Sam Darnold Shows Signs of Regressing in Latest New York Jets Loss
For the first time all year, Sam Darnold shouldered the majority of the blame for the New York Jets struggles on offense in a 36-7 loss at the Indianapolis Colts.
The Jets, now 0-3, are struggling and at a crossroad. Darnold’s three interceptions, two of which where returned for a touchdown, were a major thorn for an offense that sometimes moved the ball but struggled to sustain drives and score points.
“We drive the ball down the field, we’ve got to execute in the red area,” Darnold said referring to his second interception after a seven-play, 52-yard drive that ended with an interception by Xavier Rhodes on a first and goal from the Colts’ seven-yard line.
“It was the same story last week. You know if we score a touchdown there it's a whole different ballgame.”
But they didn’t and the Jets ended up going into halftime down 17-7. The wheels fell off in the second half including his second Pick-6 of the game as well as a safety.
For the game, Darnold completed 17 of 29 passes for 168 yards. He had one touchdown, a brilliant play where he evaded tacklers and hit Braxton Berrios for a 16-yard touchdown pass. With the three interceptions, Darnold’s QB rating was only 47.0.
“There’s a lot of things we are going to have to learn from this film,” head coach Adam Gase said in his virtual press conference after the game. “We gotta fix these red area turnovers for sure.”
Gase said with a short week, they won’t have too much time to spend reviewing Sunday’s game. The Jets host the Denver Broncos Thursday night at Metlife Stadium.
“I run the offense, we have to play a lot better,” Gase said.
Darnold isn’t working with his full arsenal. His top three receivers, his starting right tackle, and top running back all didn’t start. To make matters worse, rookie left tackle Mekhi Becton missed the second half of the loss with a shoulder injury.
“No, that's not an excuse,” Darnold said. “I think for us like I said earlier this week, it's always been the next man up mentality. Whoever's out there. Coaches do a really good job on our players. My teammates do a really good job of knowing the game plan, even though they're not technically starting. That's why I think we do a really good job of having an excellent mentality. It's just again like we said earlier, we were driving the ball down the field and we just got to execute in the red area, put it in the endzone.”
There is talk of the coach’s job. After an offseason where Darnold talked about taking the next step in his career, has opened the season with three ugly losses.
