SAMMY SO-SO
Hold the coronation as Darnold shows some warts in start
Sam Darnold’s march toward being the Jets starting quarterback when the season begins hit a snag as he struggled in the face of a fierce Redskins pass rush. He completed 8-of-11 passes while playing the entire first half, but was intercepted once and sacked twice in the Jets’ 15-13 loss.
LANDOVER, Md. — Let’s not anoint Sam Darnold just yet.
The Jets rookie quarterback came back to Earth on Thursday night in a 15-13 loss to the Redskins, and the quarterback situation grew a little murkier. Darnold was hindered by a leaky offensive line and restrictive play-calling, but he was not overly impressive in his first start of the preseason. Darnold played the entire first half, a total of three series. He led the Jets on a field-goal drive, but did not reach the end zone. He completed 8-of-11 passing for 62 yards and threw his first interception of the preseason. He was sacked twice and finished with a rating of 48.3. His longest pass was 13 yards. Josh McCown did not play Thursday night. Teddy Bridgewater played the second half, throwing a touchdown and an interception. With two weeks left in the preseason, who exactly will be this team’s starting quarterback remains unclear. “It’s already been cloudy,” Jets coach Todd Bowles said of the quarterback situation. “It’s never changed. It’s just the same.” The 21-year-old rookie did some good things. Darnold was accurate and threw the ball away to avoid a rushing Ryan Kerrigan on one play. But it did not have the feel of his first appearance last week against the Falcons when he wowed in his debut and led the Jets on a two-minute-drill touchdown drive. Bowles started Darnold to allow him to face a starting defense after facing backups in the Falcons game. Washington’s defense was in his face often and early in this game. If the Jets do decide to go with Darnold to start the season, the offensive line is going to be a concern, especially if their starters are out. On Thursday night, the Jets had a backup at left tackle and right guard and both gave up sacks. Bowles said it was good to get a look at Darnold under duress.
“That’s the best time to evaluate him,” Bowles said. “It’s easy to throw when you don’t have any pressure and you don’t have adversity. You want to find out what you have from a mental standpoint and from a physical standpoint and from an intelligence standpoint. The best time to evaluate them right now is for them to be under duress.”
The feeling around the Jets has increasingly become Darnold will be the starting quarterback when they open the season against the Lions on Sept. 10 unless he really stumbles in the final week of training camp and these preseason games.
Thursday’s performance probably did nothing to change the Jets’ opinion on Darnold. He was under fire from the moment he entered the game. On the first drive, Kerrigan was in his face and Darnold managed to slip past him and then throw the ball out of bounds. On the next play, Washington rookie Daron Payne beat Jets backup guard Jonotthan Harrison, who started in place of an injured Brian Winters, for a sack.
“I’m proud of myself for just being smart with the football and knowing exactly what the scenario was and just trying to execute to the best of my ability,” Darnold said.
On his next drive, Darnold connected with wide receiver Tre McBride on two thirddown conversions and pushed the ball into the red zone where the drive stalled. On third-and-10 from the 13, Darnold was sacked again. It appeared that he had no open receivers and held onto the ball instead of throwing it away. Preston Smith got past backup left tackle Brent Qvale, who started in place of the injured Kelvin Beachum, for the sack.
“We just couldn’t really finish in the red zone, which is my fault,” Darnold said. “I pride myself on being able to score touchdowns.”
On Darnold’s final drive of the night he was intercepted on fourth-and-1. Darnold tried to throw a short pass to Jermaine Kearse, but the ball was tipped by Deshazor Everett and picked off by Troy Apke.
Jets offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates did not really open up the playbook for Darnold, who threw mostly short passes.
Bridgewater took over at quarterback at the start of the second half. Bridgewater’s first three drives did not go anywhere, but he led the Jets to the end zone in the fourth quarter, throwing a nice 17-yard pass to Charone Peake for the score. He later threw an interception to Prince Charles Iworah.
The Jets starting defense gave up two fieldgoal drives, one to the Redskins’ secondteamers. They nearly allowed another score but a pass from Colt McCoy went off the hands of Cam Sims and Jets backup safety Doug Middleton intercepted the ball.
The Jets have two weeks of preseason games left to evaluate these quarterbacks. Bowles said they will pick the one who gives them the best chance to win.
“That’s the main factor,” Bowles said. “Everything’s important. Look, we’re going to play the best guy. We’ll make those evaluations and we take our notes. I’m not going to sit here and evaluate them second by second in public. I understand what’s happening. As a football coach, we understand where we are. We’re pleased with where we are.”