The New York Jets held a clandestine, player-led walk-through with no media and no assistant coaches; only head coach Aaron Glenn and the players were on the field. Players conducted their own drills and called plays, with Justin Fields running the offense and Jamien Sherwood organizing the defense. Several veterans said they had never experienced a player-driven session. The team technically labeled the session a walk-through rather than a practice. Cornerback Brandon Stephens and center Josh Myers described the format as new and beneficial. The approach echoed a Bill Parcells-era tactic of leaving players to manage themselves.
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- The New York Jets held a clandestine practice Sunday. There were no media present. There were no assistant coaches, either. It was just coach Aaron Glenn and the players. The players conducted their own drills and called their own plays. Quarterback Justin Fields ran the offense, middle linebacker Jamien Sherwood ran the defense. Word of the practice leaked Wednesday, with a handful of veterans saying they'd never been involved in a player-driven practice.
"It was personally different for me because I've never experienced that, having no coaches out there," said cornerback Brandon Stephens, who played four seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. "It was great for us to lead the groups by ourselves." Center Josh Myers, who signed with the Jets after four seasons with the Green Bay Packers, said: "That was something that was new to me. For all intents and purposes, it felt like a practice, just player-led."
Glenn may have pulled a page from the coaching handbook of his mentor, Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells. While coaching the Jets in the late 1990s, an angry Parcells once stormed off the field with his coaches, leaving the players to themselves -- a motivational ploy, no doubt. Glenn was a member of that team. Glenn wasn't happy with the Jets' performance in Saturday night's 31-12 loss to the New York Giants, though it sounds like the day-after practice -- er, walk-through -- had been planned ahead of time.
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