DETROIT — It was deafening inside Ford Field as Sam Darnold began bootlegging to his right, then throwing all the way across the field to his left. And you worried that the roof might blow off Ford Field when safety Quandre Diggs returned the pick-six 37 yards.
So it took exactly one play — one humbling, horrific pass — for Sam Darnold to realize that he wasn’t quarterbacking San Clemente High School against Dana Hills anymore, he wasn’t quarterbacking USC against UCLA anymore, this was no longer preseason.
You truly learn about a young quarterback when he gets punched in the gut, when he is knocked to the ground physically or emotionally or spiritually or all of the above.
Josh McCown, who has seen just about everything, sidled up to Darnold on the Jets sideline and might have said something like: “Hey, Brett Favre threw a pick-six on his first pass, too. Jameis Winston, too!”
No matter. Because Darnold didn’t blink. Because Darnold never blinks.
He wanted this job. He wanted to be the quarterback of the Jets and all that goes with it, the 50 years without a championship and the buttfumble. He wanted this stage, he wanted this moment, when his NFL dream would begin and long-suffering Jets fans would look longingly at him as the Boy Who Would Be Namath. After all the Boys Who Were Not Namath.
Bloody but unbowed, his team responded to him, rallied around him almost immediately. And every step of the way, on special teams (Andre Roberts’ many happy punt returns) and on defense (four interceptions of a frazzled Matthew Stafford, two by Darron Lee, one a pick-six, five picks in all).
And by the end of Jets 48, Lions 17, you reached the conclusion that Sam Darnold was born for this.
Sam Starnold.
It was right after the first half’s two-minute warning when Darnold, armed with uncommon poise and resilience sent a shudder through the hushed Lions den.
The Jets were already ahead, 10-7, when Darnold faced a third-and-2 at the Detroit 41. He scanned the field and noticed Robby Anderson streaking free down the left sideline. Lions safety Tavon Wilson tried to chase Anderson down.
Darnold pumped his shoulder, then let it fly. It shouldn’t have reminded anyone of Joe Namath-to-Don Maynard. But Anderson wanted that ball, and he wasn’t going to let Wilson wrestle it away from him.
And Darnold had his first NFL touchdown pass. He was congratulated by a couple of his offensive linemen. He trotted to the end zone to share the joy with Anderson, who had not been targeted to that point. It was 17-7, Jets.
It was 17-17 early in the third quarter when Darnold on the run to his right, found Terrelle Pryor for 20 yards then Quincy Enunwa wide open in the left flat for his second NFL touchdown pass, a 21-yarder that made it Jets 24, Lions 17.
A 75-year-old Hall of Fame Jets quarterback was watching excitedly from his Florida home as the youngest starting quarterback in the franchise’s history, the 21-year-old wunderkind whose parents were in the house, was about to take his first baby steps up the heretofore unscalable Mount Namath.
“Barring any kind of misfortune,” Namath told The Post before Darnold confronted the Lions, “he should be around a long time playing a high grade of football at quarterback.”
One day, perhaps, you might see Darnold unveiling a Fu Manchu.
One day, perhaps, he might decide to play in white shoes. One day, perhaps, he might leave the Florham Park, N.J., cocoon for a bachelor pad in Manhattan.
Maybe Darnold won’t turn out to be the second coming of Joe Namath.
The first coming of Sam Darnold is good enough for now.
Samazing start.
Source: Read Full Article