A week of practice and tape review wasn’t enough to help the New York Jets make the changes they needed to compete with the Indianapolis Colts.
The Colts defense dominated the Jets and kept them from scoring. Lack of adjustment, injuries and turnovers led to a 36-7 loss at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indiana Sunday afternoon.
“We put ourselves in, at least position a few times, but a red area turnover and two pick sixes is not going to make it for us,” said Head Coach Adam Gase.
Sam Darnold’s pass intended for WR Lawrence Cager was intercepted by CB Xavier Rhodes, who ran 44 yds. for the touchdown less than three minutes into the game. Rhodes intercepted another pass meant for Cager in the second quarter. “The first one, just based on his leverage maybe I shouldn’t have thrown it,” Darnold said. “And then the red zone turnover, I thought (Xavier) Rhodes made a good play. I probably, obviously, shouldn’t have thrown it.”
T.J. Carrie intercepted Darnold’s pass intended for WR Chris Hogan and ran 47 yds. for the touchdown in the third quarter. “And then the last one, just didn’t see well enough,” Darnold said. “I’ve got to be better.”
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Jets allowed two quarterback sacks and one resulted in a safety. Darnold dropped back into the end zone with about 4:50 remaining in the fourth quarter and was sacked by DE Justin Houston.
Losing 6-foot-7 363 lbs. rookie OT Mekhi Becton didn’t help. Becton left the game with a shoulder injury at the end of the first half. “He brings great energy,” guard Greg Van Roten said about Becton. “He’s young, strong, just an intelligent player and like whenever you lose a starter on the offensive line it hurts and then especially a left tackle. They’re typically your biggest strongest athletes upfront.”
Two wide receivers on the injury report were listed out prior to the game. Cager was elevated from the practice squad. Chemistry between Darnold and Braxton Berrios carried over from last week’s game and practice and created some success. Darnold passed 16 yards to Berrios for a touchdown in the first quarter.“Yeah, me and Braxton have always had a good connection,” Darnold said. “I think he was out there making really good plays for us.”
Darnold completed 17 of 29 passes for 168 yds. He said he told his teammates to use pent-up anger from Sunday’s loss and have a good week of practice. “For us, we understand we have two choices—when you’re pinned up against a wall you can either sit there and crumble or you can get up and fight and that’s going to be our mentality, getting up and fighting,” Darnold said. “We’ve got a long way to go.”
Indeed. There’s less time to make adjustments before Thursday’s game against the Denver Broncos, who also have a 0-3 record.
