Jets stay vague on Sam, but he’ll play

Todd Bowles didn’t commit to starting Sam Darnold against the Bills this weekend, one week after the rookie quarterback cleared all medical checkpoints to play. Bowles said Monday that it “remains to be seen” whether Darnold will practice fully on Wednesday in the run-up to the next game in Buffalo.

“I expect him to be out there,” Bowles said in the wake of the Jets’ meltdown loss to the Titans. “We’ll evaluate him as he goes out there.”

Bowles said after Sunday’s loss that Darnold “could have played” against Tennessee but needed more prep time after spraining his foot on Nov. 4. The rookie was a limited practice participant for three practices before being inactive against the Titans.

“He had a great number of reps (in practice last week) and he was prepared,” Bowles said. “But you’re not going to (practice) three days as a rookie and be fresh off your reads and not have any rust to go in a ballgame and play on Sunday after you’ve been out for (three) weeks. You need some time to get your timing back. So, we’ll continue to give him reps. When I think he’s ready, he’ll play.”

Spoiler: Darnold will start against the Bills barring an unforeseen setback. He’s healthy. Eyewitnesses told me last week that he looked like his normal self in practice.

So, he’s playing against the Bills regardless of this gratuitous gamesmanship and secrecy.

“He’ll practice,” Bowles said. “I’ll just see where he is from an accuracy standpoint and a timing standpoint and a rust standpoint. He’s got to see plays having only thrown three times last week. He did get better and he was fine. But he’ll get better even this week and then we’ll make that determination on Sunday.”

Again… he’s playing.