With All Signs Pointing To Sam Darnold Starting Thursday Night, Let's Look At His Most Impressive Plays From Friday Vs. Atlanta
We’ve got 3 days to kill until the Jets put the pads back on and collide with the Washington Redskins in D.C. Thursday night.
For those of you who missed it, we had our first joint practice with Washington yesterday, giving the players on both sides another opportunity to hit non-teammates as they prepare for the regular season. Needless to say, things got chippy quick. Multiple times.
It was pretty sweet, but we’re putting it behind us because there are more important things to discuss.
Continuing the trend that began last week leading up to Preseason Week 1, Darnold has been getting more and more reps with the starters, and after his performance Friday night vs. Atlanta, all signs point to Darnold getting the start on Thursday in D.C, even if the Jets are trying to deny it.
Based on what he’s shown us to date, I think this is the right next step in his development and will give us a much better idea as to how ready he is to start in the Regular Season. His stats in his first professional game were impressive, but not exactly eye-popping, finishing his night 13-18 for 96 yards and 1 TD.
However, a more careful examination of his performance shows a guy with incredible arm talent and an even more impressive set of intangibles.
Is he already far enough along in his development to warrant the start? Should he be handed the keys to the offense outright in an attempt to rally the offense behind the young QB? Let’s get into it a little bit.
The Touchdown Heard ‘Round The (Twitter) World
This is the play everyone’s been talking about all weekend. Sam Darnold’s first professional TD. He actually had a play right before this one that should’ve also been a touchdown but the ball was dropped, so we’re gonna stick with this one.
It’s nothing major or highlight worthy, but seeing Darnold scan the defense, feel pressure on the edge and step up, push to his right to extend the play and then deliver a dime right in the chest of WR Charles Johnson on the sideline was more than enough to get Jets fans blood flowing in all the best places.
Darnold Steps Up And Reads The Defense For An Easy 1st Down
If you ask me, this was the most impressive play of the night for the rookie. Working uphill after a penalty pushed us back to a 1st and 15, Darnold drops back while keeping his eyes upfield in the face of pressure. To his left, Darnold has a WR running a 5-yard in, while the TE works a 15-yard out route in front of the zone.
As Darnold scans, he notices the safety who should be occupying the sideline around the first down marker starts to jump the in-route, opening up a ton of space for the TE behind him. Darnold gets the throw off with a man in his face and beautifully floats it in to Clive Walford for the first down.
It’s one thing to see guys in the preseason complete easy throws with consistency that are set up by good play calling, but it’s another thing entirely to see a rookie make quick reads and correct decisions against an NFL defense when things seem to be breaking down. Sam Darnold did that Friday night with a lot more consistency than anyone could’ve expected.
Darnold’s Last Throw Of The Game Was A Freaking Laser Beam
Here’s another one that really highlights just how comfortable Darnold looked Friday night. We’ve got a 3rd and 11 late in the game, and OC Jeremy Bates dials up a naked bootleg to Darnold’s left, a throw that a lot of guys struggle to make with consistency as is.
The misdirection works, as Darnold is able to roll past a unblocked defender, square his shoulders on the move, and deliver another perfect throw into a tight window for a first down, making it all look freakishly easy in the process.
Don’t Sleep On Darnold’s Speed
One of my biggest Sam Darnold takes of late is how people are sleeping on his athleticism. I won’t go as far as too say he has “sneaky” athleticism or anything too drastic, but Darnold can absolutely move well enough to extend plays on a consistent basis and even take free yards early in drives when they’re given to him, like this play here.
Of course, every QB coach in the league spends a shitload of time working with young QBs, helping them with their footwork and comfort level in the pocket and trying to teach them how to be a step ahead of the defense and keep their eyes downfield for as long as possible before letting it fly, or tucking and running.
I’m not here to argue the importance of that. But any Jets fan knows we’ve had a few QBs in recent memory known for hanging onto the ball entirely too long, resulting in endless fumbles and poor decisions, rather than taking easy yards on a quick scramble or throwing the ball out of bounds and moving on to the next play.
The fact that Darnold seems more than comfortable tucking the ball away (with two hands, I’ll add) and taking the easy yards when necessary is certainly a sight for sore eyes.
Pre-Snap Adjustments Get Easy 1st Down
As the Jets offensive coaching staff prepares for Thursday night vs. Washington, this play has to be one of the most significant, especially if it turns out Sam Darnold does get the starting nod under center.
Right at the beginning of the clip, you can see Darnold backing away from the line after seemingly making a change upon analyzing the defense in front of him. He sees man-to-man on the outside, and knows his TE should be able to get free off the back of another inside receiver.
He gets the snap, takes one step back, then delivers the ball on target to the TE on the outside, who’s able to break a tackle and stumble to a 1st down conversion.
It’s a pretty simple throw, but the fact that Darnold was able to identify the coverage and make an adjustment, leading to a conversion off an easy pitch and catch has to have Todd Bowles, Jeremy Bates, and the rest of his offensive staff pretty damn excited to see how quickly Darnold can continue to progress.
Darnold Delivers Dime To Ardarius Stewart, Who Promptly Drops The Ball
My last Sam Darnold highlight came about 4 minutes into the 4th quarter of Friday nights showdown with the Falcons. Other than Ardarius Stewart continuing to suck and dropping the ball, this entire play is a thing of beauty.
It starts with a pretty smooth play-action fake, convincing enough to draw all 3 LBs in a step or two on their initial reads. Darnold immediately turns and snaps his head around, reading the defense while feeling the pass rush collapse around him. He feels pressure to his left, but perfectly shuffles away from the pressure and resets the pocket in the space the defender once occupied, then delivers another perfect ball 20-yards downfield into what was probably his tightest window of the night.
There are plenty of QBs on NFL rosters, guys who have been on NFL rosters for years, who can’t make that play and throw with the ease Darnold demonstrated Friday night.
That’s an NFL throw. In fact, that’s a starting NFL QB throw.
Sam Darnold deserves a shot Thursday night to go out there and play with the starters. I want to see what he looks like going through his reads with actual NFL starter-caliber talent closing in on him.
I want to see what type of damage he can do with some burners like Robby Anderson and Terrelle Pryor trying to get open for him on the outside, or how methodically he can find guys like Quincy Enunwa and Jermaine Kearse in the middle of the field.
If Sam Darnold is going to grow and make as much progress as possible prior to Week 1 of the regular season vs. Detroit, he should be the starting QB Thursday night vs. the Washington Redskins.
It’s as simple as that.