Sam Darnold will make his first New York Jets start on Monday. How have other touted Jets newcomers fared in their debuts?
Sam Darnold is set to be the latest potential quarterback savior for the New York, ready to start Monday’s regular-season opener at Detroit (7:10 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Below, we take a look down the green memory lane to see how other prominent Jets throwers worked out in their starting debuts.
9/25/65: Joe Namath
19-40, 287 yards, 2 TD’s, 2 INT’s, 67.4 rating (L 33-21 @ Buffalo)
Despite emerging victorious in the Namath sweepstakes against the NFL’s St. Louis Cardinals, the AFL Jets nonetheless sat him behind second-year thrower Mike Taliaferro to open the 1965 campaign.
Namath had entered the previous week’s game against Kansas City, hooking up with Don Maynard for his first career touchdown, but earned the start when the 0-2 Jets visited Buffalo. Namath led the Jets to one of their best offensive efforts of the season, earning a season-high 27 first downs, but was done in by a strong Buffalo offensive effort, overseen by veterans Jack Kemp and Daryle Lamonica.
In his rookie year, Namath earned nine starts, en route to 2,220 yards and 18 touchdowns, the efforts winning him rookie of the year honors. He earned full-time starting duties by the next season.
10/31/76: Richard Todd
6-20, 87 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT’s, 22.3 rating (W 19-14 @ Buffalo)
Much like Namath, Todd was an Alabama alum, the last one selected in the first round to this day, who made his first start in a visit to Buffalo.
With Namath struggling in the final season of his Jets career and the team sitting at 1-6, Todd, who shared duties with Namath over the first seven games, got to go in first when the Jets took on the equally woeful Bills. Todd struggled in his first game of increased duties, though he did find David Knight for his first career NFL touchdown pass, a 20-yard hookup commencing a run of 16 unanswered Jets points. Though Todd’s interceptions accounted for half of the Jets’ turnovers on the afternoon, his defense spotted him five more turnovers to get them a rare win.
Todd started all but one of the remaining six games, with Namath getting the season finale start, a 42-3 home loss against Cincinnati before Todd took over full time.
11/18/84: Ken O'Brien
19-36, 226 yards, 1 INT, 60.6 rating (L 31-20 @ Houston)
O’Brien’s high yardage stat sheet began with pedestrian numbers, taking over for Pat Ryan with the Jets, who began the year 6-2, mired in a three-game losing streak entering a game against the lowly Oilers, who were sitting at 1-10.
He, unfortunately, couldn’t get the Jets back into the playoff hunt, his case further damaged by three sacks. The visit to Houston was the first of five starts to close out the year for O’Brien, who went 1-4 in his beginnings. A year later, however, he was the highest rated quarterback in the league.
9/6/92: Browning Nagle
21-37, 366 yards, 2 TD’s, 108.6 rating (L 20-17 @ Atlanta)
Nagle threw just two passes in his rookie season, but Despite the Jets’ loss in his first career start, one that opened the 1992 season, Nagle set the bar high for his career, coming just short of a comeback from 17-0 down.
Unfortunately for the second round pick, however, his debut was as good as things were going to get in his Jets career. He never came close to 300 yards again, the best challenger being a 200-yard output in Los Angeles three weeks later, nor did he reach a passer rating of at least 100.
Thrower of eight touchdown passes in his career, this was one of two games where he reached the end zone multiple times.
9/5/93: Boomer Esiason
29-40, 371 yards, 2 TD’s, 1 INT, 107.4 rating (L 26-20 vs. Denver)
Esiason’s edition featured a shift in franchise quarterback strategy for the Jets, who opted to turn to free agency rather than the draft to find their man.
The future WFAN morning star descended upon New York in 1993 and introduced himself to the green faithful by going head-to-head with John Elway at the Meadowlands. Though generally outplaying Elway, the Jets were done in by three turnovers, including an Esiason interception, causing them to fall behind 26-6. A late fourth-quarter rally featuring scoring throws to Jonny Mitchell and Rob Moore falling just short.
Like Nagle, Esiason got off to a hot start in a losing effort, but he managed to keep the momentum going. The season ended with the former Cincinnati Bengal and AFC champion reaching what would be the fourth and final Pro Bowl of his career, but a 1-4 finish kept the Jets out of the playoffs.
9/1/96: Neil O'Donnell
7-13, 50 yards, 1 INT, 30.9 rating (L 31-6 @ Denver)
After Esiason departed for Arizona in 1996, the Jets brought in another former AFC champion in O’Donnell. In a sign of things to come, O’Donnell’s tumultuous Jets career got off to a Rocky start….literally.
In Denver to face the Broncos, O’Donnell was under pressure all day, sacked eight times as the Jets mustered only 188 yards and 12 first downs in the blowout defeat. Eventually removed from the game, O’Donnell watched the Jets tally their only points of the game via a Frank Reich pass to Webster Slaughter.
The Denver debacle was the first of six 1996 starts for O’Donnell, who missed the remainder of the year with a shoulder injury.
9/20/98: Vinny Testaverde
12-21, 203 yards, 4 TD’s, 1 INT 109.7 rating (W 44-6 vs. Indianapolis)
The human Sporcle answer, Testaverde perhaps never truly found an NFL home in a career that spanned over two decades, but it’s safe to say the Brooklyn native posted his finest moments in green.
