KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The last time the Jets beat the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, their starting cornerback was Aaron Glenn.
That game was on Nov. 1, 1998, when Glenn and the Jets, coached by Bill Parcells, beat the Chiefs 20-17. The Jets have lost in their past four visits since then. They have had terrible losses there, like the season opener in 2005, and horrible individual performances like Ryan Fitzpatrick throwing six interceptions in 2016.
The Jets have failed to score a touchdown in their past two games at Arrowhead, settling for four field goals. Michael Vick is the last Jets quarterback to throw a touchdown pass there. Their last game there was in 2020.
That is the backdrop for this Sunday’s return to a stadium that has not been kind to the Jets. Glenn is back, now the head coach, and in desperate need of a win. His team is 2-6 and has lost its past three games.
Getting a win Sunday won’t be easy against Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and a 5-2 Chiefs team that has lost its past two games, and enters this one hoping the Jets can be a “get right” game.
The Jets are not just facing a tough Chiefs team, but an environment that can overwhelm visiting teams. Kansas City is 3-0 at home this year.
“It’s a great venue, especially guys that haven’t had a chance to play in that atmosphere,” Glenn said. “It really starts with the national anthem, and just seeing the sea of red around and how the fans are so involved and the team in all aspects. But for any team, man once you start playing, you really block a lot of that out, and you just focus on the down-by-down basis of what you have to do.”
You don’t have to tell Jets defensive tackle Harrison Phillips about the horrors of Arrowhead. He was on the 2021 Bills team that was 13 seconds away from winning the AFC divisional round game when Kansas City came back to win.
“I’ve been scarred at Arrowhead,” Phillips said. “Thirteen seconds left.”
Despite the bad memories, Phillips told his younger teammates to enjoy the Arrowhead experience.
“It’s a really fun environment,” Phillips said. “For our young players, it’s really exciting. There’s extra adrenaline, extra energy. It’s a packed stadium. When you go into those environments, it’s always fun to experience. What makes it challenging is their fans are very good at what they do. It’s a tough place to play, and that makes it even more fun if you can accomplish what they’re trying to accomplish.”
The Jets offense spent this week practicing with noise pumped into practice to try to duplicate the Kansas City crowd.
“Just got to be great on communication,” said guard Dylan Parham, who played there with the Raiders. “They have a really good fanbase. They’ve been a very good team for a long time in the NFL. They’re going to have a great crowd. They’re going to be loud. That’s their thing. That’s what they’re known for.”
The Jets defense spent this week talking about cleaning up the mistakes they made in a 38-33 loss to the Raiders last week.
“Improvement, absolutely, improvement,” Glenn said on what he expects from his defense this week. “Improvement, first on the penalty situation that we had on third down, the way that we played the run, which I thought we improved last week of holding the team, I think they were 2.9 yards a carry. And those critical situations, especially in passing situations, that we’re able to deny the ball and be able to make plays on the ball, and those are some things that I’ve really been homed in on this week when it comes to our defense.”
The offense will be without top receiver Garrett Wilson, but they are getting Breece Hall back after he missed the past five games.
They travel here on Sunday, trying to salvage their season and become the first Jets team to win at Arrowhead Stadium in 28 years.
