Play It Again, Darnold: Jets Quarterback Consistently Showing Growth in Recent Weeks
It surely hasn’t been an easy year for Sam Darnold, who shone in the New York Jets 34-27 win over the New York Giants. But the Jets quarterback stayed true to himself and didn’t change, backing up the confidence he had voiced about the offense in the week before the Giants game.
After three straight losses and questions about his development, Darnold put together a solid performance in beating New York’s other team. Far from kissing the season goodbye, Darnold showed that there is not only room for growth and development this year but that he has the backbone to bounce back after a string of difficult performances.
All of a sudden, a season presumed lost now has meaning if Darnold can build on this win over the Giants.
Individually, Darnold hasn’t been the problem for the Jets over the previous three games before Sunday’s win snapped their losing streak. While he has struggled with turnovers, Darnold has been playing under duress and has shown improvement each week over the course of the past month.
Sunday’s line from the Giants underscores this. He didn’t turn the ball over and completed 19-of-30 passes for 230 yards with a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown. He threw the ball away and while he took eight quarterback hits he was smart in getting the ball away.
“I think for me I was just really in control out there,” Darnold said.
“I think I did a lot better job of just controlling myself, making sure that I wasn’t doing too much but I was also doing things that were in my control and staying with myself, I think, is the best way to say it. Not turning the ball over, not having a ton of negative plays, that’s really good for us.”
His performance came at a good time for the now 2-7 Jets.
There has been a lot of hand-wringing about Darnold since a poor performance in a 33-0 home loss to the New England Patriots (the Jets quarterback was 11-for-31 for 86 yards with four interceptions in that Week 7 loss).
In the Jets three games since the Patriots debacle (the Jets are 1-2 in that stretch), Darnold has struggled with turnovers (four interceptions in those three games) but the second-year quarterback has done plenty right.
His completion percentage of 67.6% over that three-game stretch puts him above the season completion percentage average for quarterbacks such as Patrick Mahomes (66.3%), Philip Rivers (65.9%), Lamar Jackson (65.9%), Tom Brady (64.8%) and Aaron Rodgers (64.8%).
This certainly isn’t to say that the 22-year old Darnold is in the same league as these elite quarterbacks but it is a good sign that, despite a terrible offensive line and the league’s worst rushing attack, that he is able to nonetheless complete passes and do so consistently.
Beyond his solid play – don’t get it twisted but Darnold wasn’t spectacular in this game but overall solid – his display went beyond the boxscore and his performance on the field.
Darnold orchestrated a comeback through the third and fourth quarter, this after the offense went cold for much of the second and third quarter. After racing out to a 14-0 lead following their first two possessions, the Jets offense began to sputter.
Late in the third quarter and then into the fourth quarter, the Jets offense began to move the ball consistently. Darnold led the unit on three scoring drives during that stretch.
He showed strength and leadership in calmly leading this team, a strong selling point for his mentality after a week of questions about his development.
“I told our guys, ‘Don’t change.’ We preach all the time, whether it’s practice, first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, fourth quarter, don’t change, don’t change at all,” Darnold said.
“Because sometimes in the fourth quarter teams or players in general get really hyped up and they want to do to much and I think for us it’s about making sure that we stay within ourselves and don’t change, whether that’s practice or a game.”
