Jets could nab first win vs. Tua-less Fins
Is this the week the Jets finally get a win?
At 0-10, the Jets feel like the Washington Generals facing the Harlem Globetrotters each week, but they have not given up hope on getting a win. Sunday at MetLife Stadium, they face the Dolphins (6-4), a team with playoff hopes, but quarterback questions.
Rookie Tua Tagovailoa has started the past four games for the Dolphins and has gone 3-1, but he injured his left thumb in practice this week and is listed as doubtful for Sunday’s game. That means old friend Ryan Fitzpatrick will be back under center against the Jets.
The Jets will get starting quarterback Sam Darnold back after a two-game absence. Darnold will get to play with the Jets’ top three wide receivers — Jamison Crowder, Breshad Perriman and Denzel Mims — all in the lineup together for the first time.
For Darnold, this could be a six-game audition to convince the Jets to stick with him in 2021 or for a team interested in trading for him this offseason.
“For myself I just have to go out there and play one game at a time and kind of let the narrative kind of write itself,” Darnold said. “I’m just going to go out there and do my job to the best of my ability. I’m going to go out and try to get a win this Sunday.”
Though many Jets fans are hoping the team finishes 0-16 to land the No. 1 pick and Clemson star Trevor Lawrence, the players and coaches are still hoping to break through and get that first win of the season.
“That’s the goal,” Crowder said. “That’s been the goal all season but for whatever reason we just can’t put it together. It definitely sucks to be 0-10 but each week is an opportunity to go out there and win a ballgame.”
The Jets have lost their past two games by a combined nine points, playing much more competitively than they did earlier in the season. There is nothing left to play for this season but pride and avoiding 0-16.
With Darnold in the lineup and all of their skill players healthy, the Jets can get a glimpse of what might have been.
“I think these guys all just want to kind of see what maybe it could have been from the beginning of year,” coach Adam Gase said.