What if
What if Sam Darnold acts in those last two games like he did on Sunday in Los Angeles?
What if the Jets ’third-year quarterbacks are as assured and decisive as in the shocking 23-20 win over the Rams?
What if Darnold throws 300 yards and three touchdowns and doesn’t turn the ball around and the Jets beat the Browns 10-4 in their home final Sunday at MetLife Stadium?
What if he keeps going up in Foxborough, Massachusetts, next week for the end of the season and makes Bill Belichick’s Patriots defense see ghosts?
What if Darnold’s 2020 resume is limited by three consecutive winning and strong performances, even if they reached the end of an otherwise miserable 3-13 season?
It will have been three meaningless victories for the Jets, but would they be Darnold’s meaningless performances?
Prior to the Rams ’annoyance, the assumption was that the Jets were destined to finish 0-16, guaranteeing the No. 1 draft pick and the chance to pick Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
With Lawrence, the supposed “generational talent” contemplating them in April, there would be little decision for the Jets on what to do with Darnold. They would move on. Darnold would be traded for what the Jets could get for a third-year quarterback with a 12-24 record and 44 business losses.
But what happens now?
Except for an unexpected stumble in the next two games (against Bears and Colts) for the Jaguars 1-13, which under the Jets win in Los Angeles and Jacksonville owns the tiebreaker for election No. 1 due to the strength of the schedule, will get Lawrence.
Now the Jets have to ask themselves this question once this season is over: is it better to build around Darnold (who’s done a bad job in the last three years) or roll the dice on a college quarterback whose name isn’t Trevor Lawrence ?
Justin Fields, of Ohio State, appeared normal Saturday against Northwestern, leaving his shares. BYU’s Zach Wilson looked dynamic in a pointless bowl game against a UCF pedestrian team Tuesday night. Is Kyle Trask from Florida the answer? Trey Lance from the state of North Dakota?
What if Darnold shines this Sunday and next?
Does this change the narrative or will it simply be discarded as garbage time?
Remember the Jets finished last season 6-2 after a 1-7 start. What did this look like once the 2020 season started? The gold of the fool.
“All games are important for evaluation in the NFL,” former Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum told The Post on Wednesday. “Look, they will have to make some important decisions in the low season, especially from the quarterback. The big question they will have, which a lot of people have about Sam, is billing. Right now, Sam has 44 turnovers since he’s in the NFL. He is the sixth highest quarterback in that time period.
“He’s no different than Daniel Jones,” Tannenbaum continued, referring to the Giants ’sophomore quarterback with billing issues. “When these young quarterbacks don’t spin the ball, they both give their teams a reasonable chance to win. We have seen it constantly for both teams.
A strange statistic about Darnold, though: of his 36 career initiatives, out of the 14 he has thrown no interceptions, the Jets are only 3-11.
This is the result of too many bad teams around Darnold and raises the question: Have the Darnold Jets failed more than Darnold the Jets?
The answer to this question is: Yes.
This, however, does not exonerate Darnold from the fact that he has not been special, he has not elevated the players around him as a No. 3 draft pick should do.
Sunday in Los Angeles, Darnold did that, though. His quick and correct decision making was the difference in the game. Was that a flash in the pan, a light on the radar? Or a sign that you are starting to find out?
“I thought Sam had a really good Sunday against the Rams,” Tannenbaum said. “It was decisive and precise. It was a very encouraging performance. “
It was only the fifth game of the season that had the top three receivers, Jamison Crowder, Breshad Perriman and Denzel Mims, on the field at the same time.
Coach Adam Gase was asked Wednesday what the “next step” would be for Darnold.
“Keep playing games like that,” Gase said, referring to the Rams game.
Asked why, three years after his career, he still hasn’t clicked on Darnold, Gase said, “It has a bit to do with who’s around him and his consistency. You see some of these quarterbacks playing with the same receivers and playing with the same skill guys. It would be a good start for him, to have some consistency with the roster. “
The question, of course, is what list will Darnold make in 2021?