Aussie Jet

Cephus is not the answer, but he had three catches for 54 yards today in the absence of Kenny Golladay. Did Morgan even suit up today or was he inactive?

Then prepared to be shocked. Had two sacks in his sixth career game, a 35-9 win over the Colts in week 6, 2012. He also had 1.5 sacks in week 15, 2012, a 27-17 loss to the Chargers (it was also the third straight game he recorded one or more sacks). Coples had 2 sacks against the Dolphins in week 17, 2014 (a 37-24 win which was Geno Smith's best game as a Jets QB - 20 of 25 for 358 yards and three touchdowns).

I posted something similar last week to what I'm writing now. Douglas, by his actions, has indicated a desire that he wants to build the offensive line as his first priority. Signed a bunch of offensive linemen in free agency and then followed that up with a rookie left tackle with his first ever draft pick as a GM. I think that Douglas has correctly diagnosed that Darnold was not given the space required in the pocket to execute plays, and he's set himself to correct that. Some of the players he signed (like Kalil) were a mistake, but I think he's on the right track. We saw how Dallas turned Prescott from a bit of a flyer in the middle rounds of the draft into a competent quarterback in his first season by putting a strong offensive line in front of him, and even over 10 years ago, when Tannenbaum had Ferguson, Mangold and Faneca in front of Sanchez, we saw what a strong offensive line can do for an average QB. But I do think Douglas has whiffed on the offensive skill position players to a certain extent. Griffin got extended last season on the back of some strong tight end play but he's completely disappeared from view, while Herndon is busy dropping touchdown passes. Douglas has obviously bowed to the wishes of his coach by signing Frank Gore and Kallen Ballage off the street when none of the 31 other teams would have signed either of them. Perriman seems to have been signed off the back of his month-long purple patch with the Buccaneers when Evans and Godwin were both injured, and Perriman has turned back into a pumpkin overnight, yet again seemingly proving the adage that you shouldn't pay for the outlier in performance. It might have been a combination of good luck and good management that allowed Douglas to scoop up a sliding Mims in the draft, but I have to think that spending a fourth round pick on Morgan was a mistake at the time the pick was made and it's even more egregious now. Morgan can't help this team, but another receiver like Quintez Cephus (available on the board when Morgan was selected) could have helped this team now.

I think that's the Chargers Bosa who is questionable.

With old man Gore and Ballage getting 45 carries between them.

One would think that with Herndon and Griffin and a bag of footballs at wide receiver and running back, you would tailor your game plan around involving your tight ends a little more. But I am no offensive genius.

Nice pass into tight coverage.

Close to breaking 60 pass attempts and it's about five yards per attempt on average.

Browns doing a good job of giving Burrow nothing but checkdowns. The kid has moxie but he needs a proper deep threat.

Darnold beat Jones at cornhole before the Super Bowl. Therefore, Darnold is better than Jones. In all seriousness, Jones has had his moments but also has had some shockers, a bit like Darnold. The difference is that Darnold has a years extra experience in the NFL over Jones, and Jones hasn't even started a full seasons worth of games yet. Based on their body of work so far, it's pretty much 50/50, and that's a little concerning to me, given what the Jets gave up to get the pick used on Darnold and the fact he has a year on Jones in the league.

Interesting to see the Broncos try to sprinkle in some play action into their offensive play calling. As well as involving their tight ends.

Remember how we all laughed and laughed at Gettleman for taking Barkley in a QB-rich draft and then drafting Jones with a top 10 pick the next draft? Good times. Edit - and Jones throws a pick.

I thought that Sam would be the guy to deliver us top echelon quarterback play, but I'm not seeing it. It's concerning that at the start of his third year, he is making the same mistakes as he did in his first year. The lack of a proper training camp and no preseason need to be factored in, but he has to demonstrate substantial improvement over the course of the season, otherwise Douglas would be negligent if he didn't look at options.

Douglas came into a situation where the franchise decided that (for whatever reason) it was better that the previous guy ran the free agency and draft. I think Douglas has put a plan in place and he's trying to execute that plan. He's realised that the quarterback typically lives and dies by the protection he gets from his offensive line. He tried to get a patchwork line work for Darnold last season by signing Kalil off the couch, but it failed. He went into free agency determined to walk away with new offensive linemen and then picked an offensive lineman with his first NFL draft pick. I have to give him credit for coming up with a plan and sticking to it. I do think that more could have been done to improve the skill position players around Darnold. Letting Anderson go and signing Perriman is a wash - they basically perform the same role and I just hope we're not paying Perriman based on a couple months of good games with Godwin and Evans off the field last season. I don't think that Douglas would have signed Bell had he been in charge but he's got to be hoping that Bell shows something in the first half of the season to try to get something (even if it is a conditional draft pick) in return when he tries to hawk Bell around at the trade deadline. Douglas has my applause for obtaining two first round picks and a player in exchange for Adams. He just needs to use those picks properly. I have faith still in Douglas and I think he's a damned sight better than Maccagnan or Idzik. But the real test will come next off-season if it's clear that Gase is past his use-by date and we need to change head coach and/or quarterback. Hopefully it doesn't come to that and today's performance is a blip.

Not sure whether I could put a number on it, but my confidence level is fairly shook at this stage. His front office and coaches haven't exactly helped him, but Darnold is now into his third season as an NFL starter, so he needs to be demonstrating that he's learning from past mistakes and not repeating the same errors. It's not looking good at this stage.