Sam may not be ready for Bills
After taking pounding from Dolphins, Joe Flacco might be in store for another tough afternoon against Bills.
Sam Darnold’s readiness for Sunday’s game against the Bills remains in doubt nearly three weeks after he suffered an AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder. “I don’t have a great answer for you on that one,” Adam Gase said Monday about his gut feeling whether the third-year quarterback will be back after missing two games. “I think it’s more of when the trainers say, ‘Hey, today we get a chance to throw or we’re going these distances.’ That’s really when it’s going to pick up for us. How he’s feeling when he’s throwing. Judging where we’re at there. Making sure that we’re all on the same page.”
Darnold returned to the Jets’ prime-time loss to the Broncos in Week 4 after suffering the injury on a sack. The Jets curiously didn’t put him on Injured Reserve even though it was obvious that the quarterback would almost certainly miss at least two games with the separated shoulder.
Darnold has experienced intermittent pain since he got hurt. It would be reckless to rush him back until he’s not experiencing any pain and has regained his full range of motion. The 0-6 Jets, who removed one of the few weapons Darnold had at his disposal last week (Le’Veon Bell), will be sellers in the next few weeks before the trade deadline.
The Jets, who are dead last in scoring and passing offense, are 0-8 in games Darnold has missed due to injury or illness.
“We’re progressing in the right direction,” Gase said about the signal-caller’s rehab. “It’s just all about how he’s feeling
A week after Gase claimed that he considered giving up play-calling duties, the mercurial coach appeared to put that thought on the back burner. The Jets offense is circling the drain in virtually every statistical category, but Gase isn’t likely to pass off play-calling duties in the wake of getting shut out.
“Yeah, I mean, like I said, we’re looking for what’s the right thing to do,” Gase claimed. “I got a couple other things I got to really sort through offensively before we make any kind of decisions whatsoever on stuff like that. We got to get some things adjusted. Figure out who we got available for this week. That’s like Step 10 right now and we’re on Step 2.”
Truth be told, Gase & Co. have been stuck on Step 1 for the better part of a season and a half.
Gase said there’s no definitive timetable on when rookie left tackle Mekhi Becton will return from a shoulder injury that he exacerbated by playing four days after he got hurt in a loss to the Colts. Gase and Joe Douglas’ reckless and irresponsible decision to activate and play Becton against the Broncos in Week 4 is a microcosm of the team’s dysfunction.
INJURY REPORT
Left guard Alex Lewis is considered week-to-week due to shoulder ailments, including a sprained AC joint…. Offensive tackle Chuma Edoga is dealing with a calf injury. Linebacker Frankie Luvu has a groin issue…. Rookie wide receiver Denzel Mims (hamstring), who hasn’t played this season, is expect to practice again this week, Gase said.