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It’s a little misguided . . .
The obsession the last couple of weeks by some media and some fans about the possible return of Sam Darnold this week is getting to be a bit much.
Look, I understand people are interested in when the young, promising Jets signal-caller will return to action from mono, but the way some people are portraying this is like Darnold will gallop in on his white horse to save the Jets season is a little over-the-top.
Would it be good for the Jets franchise for Darnold to come back and continue his maturation process by playing in games? Absolutely. Does he have a lot of talent? No question. Is this like Drew Brees returning to the Saints’ lineup in a few weeks? No.
Look, I’m not hating on Darnold, but he’s 22 and still a work-in-progress. He needs to see the field a little better.
Honestly, his last two regular season starts weren’t the best: The Week 17 blowout loss to New England last season, and the opener against Buffalo this year, where he struggled mightily.
People talk so much about how he finished last year strong. To a degree, but you can’t forget the Week 17 game where he had no answer for the New England defense. Like a lot of young signal-callers, they had him baffled.
Let’s not give the kid a messianic complex that he’s going to come back and magically transform a flawed team into a playoff contender. That is a long-shot.
The Jets offense was broken in Week One with Darnold, Week Two with Trevor Siemian and Luke Falk, and in Week Three with Falk. This offense, no matter whose been at quarterback, clearly wasn’t prepared properly for the beginning of the season.
The Jets’ offense has basically been Le’Veon Bell for 2.9 yards and a cloud of ground-up tires (what is under the Field Turf).
This is one of the worst three-game stretches of offense I’ve seen in all my years covering the Jets.
What is the deal with no taking Bell off the field? How about a dose of Bilal Powell. We all know he’s very capable.
“It’s hard to take [Bell] off the field,” Adam Gase said. “When you kind of say like, ‘Hey, we’d love to take you out this series,’ it’s not ideal for him. He wants to be in there.”
Who is the freakin coach – Gase or Bell?
The coach decides how much players play, not players.
And you know what, I’m not 100 percent sure Bell is 100 comfortable with the offense after missing the off-season (probably for tax reasons – no state income tax in Florida), and then not playing the preseason. I saw a play in the first quarter against New England where Luke Falk attempted a play-action fake to Bell, and the running back wasn’t there for the fake hand-off. Also, the blitz pickups have been shaky at times.
It’s absolutely wild for a player to sign with a new team in a new offense and not show up for the off-season program, aside from the mandatory mini-camp. That blows me away.
It also blows me away the coverage of Darnold the last two weeks, like the kid is going to come in, wave a magic wand, and fix what ails the Jets.
Once again, it’s good for him to come back, play games, and continue to move up the growth curve.
But stop the messiah stuff.
October 2, 2019
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