Among those moment was first Jets starts, granted the reigns for a divisional game against the Colts when Glenn Foley went down with an injury. Going head-to-head with some little-known rookie named Peyton Manning, Testaverde guided the Jets to an early lead and coasted to a blowout win. Despite the big lead cutting down on his workload, Testaverde was diverse with his passes, finding four separate receivers for multiple receptions, and his four scoring throws each going to a different recipient.
Sitting at 0-2 at the time, the Jets’ 1998 season hit a turning point with that one-sided win. They would end the year 12-2, win their first division title since 1969, and reach the AFC title game.
10/6/02: Chad Pennington
22-29, 237 yards, 2 TD’s, 1 INT, 105.1 rating (L 29-25 vs. Kansas City)
Perhaps part of a retired practice, Pennington was the Jets’ first-round pick in the 2000 draft, but sat for two seasons behind Testaverde. With the Jets at 1-3, he was finally granted the start for a visit from the Kansas City Chiefs. Pennington had played the lion’s share of the week’s previous game, a blowout loss in Jacksonville, prior to this first start.
He kept pace with a veteran Chiefs unit, even leading the Jets to a go-ahead score in the game’s final stages, a 14-play, 61-yard drive that ended in John Hall’s short go-ahead field goal. Kansas City, however, doomed the Jets to defeat, Priest Holmes, scoring a 19-yard receiving touchdown to send the home crowd to the parking lot in tears.
Pennington might’ve lost the game, despite his best efforts, but his insertion turned the Jets’ season around. After a bye week following the Kansas City defeat, Pennington guided the Jets to an 8-3 record, culminating in a shocking 41-0 AFC wild-card victory over the Indianapolis Colts that postseason.
9/16/07: Kellen Clemens
19-37, 260 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT’s, 60.6 rating (L 20-13 @ Baltimore)
When Pennington went down in the 2007 season opener against New England (the infamous “SpyGate” game), Clemens, 2006’s second-round pick, was called to pick up the slack.
His first challenge was going up against a dangerous Ravens defense, one that stifled Clemens and the Jets’ offense for three quarters, earning four sacks while building a 20-3 lead. In the fourth quarter, however, Clemens nearly pulled off a miraculous comeback.
In the final frame, he went 9-for-16, for 163 yards, guiding the Jets to 10 points, six of which came on a three-yard touchdown pass to Chris Baker that cut the deficit to 20-13. After the defense forced a three-and-out, Clemens took the Jets all the way to the Ravens’ red zone but, was stopped just seven yards from a potential tie.
He was done in twice by two crucial Justin McCareins drops, one of which landed into the hands of Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis to seal the deal.
9/7/08: Brett Favre
15-22, 194 yards, 2 TD’s, 125.9 rating (W 20-14 @ Miami)
With Favre’s “will he or won’t he” retirement drama costing him training camp opportunities in both Green Bay and New York, the Jets were conservative with the infamous gunslinger in his first game.
Nonetheless, Favre proved effective in the season-opening win, beginning his brief Jets tenure with a 56-yard score to Jerricho Cotchery to put New York up early. Favre would later find Chansi Stuckey for a 22-yard six-pointer.
The Jets defense granted a rude reunion with another man on this list, Pennington, who was sacked four times as the Dolphins starter after his Favre-induced ousting. Alas for the Jets, Pennington had the last laugh, leading the Dolphins to the 2008 AFC East division title, topping the victorious campaign off with a win over Favre and the Jets at Giants Stadium 16 weeks later.
NEXT: QB Debuts Under Rex Ryan
9/13/09: Mark Sanchez
18-31, 272 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 84.3 rating (W 24-7 @ Houston)
In the year three BBF (Before Butt Fumble), hope reigned among the legions of green. The Rex Ryan era was off and running, the charge led by a USC product named Sanchez, who guided the Jets to an opening weekend victory.
Sanchez would, in fact, go on to win his first three starts, throwing a touchdown pass in each. The first of those scoring throws was a 30-yard hookup with Stuckey, creating a multi-possession Jets lead that would never be relinquished.
9/8/13: Geno Smith
24-38, 256 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 80.6 rating, 6 rushes, 47 yards (W 18-17 vs. Tampa Bay)
The Jets-Buccaneers matchup to open up the 2013 season has to be one of the bizarre NFL games in recent memory. There was a safety, a rookie quarterback that was never slated to start Week 1, 19 penalties, four turnovers, and a ridiculous penalty that changed the game’s climax.
It was never the summer intention for the rookie Smith to start the Jets’ 2013 opener, pressed into service because Sanchez was injured when he was left in a preseason game against the New York Giants. Smith did well enough in his time on the field, despite five sacks, tallying his first career touchdown pass to Kellen Winslow in the final minute of the first half.
Despite Tampa Bay going ahead late, a 37-yard field goal by Rian Lindell making it 17-15, Smith got the Jets started on the final drive with a 25-yard strike to Winslow before he drew a 15-yard personal foul penalty, hit by Lavonte David out of bounds with two seconds to go. That was just enough to get into Nick Folk’s field goal range to give the Jets the win.