MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The last thing Todd Bowles could afford was a Sam Darnold regression, a four-interception, one pick-six implosion against a team he needs to beat in his fourth year on the job.
If Bowles loses his job after the season, he can look back at this game as the beginning of the end.
The development of the rookie franchise quarterback was first and foremost this season.
Convincing Johnson and Johnson that the arrow is pointing up is the other priority.
Two birds were killed with one stone Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium.
“First of all, it starts with me,” Darnold said after Dolphins 13, Jets 6.
One Team, One Goal is working only if the goal after nine games was 3-6.
“I’m sick of losing,” Jamal Adams said. “Enough is enough. I’m pissed off.”
You see, Adams is 8-17 in his NFL career and Bowles is 23-34, and past the point where his team should get swept by the Dolphins and beaten by Brock Osweiler.
The popgun offense is a dysfunctional mess, from the center with a bad finger who can’t shotgun snap the ball and should have been yanked earlier, to the absence of a threatening running game …
To Darnold.
Darnold looking like this now, as if he has hit a rookie wall, with offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates struggling to be a problem-solver only encourages the siren call for an offensive-guru head coach to allow the kid quarterback to run instead of walk with baby steps, and sometimes fall.
Darnold’s most egregious moment, on a day when Gang Green played gallantly, was an underthrown pass intended for tight end Eric Tomlinson that Jerome Baker gleefully took 25 yards to the house for a 13-3 lead early in the fourth quarter.
“I thought I’d be able to fit it over him and didn’t throw with confidence,” Darnold said. “Alligator-armed it, just threw a little bit short.”
It meant that Darnold gave these Dolphins 10 points, because Kiko Alonso’s interception in front of Deontay Burnett set up this tractor pull’s first score.
“I didn’t see him, but gotta know that he’s there,” Darnold said. “Poor decision.”
He offered no excuses, even if he needed a lacrosse stick to corral some of Spencer Long’s errant snaps.
“Yeah, it disrupts timing, but there’s no excuse for how I played out there,” Darnold said. “I gotta play better.”
He was asked if this was his most frustrating game so far.
“Yeah,” Darnold said.
There was that three-interception game against the Vikings two weeks ago and this was his fourth straight loss on the road, and worst QB rating (31.8).
“Just gotta be sharper,” Darnold said. “I think personally I have to have a better plan once I get to the line of scrimmage. I just gotta know exactly where to go with the ball, and if 1 or 2’s not there, go to 3. Just gotta have a better plan.”
His best offense was the Facemask Offense, when he gained 30 yards on back-to-back Dolphins penalties and got to their 20 before a sack and a delay of game led to Jason Myers missing a 50-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.
“I mean, whenever you get down there you want to score points,” Darnold said, “so very critical.”
His accuracy was off, he held the ball too long at times (four sacks), threw short of the sticks, converted 2-of-13 third downs and needed to burn a timeout with 13:39 remaining in the third quarter following a first-down conversion. Darnold wouldn’t call it a step back, but it was.
“There’s always lessons to be learned,” he said.
The lessons are painful for Jets fans to watch, painful for the Jets to experience. Darnold has shown that he is a keeper. But all bets are off on Todd Bowles. His hot seat is now scalding. He’s headed straight toward enough is enough.
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