New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold says that the team needs to execute better as they move into the second half of the season.
The New York Jets have had a very frustrating season this year, winning only one of their first seven games. The season is going off the rails. Quarterback Sam Darnold, when he’s been able to play, has been under constant pressure.
The offensive line has been a major issue for the team and it’s severely limited what the team can do. Fans are obviously frustrated, as are the players, and Darnold feels that the issue has been execution, according to Kristian Dyer of Sports Illustrated.
“We need to execute,” Darnold said. “We need to take what we do in practice and I say it every week, we need to do what we do in practice and make sure that it translates to the game and if we do that, we’ll be just fine.”
That seems fairly obvious, as the team is averaging 11.14 points per game, and that’s with two defensive touchdowns scored this season. The offense has been completely anemic, and while Darnold has not been put in great positions to succeed, he also hasn’t played up to his standards, a fact that he acknowledged.
He spoke about needing to read defenses better than he has been thus far, saying “yeah, need to be a lot better there. Again, just communicating with the guys, getting set and we need to start rolling. We need to start being faster at the line of scrimmage and the tempo needs to be a lot better for sure.”
Darnold has completed 61.48% of his passes for 817 yards with five touchdowns and eight interceptions. He’s been sacked 15 times, despite only throwing 135 passes. The team is allowing sacks at too high of a rate to have any success.
Darnold hasn’t been perfect, but he’s spent most of the season running for his life (or out with mono). If he gets time to throw, he can put up points, an ability he showed against the Dallas Cowboys.
He’ll look to bounce back Sunday afternoon against the Miami Dolphins in a prime get right game (1 p.m. ET, CBS).
