Jets coach in awe of Sam Darnold’s recent touchdown passes 

Sam Darnold is making a habit of delivering the perfect ball to Jets receivers, and his coaches are taking notice.

A shining light in the Jets’ poor 2019 season has been the return of Sam Darnold’s unbelievable passes.

Darnold’s has had an up-and-down season statistically, but recently he’s been rattling off multiple “did-he-just-do-that?” throws that left players, coaches fans and broadcasters amazed.

Among the astonished is Jets offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, who cited Darnold’s first touchdown pass to Jamison Crowder against the Ravens in Week 15 as a prime example of Darnold’s incredible ability to hit his receivers at the right spots.

“Mom, dad, and God gave him a lot of gifts,” Loggains told ESPN’s Rich Cimini. “There’s no defense for a perfect ball.” 

The aforementioned touchdown by Darnold epitomized his style of play, so it’s not surprising to hear praise for it from one of his coaches. Darnold rolled out of the right side of the pocket and delivered the ball where only Crowder could catch it – on right on the side of the endzone for the four-yard score.

That wasn’t the only time Darnold displayed his impeccable ball placement in the game. He hit Crowder later in the game on 2nd & 8 from the Ravens’ 18-yard line while being hurried by two Ravens defenders. Darnold stepped up in the pocket to avoid the pressure and got the ball off just before Ravens linebacker Matthew Judon could bring him down. The ball hit Crowder in the perfect position while he blanketed by Ravens cornerback Brandon Carr and the wideout waltzed into the endzone thanks to Darnold’s precision passing.

What makes it so impressive is how naturally these throws come to Darnold. You can teach footwork, decision-making and game management, but it’s hard to teach a quarterback how to drop a ball into an area where only his receiver can catch it. These are the types of throws that give the Jets hope for a future with Darnold as their quarterback. When he delivers passes like these two, he looks like one of the best young prospects in the league and the Jets’ offense typically rolls – like against the Cowboys and Raiders. 

Darnold isn’t perfect, though. Not by a longshot. He’s still apt to make foolish turnovers and that continued in Week 15 against the Ravens when he threw another bad red-zone interception. It was hard to tell where Darnold meant to deliver the ball, but clearly, there was some sort of miscommunication between him and intended target Daniel Brown as two Ravens were closer to the pass than the Jets’ tight end. It was Darnold’s 12th of the season and 27th of his young career, and Loggains didn’t mince words when asked about it.   

“Bad decision,” Loggains said bluntly.

This is one of the few faults in Darnold’s game and he’s made a poor habit of making throws like that throughout this season. His four-interception performance against the Patriots in Week 7 is unforgiving but not surprising given the competition, and he also threw three terrible back-foot picks against the Jaguars the next week. Darnold cleaned up his turnover game recently, though, and only has four interceptions since the Jaguars’ loss in Week 8.

Darnold still has a lot to learn still in his young career, but the new Jets regime, for however long they end up sticking around, is impressed with what they’ve seen lately. If Darnold can clean up the less savory parts of his game, he could turn around a Jets franchise that’s been in the doldrums for the past decade.