Denver Broncos Head Coach Vic Fangio Praises New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold

It may just be coach speak, but Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio is high on the New York Jets offense. The Broncos head coach spoke to the media on Tuesday ahead of his team’s game against the Jets at MetLife Stadium on Thursday night.

The Jets offense, for what it is worth, is ranked dead-last in the NFL. And, the unit is coming off a game where quarterback Sam Darnold threw three interceptions in a 36-7 loss at the Indianapolis Colts.

“I see a very talented and a good quarterback who is a good runner. He has really good arm strength and makes a lot of plays for those guys,” Fangio said. “I was watching tape from not just this season but last season, and they’ve got their quarterback. He’s really, really good and their young offensive tackle [Mekhi Beckton], who we really liked in the draft. There’s no surprise there, and they’ve done a good job running the ball.”

Both the Jets and the Broncos head into game at 0-3.

The Jets offense has struggled to move the ball this year, a theme that carries over from a season ago. In 2020, they are averaging nine few yards a game (263.7 yards per game) than they did a season ago when they finished as the second-worst offense in the NFL (273 yards per game).

The concern of course is about Darnold. He’s had a hard time behind an offense hit hard with injuries along both the line and at wide receiver.

It is certainly affecting a unit that has failed to extend drives or get points from their red zone.

The good news is that the Jets should return wide receiver Jamison Crowder on Thursday night, who led the Jets in receiving last year. This should give a boost to Darnold, who in his third year with the Jets hasn’t shown signs of progress.

On Tuesday, Jets head coach Adan Gase talked about Darnold’s mentality, saying that he doesn’t think benching his young quarterback is helpful.

“You sense a competitiveness. He’s like everybody in this profession, he does not like to lose, it just it eats at him and I love the fact that it just drives him to just keep coming into the building and trying to find ways to improve,” Gase said.

“I can see it on his face after that last game, like he was pissed. He was not only mad at the score, but just kind of how it went down and things that he knows that he can do better and things that may have been out of his control that we’ve just got to move on from and we can’t hang on to. I think that’s what I love about him. I love the fact that he’s just such a competitor and he wants to go out there and he wants to do everything he can to help.”