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Chicago – In this fantasy football era . . .
you are going to have a lot of people writing what did in the Jets today was a lack of weapons in the passing game.
Easy story to write.
I know I’m on in island on this one, but I think that narrative is bull bleep, and I’m not saying that to be a contrarian.
Obviously not having some of your key players isn’t ideal, but that isn’t the heart of the problem here.
First off, if the quarterback is fixated on his first-read, more times than not, how on earth would he know if anybody else was open?
Think about that. Let it sink in. How can you say the QB had nobody else was open, if the quarterback is only looking at one guy on most plays?
I’d love the genius who will tell you after the game, “Nobody was open. But how can they say that without watching the coaches film.
One thing Darnold needs to understand is that open in college is different than open in the NFL. In college, most defensive backfields are so bad, players are consistently wide open. In the NFL the windows are much smaller.
To me, Darnold is looking for guys to be wide open (like they were in the Indianapolis Colts’ game) and it wasn’t happening. I noticed on one play, tight end Jordan Leggett had a step on a linebacker. Not two steps, but a step. That is open in the NFL. He was in the witness protection program today.
This idea they should force passes to Jermaine Kearse for a big chunk of the game was foolish, so perhaps Jeremy Bates deserves some blame, because he obviously dials up a lot of the first reads.
This forcing to Kearse stuff went on way too much today.
Finally in the fourth quarter, a light-bulb went off – with all the attention Kearse is getting, let’s dial up some first reads to Deontay Burnett, who had three catches in the fourth quarter.
When Darnold finally starting throwing to Burnett, we found out, this guy is pretty good. He had catches of 13, 29 and 15 in the fourth quarter. I thought they had no weapons?
And then Chris Herndon had a 16-yard TD in the fourth – his only catch of the game. What’s the deal with that? He’s a weapon.
My point here is simple. The weapons weren’t the biggest problem today. It was a QB fixated on his first read, and too many first reads being dialed up for Kearse. It was almost like – “Well, Robby Anderson and Quincy Enunwa are out, so Jermaine is a our #1 receiver, so we need to keep feeding him the ball.”
Foolish notion. He’s not that kind of player.
Here is the deal – in each of the last two games, Darnold had one good possession in each game, that resulted in a touchdown. Aside from those drives, his last two games he struggled mightily.
Against the Colts, a lot of first-reads were open against a team with a lot of injuries to their defense.
The last two games a lot of the first reads were covered, and look at the results.
Darnold said after the game the last two weeks that he goes through his reads and looks for who is open.
I asked if regretted at not getting Burnett more involve earlier.
“No. For me, it’s about about taking what the defense gives me and really just going through my reads,” Darnold said.
I’m sorry, but I don’t see a QB going through his reads very often.
I see a young guy fixated on his first read. A lot of young guys do that because in college so many first reads are open.
I will let other people write about the lack of weapons today (the Bears were without their top weapon, Allen Robinson).
I hope all their fantasy teams did well.
To me, what’s going on, is the Jets are using this season to develop Sam Darnold.
I asked Todd Bowles if he got assurances from the owner that if he started the rookie, which can often be a rollercoaster ride, would that be factored into his job security?
“I don’t discuss my job. I don’t discuss what happens with me and ownership,” Bowles said.
To me, he should have had that conversation.
Perhaps he did.
The owner seems to love Darnold.
This is a developmental season.
It is what it is.
October 28, 2018
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