SHAME ON SAM & JETS
Darnold turns ball over five times in humiliating loss to Tom’s Pats
The Jets got their Gotham Green derrieres kicked Monday night by the team that they despise the most on national television. Adam Gase’s club was lifeless, sloppy and unprepared in an embarrassing 33-0 loss to the Patriots that wiped away all the good vibes floating around his team. “Obviously, that was brutal,” Gase said. “We didn’t do anything right. All three phases were bad. Just a bad performance. You can’t play like that against these guys or it will look like that. It’s just not good. We got a lot of work to do.” Sam Darnold’s sideline admission that he was “seeing ghosts” (via ESPN’s mics) was a microcosm of a forgettable night that conjured up images of the 2012 Butt Fumble disaster that will live in infamy. The second-year quarterback committed a career-high five turnovers (tied his career high with four interceptions, 1 lost fumble) against a suffocating defense that stymied him from beginning to end to improve to 7-0.
“I just got to see the field a lot better,” said Darnold, who went 11 for 30 for a career-low 86 yards and career-low 3.6 passer rating. “It was a rough night out there.”
Darnold didn’t resemble the dynamic player that breathed life into the Jets eight days earlier, making one mistake after another in the face of relentless pressure to help his team fall to 1-5. It was just one of those nights for a talented, young player with brighter days ahead. “I definitely think I was pressing too hard,” Darnold said. “Trying to get a 24-point score in one play. I just got to take it one play at a time and continue to play the game the way it’s meant to be played.” Darnold, who committed turnovers on three of the first four possessions, was no match for a defense destined for an historic season. “Well, we’d be one of six teams that’s had trouble,” Gase said about dealing with the Patriots’ blitzes.
“We didn’t pick up anything up right.”
How ugly was it?
The Jets were buried under a New England avalanche to fall behind 17-0 in the first quarter. The Patriots ran 20 more plays – 20! – in the opening 15 minutes. At one point, New England had 17 points, while the Jets had seven yards.
The Jets fell victim to a classic Patriots drive to open the game. Tom Brady (31-for-45 for 249 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) engineered a 16-play, 78-yard scoring march that took 8 minutes, 47 seconds to jump out to an early lead that they didn’t relinquish. New England converted all four third downs, including Sony Michel’s 3-yard touchdown to set the tone for the night. Darnold never found a rhythm. His first pass on the second play from scrimmage floated over Le’Veon Bell into Devin McCourty’s waiting arms for an easy interception. The Patriots capitalized on the miscue with Mike Nugent’s 34-yard field goal to jump out to a 10-0 lead with 3:49 left in the first quarter. “It sucks,” Darnold said. “Belichick’s team poured it on after Darnold & Co. went three-and-out. Brady orchestrated a 7-play, 67-yard drive punctuated by a 26-yard touchdown strike to Philip Dorsett to make it 17-0.
It was also a forgettable start for Jets cornerbacks Darryl Roberts, Trumaine Johnson and Brian Poole, who took turns getting beat or committing penalties to contribute to the team’s overall sloppiness.
Darnold’s second turnover — a strip sack by John Simon that was scooped up by Kyle Van Noy — set the stage for Michel’s 1-yard score on the ensuing drive that put the Jets in a 24-0 hole less than six minutes into the second quarter.
It was an eerie case of deja-vu for Gase, whose team fell behind 20-0 two minutes into the second quarter in Foxborough in Week 3.
“I didn’t expect that at all,” Gase said. “Nothing went right early and we couldn’t regroup.”
Darnold threw his second interception later in the quarter near the end zone. The Jets turned it over on downs on their next possession to ensure there would be no Monday Night Miracle this time. Darnold completed just six passes for 34 yards with three turnovers and a 13.5 passer rating by intermission. The Jets were outgained, 210-66, and averaged a grand total of 3.0 yards per play in the first half.
“Obviously when we go back and look at this, he’s not going to be happy,” Gase said of his young quarterback. “He probably was feeling that guys were coming free when they might not have been. It’s tough.”