The chances of Sam (or any QB for that matter) sustaining a career altering injury with this pathetic crew is rather high. What exactly is Darnold going to learn if he continues playing this season? How to continuously run for his life or throw the ball away with precision, while not being called for intentional grounding? He should be saved until the team figures out how to acquire some marginal talent and coaching. Even for Jets' fans, patience may be a virtue at this point.
In Sunday’s game I saw something on TV that was alarming. Now those of you at the game wouldn’t have seen this unless you left early (wouldn’t blame you) as it was only on the TV broadcast. It was late in the game. Some time in the second half. Buffalo was winning a lot to a little. It was an embarrassment. The camera panned to the sideline and our supposed future franchise QB was yucking up with Davis Webb on the sideline. They were laughing about something. Now I don’t expect these guys to be robots but losing like that should piss you off. If it doesn’t, I don’t think you will have a successful career. To see him smiling and laughing like that was concerning
I think the opposite. It is good that Sam is in good spirits and the complete ineptitude of the Jets franchise has not ruined or demoralized him. He was inactive and in street clothes. No reason for him to be upset or pissed off. He couldn't help the team that day. If McCown was acting like that, it would be embarrassing. If Sam was playing and laughing despite a beat down, it would be more concerning.
If healthy, he plays. Gotta fight through adversity. Can't fight through it standing around watching. Nobody said it was going to be easy, or pretty. Playing Josh is pointless, unless Sam is not healthy. Even then, I would rather see what Webb has to offer over McCown. Obviously, he's not going to be this team's starter going forward, but a viable backup in this league is important...
Not exactly true, my friend. To begin with, his most reliable RB (Powell) is on IR. Kearse's ability seems to have evaporated overnight. Pryor is gone. Long became injured and can't even snap the ball reliably any more. Carpenter should never have been back anyway, and I'm sure that his play must have gotten worse over the course of the season. While I agree that the season is lost and the focus is and should be to help Sam learn and grow, but as several have pointed out, can Sam really learn anything and grow under these circumstances? If 50% of the center snaps are too low, too high, too wide; if he's running for his life every time he drops back to pass; if his WRs can't get open, or hold onto the ball once Sam throws the ball to them; if his OC works against him rather than helping him with his play calling, can Sam really learn anything, or will he be hurt more by playing? I think that's a VERY valid question. I'm on the fence. I honestly don't know what would be best for Sam at this point, but imo that and protecting him should be the only considerations. If he can still learn, great, but if it's only going to hurt him, cause him to regress, get shell-shocked from getting hit and having to run so much, or get injured, then I say sit him. He is their future. If Sam suffers a serious injury that could hamper him and become a chronic thing, or a career-ending injury, then the future is lost, and any chances we have for hiring a topnotch HC and OC are probably gone. It doesn't matter that he's not a Rodgers or Brees or Roethlisberger or that he's only 21. He's our hope for the future, and is playing under an extreme handicap. Protecting him is the only thing that is important. It's even more important than his learning at this point.
I totally disagree. That's narrow-minded, shallow, dated, Neanderthal-type thinking. If Sam suffers a serious injury that will affect him for the rest of his career or a career-ending injury, the Jets' future is screwed. Trying to play him right now with a C who can't reliably snap the ball, a conservative/passive HC who limits him, an OC whose play calling works against him, no reliable RB, only a couple of reliable WRs, and no truly reliable TE could easily hurt him more than help him. You gotta give the kid a chance to succeed. Not doing so is stupid. It doesn't help him one bit, and doesn't mean he's a wimp. As things presently exist, he has very little, or no chance of succeeding, and his confidence can start eroding, his love for the team can start eroding, or he could be seriously injured. He needs to go into the offseason healthy and confident so he can continue to work on his fundamentals, and continue learning how to play QB. If he has to play the rest of this season in this shit show, all bets are off of him finishing the season physically or mentally healthy.
This isn't some kind of "adversity." When you're having to try to win in spite of your HC, OC, OL (particularly the C), and the players around you on offense, it's only futility and quite possibly career suicide.
Calling Biggs out and saying his opinion is narrow minded shallow and Neanderthal was being too nice.. Anyone who thinks a 21 year old kid can work a miracle here are just f^ck^g stupid...it was also good you pointed out Sam is our only bargaining chip to entice a quality HC and GM...crippling him this waste of a season would be entirely self defeating long term Leave it to our clueless HC and GM to set him up for failure..pathetic
i have already said that they should give webb some reps to do an eval on him. however, as we both know, something that makes sense is a guarantee that the jets will not do it. let's continue to try to win meaningless games so we can climb the draft order in the wrong direction. then, we can trade away more draft picks just to get a single player.
I'm a charter member of the "FQB Should Play Their First Season Club", and argued that Sam should've started as soon as he showed he had the qualities of being a FQB - which he did in the preseason. BUT...that's predicated on having decent talent and coaching to support him. While the coaching has always been suspect (from my POV not suspect, as much as proven beyond a shadow of a doubt), the talent around him was at least mediocre. But since the start of the season that talent has gone downhill, either due to injuries or talent reaching its historical level, and now Darnold's health and career are in jeopardy. With that in mind, he needs to sit until the talent is sufficient to protect and support him, and the coaching helps, not hinders him. I want to see Sam lead us to the SB, and I don't care if we win a couple of meaningless games in an already (AGAIN!) lost season.
