Winning becoming ‘addicting’ for Jets — even if it ruins draft position

It took a little while to get there, but the Jets have shown signs of life under Aaron Glenn over the last five weeks.

In that span, the Jets are 3-2 and those two losses were competitive ones to the Patriots and Ravens — two teams that could be in the playoffs.

Yes, the three wins have come against backup quarterbacks and teams that are a combined 11-25, but the Jets are not good enough to worry about style points.

A win is a win.

The Jets have clearly played better football during this stretch and have found ways to win close games in the fourth quarter, which they failed at early in the season when they started the year with seven straight losses.

“I would say I feel like we’re playing better together as a team,” veteran guard John Simpson said Monday. “I feel like it’s all coming together now. It took some time, a little longer than we all wanted it to but we’re all jelling now and I think we’re playing together better collectively.

“There’s a little better chemistry now for whatever reason.”

Glenn has preached improvement as the season has gone on and there is evidence he has gotten the Jets to believe.

“I think people are buying into the culture and it’s working,” defensive tackle Harrison Phillips said.

The Jets are playing hard for Glenn still and they have been in every game since a Week 5 loss to the Cowboys.

They staged a 15-point comeback against the Bengals for their first victory of the season.

A week later, two kick returns helped them beat the Browns.

Glenn made the move to bench Justin Fields for Tyrod Taylor after the loss in New England and the offense has functioned much better in the last two weeks, even if it has not been spectacular.

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The defense has been up and down and allowed Falcons star Bijan Robinson to gain 142 yards rushing on Sunday, but the unit came up with two stops late in the game to enable the Jets to get in position for Nick Folk’s game-winning field goal.

Glenn was pleased with the 27-24 win over the Falcons but cautioned the Jets know they still need to get better.

“Make no mistake about it, we have a long way to go,” Glenn said. “In all three phases, there were some good things, but then again there were some things we really have to get ready to clean up, and that will be our focus this week. And the thing is we’re not hiding from those things that when you look at them on them on tape you’re like, ‘Ah, we got away with one right there.’ So, even though we’re happy about the results of this game, there are a number of things on that tape that we got to get better at. Listen, we’re not going to hide from those things.”

The Jets have made it clear that they are not apologizing for winning games down the stretch.

While some fans would prefer to see the Jets lose to improve their draft position, the Jets players and coaches believe that these wins can help them change the culture in an organization that has not had a winning season since 2015.

“Winning is great. It starts to build confidence. It lets guys have a swagger,” Phillips said. “It reinforces all the work that you do is toward something. It’s amazing. It’s such a great feeling. Energy is always better. Your body always feels better. Winning in the National Football League is like a drug. It’s addicting and you want to seek it.”

Glenn has emphasized learning to win in his first season at the helm.

“Listen, we just want to win games. Period,” Glenn said. “We want to learn how to win games. We want to learn how to win at the end of games. We want to learn how to create a gap within the game. We want to learn how to sustain a high level of play. We want to learn how to continue to finish out games.”