Aaron Glenn Declines to Name QB1 for Jets vs. Bengals After Justin Fields Benching

New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn is still declining to publicly name a starting quarterback for Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

In an exchange with reporters after Friday's practice, Glenn said "I can't tell you that" when asked who the starter would be "because I don't want to" in part because Tyrod Taylor is officially questionable with a knee injury.

his comes on the heels of the Jets' first practice of the week on Wednesday when Glenn said he wasn't ready to name a starter to avoid giving a "competitive advantage" to the Bengals by knowing which quarterback they could prepare for.

Whatever leeway the Jets were willing to give Justin Fields seemed to go away during their Week 7 loss to the Carolina Panthers. He was benched at halftime after going 6-of-12 for 50 yards in the first two quarters.

That came after a 13-11 loss against the Denver Broncos on Oct. 12 in which Fields had minus-10 net passing yards. Jets owner Woody Johnson also didn't have a lot of good things to say about the state of their passing game this week.

"If we could just complete a pass, it would look good," Johnson told reporters on Tuesday at the NFL's fall meetings.

One thing Glenn did say that may have tipped his hand with Taylor, despite being listed as questionable, is that he "really likes" how he is trending while dealing with a knee issue.

Taylor isn't exactly lighting up the stat sheet when he has played, but there has been a level of competence with their passing game that's often been missing with Fields.

When Fields sat out the Jets' Week 3 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers due to a concussion, Taylor finished 26-of-36 for 197 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in a 29-27 loss.

In relief of Fields against the Panthers last week, Taylor wasn't nearly as effective. He went 10-of-22 for 126 yards and two interceptions.

There isn't a great option for Glenn, but he is looking for whatever spark he can find at this point. The Jets are the NFL's lone remaining winless team at 0-7. They are looking to avoid an 0-8 start for the first time since 2020.