Not much to take away from Hackenberg’s start
DETROIT » It was hard not to think back to the late Dennis Green’s famous line after watching the Jets dismal 16-6 loss to the Detroit Lions in the second week of the National Football League’s preseason at Ford Field on Saturday.
They are who we thought they were.
Gang Green did little to silence pundits who have them pegged as the worst team in the league, even with likely starter at quarterback Josh McCown sitting on the bench and running back Matt Forte out for another week.
Second-year pro Christian Hackenberg, still awaiting his first opportunity in the regular season, might have to wait for quite a while. The Penn State alum got a lengthy opportunity to supplant McCown by getting the entire first half, and faltered; he went just 2-for-6 for 14 yards in six possessions and ran for 11 yards.
“He really didn’t get a chance,” said Jets head coach Todd Bowles. “It’s not a fair evaluation of the kid, because he didn’t get a chance on the couple passing plays he had. There was a lot of pressure on him.”
After leading the Jets to points in his first two preseason drives last season — and again, without regular season action, there’s nothing else to evaluate him on statistically — Hackenberg has now gone 30 consecutive exhibition possessions without leading his team to a score of any kind.
“I thought it was a good learning experience,” Hackenberg said. “Detroit did a really good job of looking at the tape from last week. They mixed up their looks, and I give a lot of credit to them. But overall, I think it was a really good experience.”
Pressed on what he learned in his first start on several occasions, Hackenberg offered little.
“Being able to react, learn and see different things,” he said. “Just kind of getting in the flow of the game from that standpoint.”
Interestingly enough, the offense seemed to flow better with third-stringer Bryce Petty at the helm in the second half. Petty, who started four games for the Jets last season, went 15-for-24 for 160 yards and one late interception in action against the Lions backup and depth players.
“He moved the ball, but again we didn’t score any points,” Bowles said. “If you don’t score any points, you can’t win a ballgame, but he had some good throws and good plays here and there.”
Petty, now in his third year as a pro, seemed pleased with his performance and credited some halftime adjustments the offense made as a whole.
“I think it was just more of getting back on schedule; finding completion plays, finding things that we know, no matter what, give us completions,” he said. “Also, our running game took off a little bit better. All those things help with rhythm. You get five yards, you get another five yards, first down and then you start rolling. That’s all offense is really, is getting in a rhythm.”
It would seem as though McCown, even with only one series under his belt in the first two preseason games, albeit a very successful one, would be Bowles’ no-brainer choice as the Week 1 starter. Right?
“Not at
Bowles said. this point,”