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Sam Darnold was diplomatic after the worst day of his young career. He called the ragtag group of receivers that the Jets surrounded him “great players,” which is a label that even they might dispute.
Darnold was bad in the 37-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings that was as predictable as it was ugly. He forced passes into double coverage. He overthrew his intended targets. He denied having trouble with the swirling MetLife Stadium wind, but in the two quarters that he threw into the teeth of it, he completed just two of 13 passes for minus-2 yards.
It was a day that had to leave him longing for Southern California. His first performance under less-than-perfect Meadowlands conditions was, to put it kindly, less than perfect.
So to be clear: The rookie looked like a rookie in his seventh career NFL game, and when it ended, he wasn’t making any excuses about his 17-of-42 passing performance and three interceptions.
“It’s about me finding open guys,” he said, “and I struggled with that a little bit today.”
But he didn’t exactly get a lot of help, either, and that’s a major problem for this Jets team now. His leading receiver was sixth-round draft pick Trenton Cannon — which sounds more like a Revolutionary War historical attraction than an NFL player — with four catches for 69 yards.
Charone Peake. Jordan Leggett. Deontay Burnett. This is not exactly a Pro Bowl-caliber collection of wide receivers that Darnold was throwing to on Sunday with two of his favorite targets — Quincy Enunwa (high ankle sprain) and Terrelle Pryor (groin tear) — not available.
The team cut Pryor to make room for Burnett, but the team believes it can re-sign him in a couple weeks if he’s healthy. Enunwa, the team’s leading receiver, is expected to miss another couple weeks, so for Darnold, his rookie season could get worse before it gets better.
“He’s still learning each week. He’s still getting better each week. Adversity is part of it,” wide receiver Jermaine Kearse said.
Kearse, expected to pick up a lot of the slack after catching nine passes last weekend, was held without a single reception against the Vikings — and, when the game was over, hinted that his quarterback failed to find him a few times when he was open.
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Robby Anderson, the team’s other reliable target, wasn’t much better. He caught three passes for 44 yards and had a pass on a potential big play ripped out of his hands as he hit the ground. He threw the ball at the referee in frustration toward the end of the game, picking up an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
“I think we have a good group (of receivers),” Anderson said. “I just think we had a tough game.”
It’s hard to reach that conclusion, especially when you contrast what the Jets have with the team they were playing on Saturday. The Vikings have great receivers, with Adam Thielen topping 100 yards for the seventh straight game and Stefon Diggs adding eight receptions.
Is it any wonder that Kirk Cousins took less money to play for the Vikings? He wasn’t great in this game, either, but completed 25 of 40 passes for 241 yards on a 4-2-1 Vikings team that appears to be rounding into the NFC contender that everyone expected.
The Jets, at 3-4, are what we thought they were, too. They travel to Chicago next week to face another top NFC defense, and a loss will pretty much end any faint hopes that this team had of making a surprise trip to the playoffs in Darnold’s first season.
That was never the real mission in 2018, even if back-to-back wins coming into Sunday gave the fanbase some hope. The goal was to begin the development of their franchise quarterback, and the speed bump that Darnold hit on Sunday doesn’t do anything to change their opinion of the player they drafted with the No. 3 overall pick.
He was going to have some bad days. But he’s going to have more of them, a lot more, if the Jets don’t upgrade the talent around him. That might not happen this season, but it has to be the priority in the winter.
Darnold will get better. His receivers, unfortunately, won’t become “great players” no matter how many times he keeps calling them that.
Steve Politi may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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