PASSING HIM BY
Praise for Darnold, more doubts about Manning from analysts
Willie Colon went with “grittiness” to describe Sam Darnold, for Dan Orlovsky it was a “magical sloppiness.”
The superlatives are starting to pile up for the rookie quarterback as he has the Jets off to a 3-3 start and has shown exactly why the team desperately wanted him so badly with the No. 3 pick.
“I love how he has this magic to his game,” said Orlovsky, a longtime NFL backup quarterback who is now an analyst with ESPN.
“It’s super weird, I called it magical sloppiness. Everything he does looks a little sloppy looking, but it’s magic. He’s played exactly how I thought, hoped and wanted. There have been ups and downs, but the ups are way greater than the downs and the downs are more indicative of what surrounds him. I am not going to sit here and say the Jets’ talent is god-awful, but it’s certainly not what other quarterbacks have.”
This comes as Eli Manning is flinching from Odell Beckham Jr.’s verbal grenades and any pass rusher within a 10-yard radius. The comparisons between Manning, whose Giants take on the Falcons on “Monday Night Football” this week, and Darnold have the potential to grow more painful as the season goes on, given the Giants could have taken the USC product with the No. 2 pick.
“I say this with unequivocal respect for Eli’s career and his accomplishments, but he has not played good football in five years,” Orlovsky said. “He doesn’t see open receivers. The ball isn’t coming out of his hand the right way. He is slow in his decisionmaking. He’s never been a guy [who has] been remarkable in the pocket, but he’s never looked this uncomfortable and out of control.
“You can also make the case that he has some of the best supporting cast in the NFL. I know people want to say the offensive line and this and that, but that’s the offensive line for a lot of teams. ... [There are] a lot of other quarterbacks who are seeing the field much better and delivering it much better. It’s the low-hanging fruit, but a great ma- jority of it is true. Eli looks like the game has passed him by.”
The Jets seemed headed the way of the 1-5 Giants, losing three straight after decimating the Lions in their Monday night opener. But the Jets have now won two straight over the Broncos and Colts heading into Sunday’s game against the Vikings and Kirk Cousins, the quarterback who snubbed them in free agency and put the drafting of Darnold into motion.
“I really do appreciate his grittiness,” said Colon, the former Jets lineman who is now an analyst for SNY. “You talk about the bludgeoning they took in Jacksonville. For him to respond the way he did the next week shows the moxie and toughness [that proves] he has what it takes to play in this league. It looks like he’s getting better.”
But this is about baby steps for a franchise that has believed it has had the next Joe Namath too many times to count. The development of Darnold remains the No. 1 priority even if the playoff whispers will be tough to stop with a third straight victory.
“They just got their first backto-back wins in how long? You start talking playoffs, Super Bowl and all that jazz — that’s a whole other episode, maybe for next year,” Colon said.
“But this is starting to emerge into a team that’s starting to trust each other. They are a lot tougher than I think they’ve been in a long time. They still need some pieces, still need a pass rusher. They want to prove to the world they are not the same old Jets.”