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Strange days indeed
Before the game, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen tweeted, “Not only does Sam Darnold return for the Jets today but HC Adam Gase is expected to resume his duties as primary play-caller, per player sources. The two, Darnold and Gase, have their futures tied together down stretch.”
Mortensen is very close with the agent for Adam Gase, Sam Darnold and Joe Douglas, so he knows from whence he speaks.
Gase claims he didn’t take the play-calling back. He’s clearly playing a semantics game here. I saw a series, early in the game, where Gase was on the sideline with his play-sheet, speaking into his headset, and offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, wasn’t even on the sideline, he was two yards back. Who calls plays two yards back off the sidelines?
What do I mean by “semantics?” Clearly, in Gase’s mind, they’re working on play-calling together, so Loggains is involved to some degree. But to me, being at the stadium watching Gase, it certainly looked like he was calling the plays.
So most of us believe that Gase took over the play-calling, and the Jets scored three points (should have been six). Not good.
The play-calling wasn’t great, and neither was the quarterbacking. It’s possible for both to be true.
I was listening to the 49ers-Rams game on SiriusXM NFL Radio, the 49ers feed, because I love the 49ers’ game analyst, Tim Ryan. And during the half-time show, KNBR’s Larry Krueger was going over the scores, after reading the Jets score, the studio host said, “Sam Darnold is awful.”
I was taken aback by the strong language.
That might be a little strong, but this might be over, as tough it is for some Jets fans to hear. Darnold just doesn’t see the field very well and doesn’t throw enough with anticipation. It’s not a lack effort. It is what it is. His two second half-interceptions made no sense.
His third quarter interception, picked off by Nik Needham, is as as easy a pick as a cornerback will see. Darnold rolling to his right, chucked it down field to Jamison Crowder, who wasn’t open, into heavy traffic, and Needham hauled in an early Christmas gift.
Then in the fourth quarter, he threw a pass to the short right side intended for Breshad Perriman, with Xavien Howard in tight coverage. There was no space to throw the ball, and Howard is one of the NFL’s best corner, and he picked off the pass. There was nothing there and he threw it anyway.
I heard Ryan say during the 49ers’ broadcast about the Rams picking on the 49ers’ backup nickel back.
“Coaches dial up plays to attack who they can win against,” Ryan said.
Throwing at Howard, covering Perriman, like a blanket, isn’t usually something you can win against.
Darnold is often, so fixated on his first read, that he will throw it, come heck or high water, even if there’s nothing there.
The Jets’ defense played their collective hearts out today, and did enough to win. They got no help from Gase, Darnold and the offense. If you keep rolling with a QB not getting the job done, you can lose the locker room. The players aren’t stupid.
In six games this season, Darnold has 3 touchdowns, 6 picks and 65.9 QB rating.
Clearly the Jets’ offense was better in the previous two games, with Joe Flacco under center.
Perhaps it’s time to put Darnold on injured reserve with a shoulder (a seamless way to sell the move), and go with Flacco, Mike White or James Morgan.
Darnold gave it his best shot, but at this point, it’s clearly time to try something different.
One of the worst things you can do in gambling is something called “chasing.”
And that is what is going on at this point with the Jets and Darnold.
They need to have an honest conversations about the quarterback, not blow smoke, and put him on injured reserve.
It’s clear he’s not going to be the team’s quarterback next year, and if you want to get something in a trade, pull the plug now, and stop the producing more and more bad film that will hurt the trade market . . .
On a positive note, it’s clear the Jets have three really good building blocks moving forward in left tackle Mekhi Becton, wide receiver Denzel Mims and Quinnen Williams. The defensive tackle was dominant today with 1.5 sacks, 3 quarterback hits, 2 defensed passes and a forced fumbled.
They obviously need more talent, and you need about 8-9 difference-makers to have an elite team, but it looks like the Jets have at least three now, and Joe Douglas is armed with a ton of draft capital to add more in the next couple of years.
November 29, 2020
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