Bowles not worried over Darnold interceptions

Twice, Sam Darnold went deep, and twice he was picked off. Both times, veteran safety J.J. Wilcox came down with the ball.

But coach Todd Bowles said he wasn’t disappointed with the hyped rookie quarterback on Tuesday.

“We need to take shots downfield,” the coach said following training camp practice. “We need to practice them. Obviously, they had it covered today. But I’m good on taking shots downfield.”

Darnold has struggled somewhat throwing the deep ball. On these occasions, he hung the ball up too much, giving Wilcox two chances to make plays.

“They’re not going to win every round,” Bowles said of the offense. “The defensive backs got to win some or I’d be disappointed we don’t get any picks. At the same time, quarterbacks got to take care of the ball. ... There’s some good give and take.”

Teddy Bridgewater also threw his first interception of camp, when he was picked off by safety Terrence Brooks on a pass that floated. But Bridgewater and Darnold also had some nice moments. Darnold threw four red-zone touchdowns, including an 11-yard strike on fourth down to tight end Chris Herndon over the middle.

“For the first time as a team, the offense won some and the defense won some,” Bowles said. “So that was good to see.”

NFL referee Tony Corrente and his crew are visiting Jets camp this week. They met with the players on Monday night to go over the league’s new rules and will be on hand through Wednesday. Among the topics they discussed was the new helmet rule that penalizes players for leading with their helmets and initiating contact to any part of an opponent’s body with the helmet.

“It’s a tough situation, but it’s a situation we cannot control obviously,” safety Jamal Adams said. “The NFL wants to make the game safer, so we have to change our game in ways we tackle.”

Bowles has downplayed the new rule’s significance because the Jets don’t teach leading with the helmet.

Under the new catch rule, that states a player no longer has to maintain control of the ball throughout the process of going to the ground, Corrente said the Austin SeferianJenkins catch that was ruled a fumble and, as a result, a touchback against the Patriots last year would have been a touchdown.

Corrente was the official during the game when Seferian-Jenkins’s catch was first called a touchdown and changed after instant replay. But that was of little solace to the Jets.

“Yeah, it’s too late,” Adams said. “I wish it was last year’s adjustment.”