A FITTING END
It was apropos of this miserable season, and to a larger extent, the Adam Gase era.
A pedestrian-at-best performance from Sam Darnold, injuries to key rookies Denzel Mims (concussion) and Mekhi Becton (ankle), the defense making Cam Newton look like his old MVP self, and, of course, another loss.
In what was Gase’s final game as Jets coach, and possibly the end of Darnold’s time with the team as well, the Jets lost for the 10th consecutive time to Bill Belichick and the playing-out-the-string-for-once Patriots, 28-14, Sunday afternoon to close out this nightmarish 2-14 campaign. It marks the secondworst season in franchise history, after the 1-15 mark in 1996.
“It’s a little quick for me to go through it now,” said Gase, who was fired shortly after the Jets’ loss. “It just wasn’t good enough, obviously.”
That’s stating the obvious.
Gase will finish with a 9-23 record across two seasons at the Jets’ head coach. The big question now is whether the Jets will use the second-overall pick in the draft on a quarterback like Ohio State’s Justin Fields or BYU’s Zach Wilson and move on from Darnold or look to build around him.
New England scored 21 consecutive points in the second half, kickstarted by a 19-yard Newton touchdown catch on a pass from receiver Jakobi Meyers. He followed that up with touchdown passes to tight end Devin Asiasi and running back Sony Michel, the first receiving scores in the NFL for both.
The 31-year-old Newton entered the game with five touchdown passes all season and none in his previous 12 quarters. He tossed three against the Jets and completed 21 of 30 passes for 241 yards without an interception, and also ran for 79 yards, a season-high.
“They did a great job of switching things up in the second half, attacking us in areas we didn’t expect them to attack us,” safety Marcus Maye said. “They did a great job of adjusting at halftime.”
Darnold, the third-year quarterback who was thought to be the franchise signal-caller the team had waited decades for, was typically mediocre. He led the Jets on long touchdown drives at the end of the first half and at the start of the second half, but otherwise did very little. He snapped his threegame turnover-free streak with a pair of interceptions — the first led to a Patriots touchdown and the second came in the end zone as the Jets were driving late in the fourth quarter — and finished the season without a single 300-yard passing
game. He threw two touchdowns in a game just twice.
“I think the turnover definitely derailed us a little bit, the first one, and obviously the second hurt us really bad,” said Darnold, who finished his third season with nine touchdown passes and 11 interceptions. “So, I’ve just got to take better care of the football.”
Darnold did lead the Jets on the two strong touchdown drives, one to close the first half and another to open the second half. In the two impressive possessions, Darnold completed 9 of 10 passes for 156 yards and a 21-yard touchdown pass to tight end Chris Herndon, one of his most impressive stretches of the season.
But it was the last time the Jets would score. Newton and the Patriots dominated the second half, a fitting close to this dreadful season.
“I wanted to win this game. I’ve come up here enough times to have this result,” Gase said. “I felt like we had good plans coming in. We had a decent stretch there where we did some good things. We didn’t finish it the right way.”