Sam Darnold’s poor performance among 4 takeaways from Jets’ Week 1 loss to the Bills

Nothing went well for the Jets in Week, especially when it came to Sam Darnold.

Don’t be fooled by the final score: Sunday’s 27-17 loss was a bad one for the Jets.

Between Sam Darnold’s uninspiring performance, Adam Gase’s poor play-calling and a lack of defensive stops, the Jets somehow looked worse than they did in 2019. That, plus a couple of key injuries, don’t bode well for the Jets’ potential for the rest of the season, especially considering their upcoming schedule against the 49ers and Colts the next two weeks.

Before moving forward, however, here are four takeaways from the Jets’ Week 1 loss to the Bills.

Offense sputtered

AP Photo/John Munson

There was hope the Jets would open Week 1 with a better offense than they had in 2019. That was dashed almost immediately when the Jets went three-and-out on their first three possessions and didn’t score a touchdown until late in the third quarter. Darnold played terribly, the running game couldn’t get going and the Jets somehow looked worse than their bottom-tier offense from a year before. 

This is what happens when a team doesn’t make significant upgrades on offense. The players the Jets brought in to help Darnold didn’t: Breshad Perriman tallied just 17 yards on three receptions, Chris Hogan didn’t catch a ball and Frank Gore rushed for a team-leading 24 yards. 

The Jets totaled just 254 yards and their two touchdowns came on a long, broken defensive play and a garbage-time score late in the game with a loss all but sealed. It’s only one game, but early indications aren’t promising for Gase’s second season in New York.