How so? Sam Darnold has achieved glory with the Seahawks, and the Patriots are back on top. The Jets? They are at the bottom of the NFL with no evidence that the picture will change any time soon.
The Jets have become LOL Jets for a decade now. They missed the postseason for the 15th consecutive year, good enough to hold the longest postseason drought in North America. It’s the tenth straight losing season, and the sixth straight year the team has had double-digit losses.
Right now, it’s difficult to say there’s hope for this beleaguered franchise. You can make a case that Gang Green is the worst franchise in the NFL.
No one ever thought Darnold would be playing in the Super Bowl this soon after the Jets traded him to the Carolina Panthers in 2021. Sure, he made playoff appearances with a new team, as he did with the Minnesota Vikings last year. But, still, his ascendance to “the big game” is tough to take.
Look, no one should question the Jets for letting him go after seven seasons of unfulfilled promises, and it’s also fair to ask, “What happened?” Darnold was highly regarded coming out of the Draft, and it was the right move for the Jets to pick him.
So, what happened to Darnold in New York? My take is that the Jets failed him more than he failed them.
Darnold never had a running game with the Jets. He had no playmakers to throw to. He never had an offensive line that could protect him. He worked for an incompetent general manager, Mike Maccagnan, and an incompetent head coach, Adam Gase. It was telling when Gase pleaded with fans not to blame the quarterback for the team’s problems back then. He knew the team had done him wrong.
It’s been a different world for him with the Seahawks. He can throw to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp, and Rashid Shaheed. He can hand the ball to Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet. His offensive line lets him focus on making the throw rather than being worried about getting sacked. For Darnold, that beats playing with Quincy Enunwa, Chris Herndon, Jermaine Kearse, Bilal Powell, washed-up Le’Veon Bell, over-the-hill Frank Gore, and Denzel Mims in his first few years in the league.
For anyone who says it’s the quarterback’s job to make everyone better, there’s this thought. Patrick Mahomes, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady wouldn’t have a chance with the Jets. There’s something to be said about great coaching and an excellent front office setting up a player for success. There’s synergy that comes from that.
Darnold is no longer seeing ghosts now that he is out of the Jets organization.
Then, there’s the Patriots. They were 4-26 in the last two seasons. For them to play in this year’s Super Bowl without really much hardship should be a sore point for the Jets.
Unlike the Jets, the Patriots found their quarterback (Drake Maye) and head coach (Mike Vrabel). Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft had the foresight to cut his losses by firing Jerod Mayo and hiring a proven head coach. If an organization feels it won’t work with a head coach, it’s time to move on rather than let it fester and put players in a position to fail.
The Patriots are again doing what got them to the top. They draft the right players. They develop them well. They hire competent people. In other words, they know what they are doing; they are the anti-Jets.
While the Patriots and Seahawks prepare for the Super Bowl next week in Northern California, the Jets still can’t get out of their way.
Jets head coach Aaron Glenn fired most of his coaching staff, including his offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand. Why not fire Glenn and hire a new head coach who can hire his staff?
One reaason is Woody Johnson. As long as Johnson is the Jets owner, this franchise will remain troubled, with no hope in sight. Everything he touches turns to crap.
It says something that the Titans hired Robert Saleh as head coach despite his 20-36 record with the Jets. They knew he had no shot working for an awful organization. And you can bet on this: there will be even more questions asked about how the Jets are operated if Saleh somehow leads the Titans to the playoffs next season.
Sam Darnold is in the Super Bowl, and so are the Patriots. The Jets? They remain today what they have been for a very long time, and there’s no evidence the picture will change any time soon.
