NY Jets: Don't be fooled by Sam Darnold's preseason performance

NY Jets fans are ready for the Zach Wilson era to officially begin when the team heads to Carolina for their Week 1 matchup.

Even with that being the case, it's hard not to look at how former Jets quarterback Sam Darnold is doing this preseason, especially with him being the quarterback matchup in the first game of the season.

For some Jets fans who scrolled through the stats from Carolina's game with the Steelers on Friday, they might see Darnold's numbers and start to panic that the team made a mistake in trading him.

Do not do this.

First and foremost, it's the preseason and the final preseason game at that. Teams aren't playing all of their starters and Pittsburgh was certainly guilty of sitting their starters out, meaning Darnold was going up against backups and even third-stringers.

Of course he's going to look better in that scenario.

Darnold finished the night going 19-of-25 for 162 yards and two touchdowns, which looks good on paper but is a bit misleading.

The former Jets' first-round pick looked good in the first quarter but the more he was out there, the more the nerves shone through and it looked like he was "seeing ghosts" all over again.

Again, this came against backups and third-stringers so had starters been out there, they'd certainly have been able to generate pressure and get after Darnold.

NY Jets fans shouldn't fret over Sam Darnold's preseason numbers

The Jets moved on from Darnold for a reason and it was as simple as he wasn't getting it done in the Big Apple. Zach Wilson provides a new start for this team and he looked electric in the preseason.

Darnold might have looked good on Friday night and some Jets fans might be worried that he'll figure it out now that he's with a new team.

Hopefully, moving on from Darnold won't end up biting the Jets in the butt when it's all said and done.