Jets and Giants Vie for Best New York Team Not Named the Bills

He was brilliant in the Jets’ lone bright spot this year: a 2-point upset of the Dallas Cowboys. But in the three games since then, Darnold has thrown eight interceptions, fumbled twice and been sacked 12 times. Against the Patriots three weeks ago, a live microphone on the Jets’ sideline caught him talking about “seeing ghosts” as he stood in the passing pocket, and his on-the-field body language lately has been shouting dejection and gloom.

When Darnold’s center snapped the ball too quickly late in the Jets’ loss last weekend at Miami, sending the ball whizzing past Darnold and bouncing toward the back of the Jets’ end zone, the quarterback did not chase after it, which is the least of his duties on the play but still a vital one. Darnold was instead inert, staring at the football as if he were watching the awful play unfold on video in a darkened room — and surely, he has glumly reviewed a lot of such scenes in just that way this season.

Jones has been given something of a free pass as a rookie. But in his last five games, all losses, he has fumbled seven times and been intercepted six times. In seven starts, Jones has managed to vault into a tie atop the league’s turnover standings, with 16.

Jones made for a winsome story when he was drafted, and he seemed like a godsend when he rallied the Giants to victory against the Buccaneers on Sept. 22. But he has been erratic at best since then and has yet to prove that he can be more secure with the football — another of those slight but pivotal duties for a quarterback.

Sunday’s game is not only an opportunity to compare the teams’ emergent quarterbacks. The Giants’ second-year coach, Pat Shurmur, and the Jets’ first-year coach, Adam Gase, have had their decision-making and in-game acumen questioned, with good reason. The spotlight that shines on a Jets-Giants game is still bright enough that a prominent sideline gaffe by a coach could be devastating to his career. In Gase’s case, perhaps even in the near future. And Shurmur hasn’t exactly been embraced by Giants fans.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/sports/giants-jets.html?emc=rss&partner=rss