Rookie QB leads Jets into Motown
A doubleheader once again kicks off the NFL’s Monday Night Football schedule in 2018. Two pretty good games, too.
You’re probably aware Jon Gruden returns as head coach of the Oakland Raiders after a decade in the Monday Night Football TV booth as an analyst. His Raiders play in the second game against the visiting Los Angeles Rams.
The Rams ought to win, so let’s talk more about the first game.
That one has much ballyhooed rookie quarterback Sam Darnold making his regular-season pro debut for the New York Jets against the Detroit Lions in Motown.
It’s also the debut of new Lions head coach Matt Patricia, the longtime defensive coordinator under Bill Belichick on the New England Patriots.
Historically, rookie QBs perform dreadfully vs. Belichick/Patricia defences. But Jets head coach Todd Bowles late last week didn’t sound unduly shaken in his 21-year-old, No. 3 overall draft pick’s chances against the Lions.
“I’m starting him. My confidence level has got to be pretty high,” Bowles said. “He’s ( been) playing football his whole life. We don’t go by age. There’s always going to be one-year guys, two-year guys and 10-year guys. It’s a team going up (to Detroit), so I don’t worry about the confidence of the quarterback. I worry about the confidence of the team.”
And if the Lions come out with unfamiliar packages defensively to confuse Darnold, Bowles said the Jets have the ability to adjust.
The Jets’ other starting rookie is from Ajax, Ont., defensive lineman Nathan Shepherd from a small NCAA Division II university, Fort Hays State, who was selected in the third round.
“He’s been a joy to coach and to be around,” Bowles said of the 24-year-old, who spent two years out of football after a brief stint at Simon Fraser University in B.C. “He works hard. He doesn’t take a play off and doesn’t take a day off, and we like that about him.”
Speaking of Canadians, Luke Willson of LaSalle, Ont., makes his debut as starting tight end for the Lions. He was raised just a few kilometres across the Detroit River.