If someone could prove they were a franchise QB in the preseason than the Jets would have had about a dozen FQBs in my lifetime. Preseason is proving you have a basic understanding the playbook and showing some semblance of skill against guys who will soon be selling life insurance. The issue with Sam is that he was not ready to be put into the position he was placed in. He is barely ready to be a starter, moreless a star. After 8 weeks he was still the player he was when he was drafted, a guy with only two years of experience at the colligate level. He does have some recognizable skills but also commits a lot of turnovers. He doesn’t have a lot of weapons around him which makes some of his struggles understandable. But so far his skill set has not translated into overcoming that obstacle with raw playmaking or leadership. Part of this likely goes back to him being just too young and inexperienced to be ready. That is not an insult it’s simply a phase of development. McCown in not a FQB and never was. He is not even a star and never was. Last season was his best season as a pro. I groaned last year when I learned he was our starter. But he did earn my respect by how he handled himself. It took him 10 years to fully develop! Those suggesting that comparing Sam to McCown’s one start this season as a good measure of whether Sam is going be successful is ridiculous. Understand this. McCown is old and coming off a year layoff from playing. Anyone who thought he would not have some rust is kidding themselves. Add to that our offense on Sunday was probably the least talented offense we have fielded in many years. If would have been a disaster to put Sam into that position. Not because of injuries but because of his development. He would have imploded and the media would have had a field day. When I made my original post I was trying to make the same point I’m going to make now. It is very hard to learn on the job as a young starting QB when you are not ready. It is not a task like welding. It is a very high pressure situation – especially for someone inexperienced. All of that pressure hinders how a person learns. The pressure is not just on game day. It lasts all week long. Perhaps a good comparison would be it’s like trying to get someone who is panicking to be rational. This is far from ideal while taking the first steps as a NFL starting QB. The truth is each week he is under pressure to learn the next opponent’s defense and not really learning how to develop as a starting QB. The ideal situation is that a QB comes in already as prepared as possible to start. This not only means knowing the playbook inside and out (which is deeper than it sounds, knowing where everyone is at all times, adjustments for blitzes, etc). It means developing timing and chemistry with wideouts, each one being different. It means developing a rhythm with your linemen and backs. It means when things explode being ready with plan B and plan C in the moment to overcome disaster. It might not sound like much to us sitting in seats but that is very hard. It requires a lot of practice, repetition, and contemplation from the player. Most starting NFL QBs come in more prepared for this than Sam has. Learning in game is the last step. When you try to make it the first step the QB will almost always regress. This is exactly what we were seeing with Sam – hence my “should we bench him until the bye week” thread. It had nothing to do with injuries. It had to do with making sure he was ready to take over and succeed before being thrown to the wolves. He wasn’t and our lack of talent around him only exasperates this. The fact that Sam was laughing on the sideline this week is a good sign. It means the pressure is off and he can learn in a less noisy and pressurized environment. There are things both on the field and in his head that he needs to develop before taking over this team. Let’s agree to give him the time to do that. Staying healthy is simply a bonus.
Exactly. It seems there are some fans who simply don't believe that a situation might exist where reps are more likely to hurt than help. "What's the harm of playing him? Yes, he could get hurt but the NFL is a dangerous league. He needs NFL reps! He needs the experience!" Sam is already fleeing the pocket at the first sign of trouble. And that "trouble" may be exaggerated in his mind, but it's real enough by my eye test, and the way we're playing now, it isn't likely to go away any time soon. So if you think now is a good time for him to practice developing pocket poise, I don't know what to tell you. I'm not even arguing that the Jets are mired in a situation where playing Darnold is 100% wrong. I'm just saying this situation clearly exists in theory, and if we're not in it, we're close to it.
always so dramatic lol. If he can't handle playing out the string like professional quarterbacks do every year than maybe he isn't cut out for this league
The fact that Chernobyl-Head chose Darnold to be the starter in the first place should have been a red flag that it was the wrong choice. Guy is about as incompetent as a HC can be. He's got to know he's toast after this season, and my biggest fear is that Darnold gets re-introduced to this shit show.
Neanderthal's at least crawled out from the pond scum after several million years. Now that we got the personal insults out of the way. NFL football is about adversity and attrition. Young QB's need to see the NFL defense and speed over and over again. NFL QB's need to get hit and get up over and over again. They have to keep themselves and the team together when things go wrong. Losing is part of development just like winning is. Getting hit is part of development and seeing NFL defenses over and over again is a huge part of development. Sam isn't getting killed. NFL QB's get hurt on good teams all the time. ACL's happen on none contact injuries all the time. QB's on good team get hit all the time. Sam doesn't have a good line in front of him but he's not taking a beating. Baker Mayfield has been sacked more than Sam Darnold has. Josh Rosen has been sacked 1 less time in 3 less games. Aaron Rodgers has been sacked 8 times more than Sam. Andy Dalton has 20 sacks 2 less. He's a big, mobil kid who rarely runs and isn't taking an above average beating. Should Russell Wilson sit because he's taking an absolute beating and has been for 3 years? Russell Wilson has had arguably one of the worst pass blocking OL for years in front of him. He takes an abusive beating ever game. The reason he should be playing has nothing to do with what we're doing on O and everything to do with what NFL defense's are doing.
I say give Sam as many live game reps as possible. That is the only way he can keep improving. On the field making decisions, reading defenses and then reviewing it all on film. Game reps for a young QB in the NFL are pure gold and he needs to collect as many as possible.
