NY Jets: Sam Darnold could miss time with shoulder sprain

NY Jets’ quarterback Sam Darnold could end up missing time with a shoulder sprain.

The NY Jets are hurting in more than one way following their Thursday night loss to the Denver Broncos. And the injury to quarterback Sam Darnold is perhaps most concerning.

Darnold exited the game towards the end of the first quarter after taking a hard hit from Broncos linebacker Alexander Johnson. The 23-year-old landed hard on his throwing shoulder and immediately came up in obvious pain.

Darnold would stay in for one more play, a Frank Gore handoff that was negated by a holding penalty, before being replaced by backup Joe Flacco.

At first, everyone feared the worst. Darnold trotted into the blue tent barely moving his shoulder and the pain on his face was evident.

Miraculously, Flacco would remain in the game for just four plays, split between two drives, before Darnold would emerge from the sideline with his helmet on and jog back on to the field.

And to his credit, Darnold played extraordinarily well for the remainder of the game in spite of his injury. While the Jets still lost, Darnold was one of the few bright spots from another disappointing night.

The NY Jets haven’t ruled out Adam Gase missing time.

Head coach Adam Gase spoke to reporters to give injury updates on Darnold and a number of other Jets players. And perhaps to the surprise of many who saw the team’s quarterback play the majority of the game with an injured shoulder, Gase didn’t sound too confident about his status.

When asked if Darnold would miss time with what is being described as a shoulder sprain, Gase said that “anything is on the table right now,” implying that Darnold might, in fact, miss a game or perhaps more.

This comes as somewhat of a surprise seeing as Darnold returned to the game and played quite well after his injury. However, perhaps the shoulder swelled up more after the game once the adrenaline wore off.

If Darnold is forced to miss any time, the Jets will be forced to insert Flacco into the starting lineup until he returns. That’s bad news for a Jets team that is already searching for any semblance of optimism.

The Jets are in bad shape going into Week 5. And now, they might be without their promising young quarterback until further notice.