The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Gang Green Grounded
Sloppy play sinks Jets in home-opening loss
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Sam Darnold’s Broadway debut was mostly a bust. And he wasn’t alone.
The rookie quarterback and New York’s offense struggled with mistakes, turnovers and missed opportunities as the Jets fell 20-12 to the Miami Dolphins in the team’s home opener Sunday. Darnold believes there will be better performances ahead.
“Every loss that we have as a team and every loss that I have as an individual, whether it’s a game or whether it’s a play,” Darnold said, “I’m going to take that as a lesson that I can learn from.”
Darnold finished 25 of 41 for 334 yards and a touchdown, but was intercepted twice in his second NFL start and couldn’t get the offense moving consistently until late in the game.
“You never want to be behind, but I thought for a quarter there, we did a good job of fighting our way back,” Darnold said. “I think for a quarter and a half, we did a good job of fighting our way back. We came up a little short.”
The Jets (1-1) were also victims of bad field position as Dolphins punter Matt Haack consistently pinned New York back in its territory. Only once in 12 possessions did the
Jets start a drive better than their 25, and that came early in the fourth quarter when they got the ball at their 41 after Avery Williamson recovered a fumbled snap by Ryan Tannehill.
New York also struggled in the run game, gaining 42 yards after getting 169 against the Lions in their season-opening 48-17 rout on Monday night.
“It’s not just placed on the quarterback,” coach Todd Bowles said. “We can win offensively, defensively and on special teams. We can do it a lot better.”
At least Darnold got off to a more promising start than in the Jets’ opener at Detroit last Monday night, when his first NFL pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. He completed two of his first three passes on New York’s opening drive in this one.
But on the Jets’ second possession, Darnold’s intended pass for Quincy Enunwa was intercepted by T.J. McDonald. The Dolphins safety avoided a few tackle attempts and returned it 31 yards to New York’s 15.
“I didn’t see him,” Darnold said. “That’s another learning experience that I had.”
After two run plays for 9 yards, Kenyan Drake took the handoff up the middle for a 6-yard run to give the Dolphins a 7-0 lead.
Miami took advantage of another turnover after Darnold completed a 10-yard pass to Robby Anderson, who had the ball knocked out of his hands by Kiko Alonso. Raekwon McMillan recovered for the Dolphins at the Jets 49, giving Miami a short field.
Jakeem Grant took a pitch from Tannehill and gained 5 yards, but Buster Skrine grabbed him by the facemask for a 15-yard penalty. On the next play, Albert Wilson took a short pass from Tannehill, slipped out of Skrine’s diving tackle attempt and took off down the sideline for a 29-yard touchdown.
Just like that, New York was down 14-0.
The Jets went three-andout on their next possession, but made another mistake on defense that had the effect of a turnover when Henry Anderson’s sack of Tannehill on thirdand-6 was negated by a holding penalty on Morris Claiborne. Two plays later, Tannehill connected with A.J. Derby for a 19-yard touchdown.
New York showed some life just before halftime, starting with a 44-yard completion from Darnold to Terrelle Pryor.
A few plays later, Darnold completed a pass to Chris Herndon, who fumbled, recovered and tried to get into the end zone, but was tackled at the 1 as time expired.