What if?
What if Sam Darnold performs in these last two games like he did in Los Angeles on Sunday?
What if the jets-maligned third-year quarterback is as confident and decisive as he was in the shocking 23-20 insane win over the Rams?
What if Darnold throws for 300 yards and three touchdowns and doesn’t turn the ball over and the Jets beat the 10-4 Browns in their home final at MetLife Stadium on Sunday?
What if he follows that up by going to Foxborough, Massachusetts, next week for the season finale and showing ghosts in Bill Belichick’s Patriots defense?
What if Darnold’s resume for 2020 concludes with three consecutive strong, winning performances – even if they came to the end of an otherwise miserable 3-13 season?
It will have been three pointless victories for the Jets, but would they be pointless performances of Darnold?
Before the Rams disaster, the assumption was that the Jets were destined to finish 0-16, guaranteeing themselves the No. 1 overall draft pick and the chance to choose Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
With Lawrence, the alleged ‘generational talent’ staring them in the face in April, there would be little decision for the Jets about what to do with Darnold. They would move on. Darnold would be traded for anything the Jets could get for a quarterback for the third year with a record 12-24 and 44 sales.
But what now?
Barring an unexpected stumbling block in the next two games (against the Bears and Colts) by the 1-13 Jaguars, who by virtue of the Jets win in LA and Jacksonville and own the tiebreaker for the No. 1 pick due to the strength of the schedule , Lawrence gets.
As this season draws to a close, the Jets need to ask themselves this question: Can they build around Darnold (which they’ve done poorly for the past three years) or roll the dice on a quarterback not called Trevor. Lawrence?
Ohio state’s Justin Fields just looked against Northwestern on Saturday and dropped his stock. BYU’s Zach Wilson looked dynamic Tuesday night in a pointless bowl game against a pedestrian UCF team. Is Florida’s Kyle Trask the answer? Trey Lance from the state of North Dakota?
What if Darnold shines this Sunday and the next?
Does that change the story or is it simply dismissed as rubbish?
Remember, the Jets finished 6-2 last season after starting 1-7. What did that turn out to be when the 2020 season started? Fool’s gold.
“Every game is important to evaluation in the NFL,” former Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum told The Post on Wednesday. Look, they’ll have to make some big decisions in the off-season – especially from the quarterback. The big question that many people will have about Sam is sales. At this point, Sam has 44 sales since being in the NFL. That’s the sixth of any quarterback in that period.
“It’s no different from Daniel Jones,” Tannenbaum continued, referring to the Giants sophomore quarterback with sales issues. “If those young quarterbacks don’t turn the ball over, they’re both giving their teams a fair chance of winning. We’ve seen that consistently for both teams. “
Strange statistic about Darnold though: From his 36 career starts, in the 14 he hasn’t thrown an interception, the Jets are only 3-11.
That’s the result of too many bad teams around Darnold and it begs the question: Did the Jets fail Darnold more than Darnold fail the Jets?
The answer to that question is: Yes.
However, that doesn’t relieve Darnold of not being special, and didn’t elevate the players around him like a No. 3 overall draft pick should.
But on Sundays in LA, Darnold did. His quick and correct decision-making was the difference in the game. Was that a flash in the pan, a bleep on the radar? Or a sign that he is starting to find out?
“I thought Sam looked really good against the Rams on Sunday,” said Tannenbaum. “He was decisive and accurate. That was a very encouraging achievement. ”
It was only the fifth game this season that he had all three of his best receivers – Jamison Crowder, Breshad Perriman and Denzel Mims – on the field at the same time.
Head coach Adam Gase was asked on Wednesday what the ‘next step’ is for Darnold.
“Just keep playing games like that,” Gase said, referring to the game Rams.
When asked why, three years into his career, it hasn’t clicked for Darnold yet, Gase said, “A little bit has to do with who’s around him, and the consistency there. You look at some of these quarterbacks playing with the same receivers and guys with the same skill. That would be a good start for him – to have some consistency with the selection. ”
The question, of course, is which roster will Darnold be on in 2021?