Aaron Glenn is having a rough start to the 2022 season. Detroit’s defensive coordinator is the man in charge of the NFL’s worst defense, one that is getting worse by the week.
The porous defense has led to some calls for Glenn’s removal as defensive coordinator. Earlier in the aftermath of the Week 4 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Detroit head coach Dan Campbell brought up the possibility of making some changes. Campbell later offered a vote of confidence in Glenn, but it hasn’t quelled the calls for his head.
Glenn knows it all comes with the territory of being a coach on a team that isn’t winning enough.
“Man, I feel pressure just by being a coach,” Glenn said earnestly. “That comes with the job. The one thing I don’t worry about is job security. I’ve been blessed to play this game for a long time and I’ve been blessed to coach it for a long time. And every day I get up, I enjoy doing what I do. I would say this, even though me and Dan (Campbell) are friends, this is a job and I’ll look at it like that too. That I have to perform just like everybody else has to perform, he has to perform, the players have to perform. When things are not going well, you have to answer to that and I’m not a – I’m not blind to the fact of that.”
Later in his press conference, Glenn brought up a situation where he had to overcome personal football failure. He hearkened back to 1997, when he was a high-profile Pro Bowl CB for Bill Parcells’ New York Jets.
“It was in ’97, we were playing against Seattle, damn. And I was matched up against Joey Galloway and that was the first time I ever in my career gave up two touchdowns. They were two bombs. Bill Parcells was the coach and just like as a coach, just like as a player, I mean, when you’re playing well, you’re the hottest thing ever. When you do something bad, I mean you’re the worst thing there is. And so, I understand that.
So, at that point I’ve become a Pro Bowl player to the worst corner that ever played the game. The thing is, man, you just have to go back to your fundamentals and have faith in who you are and what you’ve done and your background and your history tells your story. That one to two plays doesn’t tell your story. That one game doesn’t tell your story. So, I look at this like this, I mean these couple of games it doesn’t tell my story. I mean, my track record speaks for itself and I’m going to continue to let that speak. So, we’re going to get this thing fixed. We’re going to get this thing moving forward. Our guys are going to respond, our coaches are going to respond and things are going to be alright.”
Despiet Glenn’s inspired anecdote and answer, it would be nice to see him write a different story with his defense in the coming games.