Sam Darnold critiques himself in preseason opener

Rookie quarterback Sam Darnold recently critiqued himself on his preseason debut with the New York Jets. He speaks about what his main priority was going into the game.

The New York Jets took care of business in their preseason opener against the Atlanta Falcons. Not only did they win 17-0 but the star of the night, rookie quarterback Sam Darnold, made a very strong case that he could indeed be the Week 1 starter for the regular season.

Darnold looked calm, cool, and collective in his debut with the Jets and lived up to a lot of the hype he generated all offseason long. Of course, it’s just one game but is a step in the right direction for him to make his case to move up the quarterback depth chart of the Jets.

In the grand scheme of things, Darnold looked very good and can only improve from here on out. The good news is, he is not resting on his laurels as he knows he made a few mistakes here and there which will be analyzed throughout training camp.

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Courtesy of the Media Relations Department of the Jets, here is what Darnold said to the media on how he felt he played in his first ever preseason football game:

I thought I played pretty good. I think I just put the ball where it needed to be, tried to get it in the hands of our playmakers. There were a couple of plays where, especially on the sack, I feel like I could’ve gotten that ball out on the shallow (route) there, but you live and you learn I guess, so I’m just going to watch the tape and see really what exactly happened on some of the plays, but I thought I did pretty well. I took care of the football, which was my main priority tonight.

It’s great to see Darnold already show progress and get the jitters out from his first-ever game action in a Jets uniform. Hopefully, he continues to do what is needed to continue this momentum since, for right now, he’s trending towards at least being in the starting quarterback conversation.

If Darnold continues to play like he did against the Falcons, it would very well change the entire dynamic of the Jets quarterback situation. Not only would he dethrone veteran quarterback Josh McCown but could very well make Teddy Bridgewater expendable if everything falls into place.