BOY WONDER
SAM RETURNS AS JETS STUN DALLAS
The young, talented and no-longer-contagious Sam Darnold electroshocked the Jets in a 24-22 victory over the Cowboys on Sunday that should give hope to every green-and-white diehard that brighter days are ahead. The second-year quarterback was dynamic in his return from a month-long break due to mononucleosis, making big-boy decisions and throws to help Gang Green win its first game under Adam Gase.
“I mean, sh—!,” Pro Bowl safety Jamal Adams said. “He did a damn good job! Obviously, we have a lot of faith in Sam.”
They also have plenty of belief in Adams, who foiled Dallas’ attempt to tie the game on a two-point attempt in the final minute on a blitz.
“We were starving for a win,” said Darnold, who went 23 for 32 for 338 yards and two touchdowns in his first game back. “To come out here and do it in the fashion that we did (with) the defense getting a huge stop on the two-point conversion. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
The Jets (1-4) built a 21-3 first-half lead before it became a whiteknuckler. Heavy underdogs for seemingly the millionth time this season, they avoided their first 0-5 start since 1996. They also broke a sevengame losing streak for the franchise dating back to Week 14 last season.
“Nobody counted on us to win that game,” said outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins, who returned after missing two games with a calf injury. “Everybody bet on the Cowboys. They thought that we were going to get blown out. But stuff didn’t go our way in the past. But if we keep working, we can shut everybody up.”
Everything felt different with Darnold under center. He looked calm, comfortable and like his typical elusive self, making smart decisions out of the chute to build the big lead. Truth be told, he didn’t look rusty for a single second.
“It’s a lot different having your guy in there,” said Le’Veon Bell, who rushed for 50 yards and a touchdown.
“He’s the leader of the offense…. When you miss that for a few weeks, it’s tough…. I said he wasn’t rusty in practice. I watched him. He’s a special player.”
Darnold looks like he’ll be a problem for a very long time. If he can play like this coming off a four-week hiatus, imagine what we’ll see when he really gets rolling. The Jets scored on four of nine drives (excluding their kneeldown to end the game) after recording only three scoring drives in 50 possessions entering the day.
The Jets averaged 7.1 yards per play after averaging 3.2 through the first four games. Darnold & Co. had five plays of at least 20 yards after struggling badly to pick up explosive plays in the first quarter of the season.
“We knew that with Sam back, he was going to move the ball,” Adams said. “Sam wasn’t drafted in the Top 5 for no reason. He’s a hell of a quarterback, a hell of a leader and hell of a competitor.”
Darnold, who threw for 218 yards and both touchdowns before intermission, felt right from the start. His 17-yard completion to Demaryius Thomas set the tone for a memorable performance.
“I was just seeing things clearly,” Darnold said. “I knew the coverage right away. I turned my head on the play-fake and right when I whipped my head around, I knew what to do with the ball. It was just that kind of day.”
Darnold was hardly perfect. His thirdquarter interception and the team’s 20% third-down conversion rate made things closer than they probably should have been, but it was a terrific first game back.
“I thought there was a lot of good,” said Gase, who snapped his own personal sevengame losing streak dating back to last season with the Dolphins. “His pocket movement creates a lot of opportunity for us.”
Bell’s two-yard touchdown run capped a nearly eight-minute, 14-play, 86-yard march to take a 7-0 lead. The Jets opened it up after a critical secondquarter sequence. They stuffed Dak Prescott on a fourth-down run inside the 10-yard line before Darnold hooked up with Robby Anderson on the next play for a 92yard touchdown to make it 14-3. The Jets recorded more passing yards on that play than they had in each of the past two games (69 and 67 yards, respectively).
The Cowboys didn’t go away. Ezekiel Elliott’s five-yard touchdown made it 21-16 with 6:30 left in the fourth quarter before Darnold did Darnold things on a brilliant 30-yard completion to Jamison Crowder on the first play of the ensuing drive that led to Sam Ficken’s 38-yard field goal.
Gregg Williams’ defense committed three pass interference calls on the Cowboys’ frenetic final drive. Prescott’s four-yard score set up a two-point try to tie it with 47 seconds left. But Williams dialed up a blitz. Adams drilled Prescott, whose pass for Jason Witten fell incomplete and sealed Gang Green’s victory.
Afterward, Darnold told Adams that it was the perfect call. After all, the quarterback saw Williams’ pressure packages in red-zone competition periods on Fridays.
“It was a great call by G-Dub,” Adams said. “We knew we had to get this win.”
Thanks to their dynamic young quarterback, they finally did. “It’s only one,” Adams said about the victory. “But it’s a good one.” It sure was.