Breaking down QB Darnold’s start
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Strong protection, a sound running game to keep the defense honest, good decision making by the quarterback and wide receivers with the ability to create separation are the key components to a successful passing game.
The New York Jets don’t have any of these.
Only one is quarterback Sam Darnold’s responsibility (good decision making), but we’re going to focus on it today, because he and head coach Todd Bowles have said this week they saw progress in his quarterback play in Sunday’s 31-12 loss to the Jaguars.
“It doesn’t show on the scoreboard or in the game … but I saw some positive signs from him that I was pleased with,” Bowles said earlier this week.
Added the 21-year-old rookie: “It was very assuring to watch the game film and see how much I’ve grown.”
Really?
I watched the game film, too, and wasn’t nearly as bullish on Darnold’s play. Take Darnold’s third-down passing: He quizzically went short on third-and-long and long on third- (and fourth-) and short. He completed only 4-of-12 passes on third down, and two were first-quarter dump-offs to running backs short of the marker.
On the Jets’ penultimate drive of the first half, they had third-and-1 from the Jacksonville 49-yard line. Running back Bilal Powell beat his defender on a go route, but Darnold overthrew him.
There is no problem with taking a shot there, especially because Bowles opted to go for it on fourth down. But then, Darnold had Robby Anderson wide open on a short crossing route that would have easily converted the first down. Instead, he threw deep to Quincy Enunwa (who, admittedly, was open behind two defenders), but the throw turned Enunwa around as he jumped to make the catch, and he dropped it.
Calling a quarterback a game manager has become some sort of derogatory term — a way to describe someone like Alex Smith, who maybe lacks physical skills but makes up for it by making the correct play. Smith was referenced for a reason, but we’ll get to that shortly.
If Darnold had simply dumped it off to Anderson, the Jets would have had the ball in Jacksonville territory with about a minute left in the half and two timeouts. Worst-case scenario is likely a field goal to make it a 13-3 game at halftime. Instead, the Jags got the ball back and drove for a field goal to make it 16-0. That’s a six-point swing.
Darnold’s best third-down pass came after Darryl Roberts’ third-quarter interception, as he rolled to his left (generally he’s more comfortable rolling right) and hit Jermaine Kearse on an out route to the left sideline that went for 12 yards on third-and-9. Kearse toe-tapped beautifully, and after initially being ruled incomplete, the call was reversed to set them up on Jacksonville’s 10-yard line. Precision execution.
The only problem was that Darnold followed with arguably his worst two throws of the game on second- and third-and-goal, the first of which he was extremely lucky not to have returned for a pick-six by A.J. Bouye. The Jets had to settle for a field goal to go down 18-3.
His only other third-down completion was his touchdown pass to a wide-open Jordan Leggett in the back of the end zone. Later, down 25-12 with 9:18 remaining, Darnold threw three straight incompletions from his own 14-yard line, the first of which would have been an 86-yard touchdown to Anderson, who had blown by Jalen Ramsey. But again, Darnold overthrew it.
“We know we need to take more chunk shots down the field and get some big plays, or at least back some people up, so that was encouraging,” Bowles said. “We just have to connect on them.”
Now, just for giggles, let’s contrast the 21-year-old Darnold’s day with Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs wunderkind, who turned 23 only two weeks ago, spent last year learning under the “game manager” Smith in Kansas City. He faced the same Broncos defense Darnold will see Sunday and rallied the Chiefs to a win after being down 10 with less than 13 minutes to play. If you say you can’t compare a second-year player to a rookie, fine, but keep in mind Mahomes has only one more career start than Darnold (five to four) and that right now he’s the MVP of the league.
Whether or not you think the play clock had run out (it had), Mahomes still completed a 35-yard pass to Demetrius Harris on third-and-7 from the Denver 46-yard line with 1:54 to play to set up the winning touchdown. And earlier in the drive, he converted another third down by throwing a pass left-handed to Tyreek Hill.
On the prior fourth-quarter scoring drive, he completed a fourth-down pass to Kareem Hunt that went for 22 yards, and the play before, he found Hill over the middle for 15 yards on third-and-16 to make fourth down more manageable.
Look, we know Darnold and the Jets don’t have playmakers like Hill, Hunt or tight end Travis Kelce, but still, that was the model of how to run a successful passing offense in crunch time.
The Jets are fooling themselves by saying they saw progress Sunday.
SERIES HISTORY: 36th regular-season meeting. Broncos lead series, 19-15-1. Denver has won five of the last six meetings between these teams, including last year’s 23-0 victory when Broncos linebacker Shane Ray broke Jets quarterback Josh McCown’s left hand, ending his season. It was the first time the Jets were shut out since Oct. 5, 2014, against the Chargers, and was their first of four losses to end the season. New York had only 100 total yards, the second-lowest total in franchise history to Joe Namath’s final game in 1976, when they only mustered 72. The win snapped Denver’s eight-game losing streak, the franchise’s longest since joining the NFL in 1970.
The Jets’ last win in the series was in Denver on Oct. 17, 2010, a 24-20 victory when LaDainian Tomlinson rushed for two touchdowns to help beat the Kyle Orton-led Broncos. Then-Denver rookie Tim Tebow scored his first career touchdown in the game, rushing from five yards out.
The teams have met once in the playoffs, the 1998 AFC Championship Game, in which the Broncos scored 23 unanswered points in the second half to win, 23-10. Two weeks later, they beat the Falcons in Super Bowl XXXIII, giving them back-to-back championships in John Elway’s last game.
