Jets takeaways
Here are some takeaways from Saturday night’s Green & White scrimmage:
Let’s start with the quarterbacks, as usual. The Sam Darnold hype train is already off and rolling. The rookie has done some really impressive things. He makes some difficult throws, he keeps plays alive with his feet and he shows a lot of poise. That said, let’s not put him in Canton just yet, as Bill Parcells liked to say. We need to see Darnold in preseason games to get a true evaluation. That is when he can actually get hit. It’s a little easier to play quarterback when you’re wearing a red jersey and no one can lay a finger on you.
As for “the other guys,” Josh McCown saw very little action, which could be the way it is early in the preseason, but McCown has looked fine in camp.
Teddy Bridgewater was under a heavy rush all night, but did not have an incompletion.
The competition really begins Friday against the Falcons at MetLife Stadium. The tight end position is a fascinating one on this team. I’m not sure who will be starting Sept. 10 in Detroit, but there were a few tight ends who made plays Saturday night. Rookie Chris Herndon continues to have an impressive training camp. Veterans Neal Sterling, Clive Walford and Eric Tomlinson all made some plays.
This is a group of largely unproven players, but all of them are making a bid for the job. The one disappointment in the group is Jordan Leggett, who missed his rookie season with a leg injury and is out again with an undisclosed injury. He falls further behind the rest of the group with each day he misses.
Todd Bowles threw a bit of a curveball with his starting defense. Frankie Luvu and Brandon Copeland started at outside linebacker. Jordan Jenkins and Josh Martin, who have been starting, were with the second team.
My guess is Bowles was just experimenting with different personnel groupings, something he likes to do in training camp. Still, it tells you the Jets are still searching for the answer at that position and how to generate a pass rush from it. Copeland had what would have been a sack if he was allowed to hit the quarterback and has shown good pass-rush ability. The Jets held this event at Rutgers for the first time. It usually is at MetLife Stadium, but a concert by Beyonce and Jay-Z kept them from using their home field. I think the atmosphere at Rutgers was much better than MetLife and the Jets should consider having the scrimmage there every year. The smaller stadium gave it more of an intimate feel and they drew a bigger crowd than usual.