WHAT’S THE RUSH?
No need to push Sam in against Bills without full week of practice
The Jets must take a cautious and conservative approach with Sam Darnold if they have any designs of properly evaluating him for the rest of this lost season. Darnold returned to practice on a limited basis for the first time Wednesday since suffering a shoulder injury three weeks ago. Although it’s clearly a step in the right direction for the Jets’ third-year quarterback, it’s fair to question the wisdom in playing him against the Bills on Sunday without a full week of preparation.
Why potentially compromise Darnold in a meaningless game?
“Right now, I would just say that all options are available,” Adam Gase said Wednesday. “We’ll have him on a pitch count. I think really the biggest thing is going to be how’s he going to feel tomorrow… If there’s anything that… lingers when he’s throwing, that’s kind of his red flag.”
This isn’t the ’65 Dodgers needing Sandy Koufax on two days rest in Game 7 of the World Series. The 0-6 Jets are playing out the string a week before Halloween. It makes no sense to prematurely toss Darnold back into the fire if he’s not completely pain-free and able to have a full week of practice.
“It’s going to be tough for us to say that you’re going to get every rep and every throw that you need in individual (drills),” Gase said. “So, we’ll gauge where he’s at. The walkthroughs always help us… Mentally, that ’s really going to be beneficial for him.”
You know what would be even more beneficial? Actually getting a full week of practice for the first time with his top three wide receivers, who are expected to play in a game together for the first
time this season.
Gase might be desperate for a win, but it would be an unnecessary risk to play Darnold given the bigger picture. The organization needs to fully and fairly evaluate the signal-caller over the final two months before determining the proper course of action moving forward.
Darnold needs to be healthy for that to actually happen.
Although Gase admitted “the percentages keep going up” that Darnold can return this weekend after missing two games if he practices more Thursday, the coach also cautioned that doesn't mean the young quarterback is out of the woods.
“You want to think if we get through Wednesday and he comes back Thursday and feels good, (then) hey it looks like it's going to be on the right track,” Gase said. “But you just don't know what Friday's going to be (like)… So, we'll kind of work through it.”
Joe Flacco, who has a grand total of two games with Gase under his belt, also needs as many team reps as possible to give the Jets a puncher's chance to topple the division leader in a rematch of Week 1.
“My confidence level in (Flacco) if it's a little less reps is… I'll be all right with that,” Gase said. “He can handle that. If we were talking about a second-year player that was behind Sam, then I'd be a little more concerned.”
Remember: It was around this time a year ago when Gase's plan to give Darnold first-team practice reps backfired when he wasn't medically cleared to play later in the week. The result: Luke Falk was ill-prepared in a loss in Philly.
The temptation to play Darnold is obvious. He's their best option when he's right. The Jets, who are 0-8 in games Darnold has missed in his career, could use a boost. Jets brass has made a series of confounding decisions in six short weeks. There's no real reason to rush Darnold back.