The Detroit Lions are laying 6.5 points at home against a Jets team that is bringing a very familiar face back to Ford Field.
New York head coach Aaron Glenn spent the previous four seasons as Detroit’s defensive coordinator before taking over the Jets in 2025, and his return comes with both teams trying to shake off ugly losses from last week.
Detroit is coming off a rough defensive showing against the Buffalo Bills, a game in which the Lions fell behind by three touchdowns early and never found their footing. New York’s loss was even more painful in the moment, as the Jets dropped a 20-17 overtime decision to the Green Bay Packets after coughing up a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter at MetLife Stadium.
Glenn took heat after the game for not using a timeout with just under a minute left after the Jets’ defense had forced a stop. The Packers then took control on offense and finished the job with the winning drive.
“I want to go back and really look at it, to be honest with you,” Glenn explained to reporters postgame. "But, I think they were in a situation where they were trying a no brainer, and they took the no brainer, or they took the penalty on that.
It was down to 11 seconds. At that point, I didn’t want to put ourselves in a position where we want to take a timeout.
Let’s let it end. If they would have punted it, they would have put us in a backed-up situation.
I think they could’ve punted the ball and put us in a backed-up situation right there, so that was the reason why.”
On the Detroit side, the focus is on getting the defense cleaned up after a game that exposed too many breakdowns against an AFC heavyweight. Defensive end Aidan Hutchinson said he expects changes after the first couple weeks of the regular season have already shown what needs fixing.
“That was not good enough. Not good enough.
Things will definitely be changed,” Hutchinson explained. “I don’t know what that is necessarily, but I know there will be changes.
We’re not going to keep banging our head against the wall, you know what I mean?”
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