BABY STEPS
Jets still easing QB along to keep his confidence up
It’s not fair to expect the world right away from Hackenberg in Jet QB battle entering preseason opener
The legend of Christian Hackenberg has spun out of control in this information-hungry world that craves every nugget, no matter how irrelevant or incorrect it might be. Remember, Hackenberg was a wild man a few months ago, supposedly plunking innocent scribes off in the distance with wayward passes. It’s a wonder that such overblown nonsense didn’t mushroom into a larger fable: Hey, I heard Hack sideswiped some poor old lady crossing the street in Morristown with an errant throw.
The latest tall tale from a blurb on the electronic superhighway erroneously claimed Hackenberg was sent off the field after a gaffe at a recent practice. Fantasy, of course, is much more appealing than reality.
The truth? New offensive coordinator John Morton wanted the second-year signal caller to sharpen his command in the huddle during a passing drill. It was a teaching moment for the fiery new offensive coordinator. Hackenberg took about five steps back and watched Bryce Petty step in. Moments later, Hackenberg got another chance and fired a bullet for a completion. He never came close to leaving the field.
Such is life these days for the most scrutinized football player in the big city. So much is overblown.
I was critical of the practice plan for Hackenberg in the first week of training camp. The Jets, however, believe they’ve chosen the proper path by easing him along.
Todd Bowles hasn’t divulged which quarterback will start in the preseason opener against the Titans on Saturday, but cautioned that “you can interpret absolutely nothing” from which guy takes the first snap. Hackenberg will play some behind the starting offensive line, the coach said.
So, why hasn’t the second-year signal caller received more first-team practice reps with the starters? (He worked with the backups in the first 8 of 11 practices).
The top priority is to gradually build Hackenberg’s confidence, according to team insiders.
The thinking is simple: If Hackenberg can bank some good plays against the second-team defense, it will propel him to the next step in his education. Morton and quarterbacks coach Jeremy Bates want Hackenberg to stack those moments to help prepare him for an upgrade in competition. So, the two coaches set forth a relatively conservative plan to bring him along.
The last thing the organization wants or needs is for Leonard Williams, Sheldon Richardson and Mo Wilkerson to crush the young QB’s soul by making life miserable for him at the outset of training camp.
There’s a fine line between learning from your mistakes in practice and shattering your confidence because of those errors.
Before armchair psychologists chime in with the predictable “fragile psyche” narratives, consider that Hackenberg was sacked 103 times in 38 college games, including 82 times in his final two seasons behind a patchwork offensive line that included converted defensive linemen.
Hackenberg is a work in progress. Mistakes are inevitable. Practice is a time to learn from mistakes. It’s tempting to blow those mistakes out of proportion, but the organization doesn’t have its collective head in the sand, either.
The brain trust is fully aware that they have to make a thorough evaluation of Hackenberg by season’s end, but they will absolutely not force him under center in Week 1 at Buffalo if he’s not ready. They shouldn’t rush his development, because the results could be disastrous.
As of now, the Jets don’t believe that Hackenberg is ready to start the season opener. The prevailing sentiment on One Jets Drive is that he is still holding on to the ball too long. He needs to read defenses faster so that he can make quicker decisions, according to people in the know.
He’s taken entirely too many “sacks” in 11-on-11 practice sessions to this point. (He’s also holding it too long in 7-on-7 passing drills).
Life is great in a red no-contact jersey in practice — it’s easier to hold on to the ball a tick or two longer when there’s no threat of bodily harm — but the Jets brain trust has legitimate concerns that Hackenberg will be a sitting duck who will inevitably get hurt in games if he doesn’t speed up his decision-making in the pocket.
There’s also a belief that Hackenberg has taken Morton’s directive of taking care of the football to the extreme. It’s a fair concern within the organization. Once upon a time, Greg McElroy was concussed after getting sacked 11 times in his lone career start. McElroy was so worried about not throwing an interception that he just held on to the ball. And he paid for it.
Playing turnover-free football obviously has its privileges, but there’s a faction on One Jets Drive that thought Hackenberg was overly concerned with his streak of eight practices without an interception.
There’s no need to overreact though. There aren’t warring factions in the building. It’s simply a part of the maturation process of a young quarterback. Clarity comes by calming down.
So, Bates is helping Hackenberg adopt the mindset to throw the ball away rather than take a sack.
Hackenberg has had his challenges setting and/or adjusting protections at the line of scrimmage from time to time too, according to insiders. He struggled with it when he took a handful of snaps with the starters recently. The lack of an experienced center has really hurt Hackenberg in that area. Nick Mangold was invaluable during Mark Sanchez’s rookie season as an extra set of eyes to identify pre-snap land mines. Hackenberg could sure use that too.
An inexperienced wide receiving corps further complicates the quarterback’s evaluation.
The Jets’ plan for Hackenberg includes significant playing time in the preseason, beginning with his test against the Titans. The hope is that he’ll build some confidence and graduate to the next level.
“I’m not going out there and expecting him to be Roger Staubach,” Bowles said after practice Thursday. “If he is, so be it. We’re trying to get him better. He’s 22 years old. The kid’s got to get a chance to play and make some mistakes and grow from it and come back from adversity and make good plays.”
No matter what happens Saturday night, there will be no shortage of praise or panic.