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Hat-tip to this coach . . .
In the Jets’ win over Dallas, Adam Gase dialed many good first reads that worked out extremely well, which is so huge for a young quarterback.
A few examples:
*On the first series, on 3rd-and-4, Darnold threw a dime to Jamison Crowder down the left scene for a gain of 24. This was a one-read play, Brown had no help, and Darnold put it right over the corner for a nice gain. This drive was capped off by a Le’Veon Bell 2-yard TD run.
*Late in the second quarter, Darnold hit Robby Anderson on a 92-yard TD on his first read. Anderson did a great job of selling a short-route, that CB Chidobe Awuzie bit on, and Darnold hit the wide open receiver and he was off to the races.
*Also late in the first half, the Jets put together another scoring drive to make it 21-3. On this drive, there were three one-read completions to tight end Ryan Griffin. I was critical of the Jets using Griffin as their #1 tight end for his receiving limitation over the first month, but he certainly proved me wrong on this drive. Darnold hit Griffin on three one-read passes for 11, 12 and 5 yards (for the TD). This was great play-calling by Gase because Dallas, based on their film study from he first month, Dallas didn’t expect the Jets to throw to Griffin, so featuring the tight end on this drive caught them by surprise. In the middle of this drive, Darnold had a one-read 33-yard completion to Damaryius Thomas for a gain of 33.
Gase did an amazing job of dialing up first reads in this game, and Darnold took advantage of them over-and-over again.
The one-read pass Darnold and Gase would want back was in the interception by cornerback Jourdan Lewis in the red zone, on a one-read pass to Crowder.
One-read passes are wonderful, but you can’t expect as many those opportunities against New England. So this will be a good litmus test for Darnold to see what he does with less amazing first-read calls like Gase provided him against Dallas.
There was a key drive late in the game where Darnold completed two key passes to put the Jets in field goal range, and these throws didn’t seem to be first reads. First a deep cross to Crowder for a gain of 33 and then a back shoulder throw to Anderson for a gain of 18 on the left sideline. Perhaps these were the main targets, but Darnold did a nice job of looking elsewhere first and then turning his head to throw to Crowder and Anderson.
When Gase calls a game like he did against Dallas, he and Darnold can make beautiful music together, because Darnold can make all the throws and has great pocket presence to create extra time if the protection isn’t perfect. Darnold’s pocket instincts are amazing and allows him to consistently create extra time This is something Luke Falk was severely lacking. When the protection isn’t great, Darnold can help his line out by creating extra time with his feet – Falk could not.
October 14, 2019
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