.
asserted
Wright → hear → streak
“I’m on social media, so I’ve seen it, but try not to pay it any mind,” Wright said in June.
asserted
Wright → ’m → June
But “honestly, don’t think it’s been brought up at all” during team meetings, he added.
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he → think → meetings
“I think 2025 was 2025 and I think we’re trying to turn over a new leaf,” Wright said.
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Wright → think → leaf
Yet the streak lives on.
asserted
streak → live → ?
In three weeks, New York faces New England, whose quarterback Drake Maye has thrown 10 interceptions in his last seven games.
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Maye → face → games
“We’re right here and our guys know it,” Glenn said, his fingers inches apart.
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Glenn → ’re → it
“It’s this gap right here that we got to close.
asserted
we → ’ → that
And we’re fighting our asses off to close that gap and we will.”
asserted
we → fight → gap
The Aporia
