Once again, QB gets Gang off to fast start
ATLANTA – Sam Darnold doesn’t leap tall buildings in a single bound, have a thing for Lois Lane or care if you shove Kryptonite in his face, but it’s fair to wonder if this kid’s home planet isn’t Earth.
The Jets quarterback, lining up behind four backup offensive lineman, went 5 for 7 for 46 yards in a 22-10 victory over the Falcons on Thursday night. The eight-play, 66-yard touchdown march to open the game stood out among the three Darnoldled drives.
It’s safe to say that he’s ready for Week 1.
The Jets quarterback engineered a game-opening scoring drive against for the sec- ond consecutive week, prompting many to wonder what might be possible in Adam Gase’s offense this season.
“Starting fast is something that we want to get really good at,” Darnold said.
Darnold went 3 for 4 for 41 on a 3 minute, 55-second scoring drive that featured a blend of smarts, skills and instincts. He was effective from the shotgun and under center, moving the offense at brisk tempo again.
The second-year signal caller already has a good command of Gase’s scheme. The Jets played a fast tempo, going no-huddle and sugar huddle. They slowed it down and sped it up to keep the Falcons off balance.
“It’s fun to be in that offense and really keep the defense on their toes,” Darnold said. “Instead of us sitting back and huddling and letting the defense get lined up, they’re kind of scrambling around and not really sure where guys are going.”
One week after Quincy Enunwa and Robby Anderson
were held without a catch on a combined one target, Darnold got his top two receivers from last season involved on the first drive. He fired a bullet to Enunwa for a 15-yard pickup before a pin-point back-shoulder pass to Anderson for 21 yards.
Gase hit all the right buttons on the drive, turning to Montgomery, who started in place of Le’Veon Bell (rest), for big gains on the ground. Montgomery, who’s expected to be a swiss-army knife for Gase, broke a slew of tackles on a 14-yard run to get Gang Green into the red zone. He had terrific vision throughout the dive.
After Darnold’s lone incompletion on the series – off Enunwa’s hand in the endzone, Montgomery picked up another six on the ground. Darnold and Anderson hooked up for a 5-yard completion to get to the doorstep of the endzone before Montgomery finished off the drive by bouncing outside for a 1-yard score. It was an encouraging sign considering the Jets struggles on the ground last week.
Gase, frankly, couldn’t have scripted the series any better. Just about everything worked. Darnold, who orchestrated a 7play, 75-yard touchdown drive last week, could be in for a special season.
“It looks right,” Gase said of Darnold running his offense. “He doesn’t seem to have any complications. When we get going and playing some teams that do a lot of the exotic stuff. When we get to third down, that’s really going to be our biggest test. Next week will be a good one for us. New Orleans will do some different stuff. They’re going to show us some different looks. They’re going to have some things on third down that are going to be tough.”
It was particularly impressive given the realities of the situation. Darnold played behind a make-shift line that was missing four of five starters. Right guard Brian Winters is expected to miss several weeks with a shoulder injury. Left guard Kelechi Osemele suffered a pectoral injury in practice during the week. Center Ryan Kalil is still working himself into game shape. To make matters worse, right tackle Brandon Shell didn’t play due to a knee injury. Third-round rookie Chuma Edoga started and gave up a sack on the second drive.
However, the fact that Darnold operated so well despite the issues up front should make every Jets wonder if this is all one big dream. Could this really be possible? Do they finally have a quarterback who can overcome shortcomings around him? Is this guy the real deal?
Time will reveal just how effective Darnold will be in Gase’s offense, but the pair of gameopening touchdown drives might be a window into the near future. Darnold hasn’t even had Le’Veon Bell, who didn’t play again, at his disposal. Imagine how much more fun it will be when Gase adds Bell to the puzzle.
“At the end of the game, you’d like it to be fairly even across the board,” Gase said about spreading the wealth to all his options. “Last week, the one drive there were a couple things we had scheduled. We were trying to get everybody a touch. It didn’t work out that way. This week we didn’t worry about it so much.”
The offense is far from a finished product. The Jets punted on Darnold’s next two drives before he gave way to Trevor Siemian, but there have been enough flashes in four drives with the starters this preseason to believe that Darnold could – and should – make a significant jump in his second season.