For New York Jets Quarterback Sam Darnold, Forgetting Week 1 is About Focusing on Week 2
New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold displayed both humility and confidence when he met the media for the first time since Sunday afternoon. He talked about moving on from a debacle in Week 1 by focusing on Week 1.
“it's always just been one week at a time mentality,” Darnold said in a virtual press conference on Thursday. “Obviously one from the game on Monday and then Tuesday to start watching, even Monday night, I start watching tape of the Niners to get ready. Tuesday start getting ready again, continue to watch the Niners, and then have a great couple of practices Wednesday and Thursday, and Friday. I mean, I think once you start working on another team, it's easy, easier to move on.”
Darnold will look to improve on his numbers from last Sunday’s 27-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills. There, Darnold completed 21 of 35 passes for 215 yards and one touchdown and an interception. He also made two critical errors that lead to 14 Bills points.
The Jets offense managed just 254 yards of total offense. They will have to do much better this weekend in their home opener against the San Francisco 49ers.
“We talked about things we did well, and things that we didn't do well with the lack of execution,” said offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains. “How we could coach him better and make sure we put him in the right situations. As his position goes, anytime something fundamentally breaks down I think that personally it's a reflection of our week as a quarterback room. Definitely, things that we can improve.”
“We've got a great group of got us who come to work every day with the right mindset in the last couple of practices that have been really good attention to detail has been up there,” Darnold said. “We're just going to continue to work hard. We've put the amount of time this week that you need to, to beat a team. So for us, it's just holding each other accountable and doing everything that we possibly can throughout the week too, to prepare ourselves for Sunday.”
There will be a few less offensive targets for Darnold this week. Jamison Crowder sat out Thursday’s practice due to a hamstring injury. His status is uncertain. Both wide receiver Denzel Mims (hamstring) and running Le’Veon Bell (knee) are on Injured Reserve (IR).
“I think for me, it's just about doing my job every play,” Darnold said. “For me, it's really just whoever's out there, you just got to get the ball to him and make sure that they understand that they need to be in the right spot at the right time.”
The Jets’ opponent this week, the 49ers, are the defending NFC champion. They lost their opening game to the Arizona Cardinals 24-20.
”I think for us, it's not about looking at who we got out it's about who do we have and that's all that matters for us,” Darnold said. “It's next man up. Here we go. And that's just the mindset that our team has. That's really all there is to it.”
