Even though the Lions are averaging 31 points per game, there are no assurances Detroit will be the best offense on the field any given Sunday.
Improbable as it sounds, Detroit’s first two opponents averaged five touchdowns, 147 rushing yards, 310.5 passing yards, 58.6% on third-down conversions and 35.5 points.
Former Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn leads the New York Jets into Ford Field on Sunday to take their swings against a dizzied Detroit defense.
“This is going to be a knockout, 60-minute brawl,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “This is not the same team as it was last year. Much more talented. They play hard, they have an identity, they play a physical brand of football.”
Glenn has put his stamp on the Jets in his second season as head coach. The Jets made sweeping personnel changes in 2025 and could be viewed as a rebuild. But Glenn doesn’t see it that way, and his players appear to be buying what he’s selling. They won the opener at Tennessee and lost to the Packers in overtime last week.
The Jets are No. 1 in total defense, No. 2 against the run and No. 2 against the pass. Detroit is tied for fourth in scoring and is second in first downs per game (25), which is why the Lions have earned a split of their first two games this season, overcoming dreadful defensive performances. The Lions are No. 31 in the NFL in points allowed, yards per game and pass defense.
What the Lions have proven through two games is putting up video-game numbers on offense isn’t good enough. Wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown is on pace for 161 receptions and 34 touchdowns.
When linebacker Jack Campbell graded his own performance at Buffalo as “awful,” St. Brown said all 53 players need to find a way to be better.
“I gotta be better,” he said on the St. Brown Podcast. “We’ve got to be better as an offense to help them out and vice versa.”
Lions quarterback Jared Goff was always quick to tip a cap to Glenn during his time as Detroit’s defensive coordinator. Now that he’s preparing to play Glenn’s defense again, he’s seeing a full team in green taking on the identity of their no-nonsense coach who believes the aggressor usually wins.
“You can start to feel the team take on his identity,” Goff said.
Not beating yourself is a principle Glenn wants his team to live out, and they’re rowing the right direction thus far in 2026. The Jets haven’t turned the ball over in the first two games of the regular season for the first time in more than 50 years. Last week they had a chance to put the Packers away in regulation and failed to gain traction in overtime.
Veteran quarterback Geno Smith said the Jets can stay on the right side of the win-loss column by not putting the ball up for grabs. Especially when facing an offense as prolific as the Lions, the Jets are mindful of making the most of every possession.
“I know what I’m doing out there. I’m always going to try to protect the team and protect the ball. Turnovers happen a number of ways, but we protect the team when we protect the ball,” Smith said. “It’s been an emphasis my entire career. You can make the right decision, the ball is tipped in the air and it’s an interception. That’s the way the game goes. But you have to be mindful of the process.”
Lions rookie right tackle Blake Miller (knee) returned to practice and expects to be in the lineup Sunday. Miller missed the first game of his football career — counting high school and college — last Thursday at Buffalo.
He’s coming back to face a familiar foe in No. 2 overall pick David Bailey. The Jets’ rookie is the first player since Nick Bosa in 2016 to generate five-plus pressures in each of his first two NFL games. Before he transferred to Texas Tech, Bailey played at Stanford in the ACC when Miller started at Clemson.
“It should be really good. Bailey is a speed ball, but he’s got power,” Dan Campbell said of the rookie matchup on the edge.
Glenn said he’ll always be friends with Campbell. Both are former NFL players and they spent eight years coaching together — five in New Orleans under Sean Payton and from 2021-24 when Glenn was Campbell’s defensive coordinator with the Lions. But he’s not much into nostalgia or getting lost in the feels of a reunion this week in Detroit.
“A place that I coached, a place that I have fond memories, a place that we want to win,” Glenn said.
