Spooky Patriots defense has Sam Darnold seeing ghosts

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Sam Darnold was going to find the weakness in the Patriots defense Monday night “and keep working it.”

The Jets quarterback was going to use his “unstoppable” offense to help take down the unbeaten Patriots.

Darnold, who didn’t play in the first meeting between the two teams, a 30-14 Jets loss Week 3, was sure of it. So sure he had to brag.

Late in the second quarter, the world got a pretty good idea of Darnold’s revised mindset. From an ESPN microphone positioned on the Jets sideline, Darnold was heard offering the only explanation as to what was playing out on the network’s TV broadcast of the game:

“I’m seeing ghosts,” he said.

Indeed, the Patriots were coming from everywhere, harassing him every time he dropped back to throw the football. This was a living nightmare for the Jets quarterback, who was picked off four times,and had a quarterback rating below 10 in his team’s 33-0 loss to the Patriots.

There was no question about it. Darnold was spooked.

In the first half alone, he was sacked by John Simon who forced a fumble recovered by Kyle Van Noy, and threw a pair of picks, one at the goal line to Duron Harmon. There were no Jets in the area on the Harmon play, just the Patriots safety. Several of Darnold’s gaffes led to points for the Patriots offense.

Let’s just say it’s never a good idea to mess with The Boogeymen, the nickname of the Patriots linebacker corps.

Like every quarterback who’s gone up against the Patriots defense before him, whether it was Josh Allen, Colt McCoy or Luke Falk, Darnold seemed shell-shocked. Only he seemed much worse than the others during the 33-0 thrashing of Gang Green.

Leading into the game, the Patriots loved hearing the boastful words of the second-year signal-caller. He was confident, to be sure. But when you’re dealing with Bill Belichick’s defense, one that allowed just 8.0 points per game going in, and thrives on bulletin board material whether real or contrived, it just makes them even stingier.

Weakness?

Darnold had no idea what hit him in the first half. He was seeing ghosts. It didn’t get much better in the second half. In fact, it got worse. The ghosts multiplied. On the Jets’ first possession, Stephon Gilmore picked him off on a pass intended for Robby Anderson. On the next possession, he was forced to bat the ball out of the end zone for a safety after the ball was snapped over his head. On the third possession of the third quarter, he was picked off in the endzone by Patriots safety Terrence Brooks.

Weakness?

The Patriots found his. With a horrible offensive line, and Belichick sending pass rushers and blitzers from every direction, Darnold had no time to deliver the football. With Patriots in his face, harried at every turn, he was throwing off his back foot. And even when he had time, he was so affected by their rush, his throws were off the mark.

New Yorkers might fancy him a savior of the Jets franchise. But last night, he was simply more roadkill for the Patriots defense.

“Obviously, we haven’t played a perfect game yet. We know there are some things we can do better,” Harmon said earlier in the week, when asked about Darnold finding their alleged weakness. “With him telling us that, we’re going to make sure we’re sharp on the things we haven’t done well, and make sure there are hardly any weaknesses for him to find.”

That was a nice way of saying Darnold would be lucky to move it past the 50-yard line. He did get past midfield, but couldn’t seem to stop throwing it to Patriots defenders.

“(His words) have been noted, for sure,” Harmon said. “This is his third game playing this year. When he’s out there, they are a completely different offense, they have a lot of production. I’m happy he’s feeling confident, because we feel just as confident. We’ll have to see Monday night at 8:15.”

On Monday night, Darnold saw ghosts wearing Patriot uniforms. Enough said.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2MCOzhj