Location, location, location.
That will be huge for the beginning of the partnership between QB Sam Darnold and center Ryan Kalil.
Kalil, who signed in early August, didn’t play in any preseason games, so his first game snap to Sam Darnold will be Sunday against the Buffalo Bills.
So it’s very helpful, from a communication standpoint, that the first two Jets games this season will be at MetLife Stadium. Why? Because crowd noise on the road can be particular tough on a new center-QB battery.
“I’m all for it,” Jets coach Adam Gase said about Kalil/Darnold playing at home for two weeks. “First two games being at home, that’s good for us because we can work on our silent count, mechanics and things like that in practice even if we are home. So, it just gives us more time. It gives us more reps. When you go in the environments like where we’ll be going this year, there are problems. You go to New England and it gets loud and it’s hard to communicate. So, the more reps we can get, the more we can work on, the better it is.”
After opening against Buffalo in East Rutherford, the Jets will host Cleveland on Monday Night Football in Week Two.
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