SAMIAM-A TD THROWER
Sam Darnold throws 4 TD passes, Jets rout Redskins 34-17
LANDOVER, MD. >> Toward the end of the game, all Sam Darnold wanted to talk about on the sideline was his interception.
Thanks to Darnold’s careerhigh four touchdown passes and the Washington Redskins’ offensive ineptitude, that mistake was a mere blip in the New York Jets’ 34-17 rout Sunday.
Darnold was 19 of 30 passing with 293 yards and tossed touchdowns to Daniel Brown, Robby Anderson, Ryan Griffin and former Redskins receiver Jamison Crowder to help New York win its second in a row.
“For us as an offense as a whole, it’s just another stepping stone in the right direction,” Darnold said. “Once our offense is in a really good rhythm, it’s easy for me and a lot of the other guys on the offense to go and make plays.”
Despite getting picked off deep in his own territory by Jon Bostic, the 2018 third overall pick bounced back and now has 11 TDs and 10 INTs this season. Darnold excelled at throwing on the run and man
aged the game well.
“He’s still developing,” Crowder said. “You can definitely tell that he’s starting to be a little more vocal, take ownership of the offense, which he should — that’s part of the development of a quarterback in this league. I’m just glad he’s taking the right steps to become a great quarterback in this league.”
The Jets (3-7) sacked Redskins rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins six times, including three by safety Jamal Adams, and linebacker Neville Hewitt intercepted him in his return to the lineup. Le’Veon Bell ran for a 1-yard TD, and New York reached 400 yards of offense for the first time in 20 games.
Washington (1-9) set a franchise record by going 16 consecutive quarters without a touchdown before Derrius Guice scored on a 45-yard screen pass early in the fourth. Haskins was 19 of 35 passing for 214 yards and threw TD passes to Guice and tight end Jeremy Sprinkle in his first game since being named starter for the rest of the season.
That feels like a long time away for two teams on pace for a top-five draft pick. The Jets look like they’ve made some semblance of progress under first-year coach Adam Gase, while the Redskins are 1-4 under interim replacement Bill Callahan and off to their worst 10game start since 1961, when they were 0-9-1.
“I don’t think we were close today,” Callahan said. “We didn’t come out and put together the type of game early on to make it competitive and put ourselves in a put ourselves in a position to win or separate, or do anything. We dug ourselves a pretty good hole and we never really recovered from it.”