Jets may kick selves after Catanzaro

Chandler Catanzaro’s shaky summer continued Thursday night with two missed PATs in the first half in the preseason opener against the Giants. The “Cat Man” misfired after Sam Darnold engineered a game-opening, 7play, 75-yard touchdown drive, then missed badly again midway through the second quarter.

“I know one of the operations wasn’t as clean as what we really had been doing at practice,” Adam Gase said. “So we just got to look at kind of what’s going on (and) look

at the whole operation. Make sure everybody’s doing their part.”

For all the talk on One Jets Drive about competition, the team curiously decided not to sign a kicker to compete with and push Catanzaro, who had been erratic through the first couple weeks of camp. It was an odd tack considering Catanzaro’s uneven 2018 campaign. The Buccaneers cut Catanzaro after he missed four field goals and four PATs in nine games.

The Jets, who decided to go on the cheap after letting Pro Bowler Jason Myers go in free agency, can’t afford to mess around at kicker. Gase went 20-6 in onescore games in his three seasons with the Dolphins. Imagine how he’ll feel if an unreliable kicker costs him in close contests this season.

“I don’t think there’s ever a downside to creating competition,” Gase said. “Where we’re at right now going through the spring, there’s been some really good moments where there’s been some consistency there. We just need to kind of get back to our rhythm with the snapper, holder, kicker.”

BELL SITS

Le’Veon Bell’s debut will have to wait at least one more week. As expected, Gase wisely opted not to play his prized free-agent running back. Bell went through pregame stretches with teammates before taking the night off.

“He’s taken a lot of hits over his career,” Gase said. “The way he’s been practicing, that has really been the important part for us. Making sure that he’s in the kind of game shape that he needs to be in… He looks pretty good. He’s in good shape. There will be a time and a place when we get him in a live game. We’re just talking through it. We’re going to take it week to week and kind of come to a consensus at the end of the week before we play a game.”

A TALE OF TWO DEFENSES

The first-team defense

Giants celebrate an early TD in Thursday night’s preseason opener before those dark clouds opened up and game was delayed, but Sam Darnold (inset) had more than enough time to impress the Jets with TD drive of his own on team’s first possession. AP