Taking command: Sam Darnold's goal is to take Jets to playoffs

Sam Darnold couldn’t spend as much time as usual on the field with his teammates during the spring and summer. But he thought about them all the time and about what he can do to help get the Jets to the postseason.

Darnold may seem like a chill California dude, but a fire burns inside the Jets third-year quarterback. It’s fueled not by stats, but by winning, and it pushed him while team facilities and activities were shut down because of COVID-19.

“I’m 100 percent driven by team goals, it’s everything I think about,” Darnold told Newsday. “For the most part this is why I live. I live for football. I live for getting to play playoff football and one day go to a Super Bowl and win a Super Bowl. That’s why we play the game.

“During the offseason when I’m working out, it crosses my mind a ton. It definitely motivates me.”

Darnold, 23, worked on his mechanics and tried to improve his hip mobility. He threw the football on the beach, in the grass, wherever he could, trying to get in as much work in as if he was in OTAs. He watched film and studied the playbook so he could be as prepared as possible if and when football.

The Jets open the season Sunday in Buffalo, confident that they have the right person running the offense.

“As a leader,” new center Connor McGovern said, “he’s one of the best.”

It’s a big year for Darnold to prove himself and whether he is the franchise quarterback that can not only end the Jets’ playoff drought — it's been nine years — but lead them to their second Super Bowl.

Darnold is in his second year in Adam Gase’s offense. Throughout training camp, Darnold’s coaches and teammates noticed him displaying more confidence in himself and the system and more command and assertiveness. Le’Veon Bell said Darnold has the offense’s complete attention in the huddle.

“He looks a lot different. He’s taking great command of the huddle,” Bell said. “Sam’s not a ‘rah, rah’ guy, he’s not really loud, he’s not really a yell guy. He’s real monotone, he’s kind of calm. The way he does it, you want to follow him. You want to listen to him and work hard for him. That’s what players want.

“Sam looks amazing this year. It’s going to be fun. We just got to make sure he stays healthy. I told him: No bars.”

Bell was joking because Darnold contracted mononucleosis last year and missed three games. The Jets’ offense looked sickly without him.

But Darnold was impressive over the last half of the season, leading the Jets to a 6-2 mark with 13 touchdown passes and four interceptions. They went 7-6 with Darnold, and 7-9 overall.

Darnold wants to build off that, and said despite his health scare last year he never considered opting out because of COVID-19. Since he’s single and lives alone — his family is California — Darnold didn’t think about it.

“It never really crossed my mind,” Darnold said. “I’m not too worried about any health issues.”

Darnold’s focus was on this season, and now it’s on Buffalo. The Jets, obviously, need Darnold to become more proficient and effective in Gase’s offense for them to do well.

Bell’s workload, especially as a receiver, is expected to increase. But plenty will ride on Darnold’s arm and accuracy, and whether he can cut down his turnovers while throwing to a mediocre receiver group that was hit with injuries throughout camp.

Who he was throwing to didn’t matter to Darnold. Darnold quickly connected with Chris Hogan and Donte Moncrief after they were signed during camp.

“I feel like my job as a quarterback sometimes is how easy can I make it on the guys, how well can I communicate,” Darnold said. “No matter who’s out there, I’m expecting everyone to be in their spot where they need to be against a certain coverage. It’s up to me to get it them accurately.”

It’s truly hard to measure Darnold’s growth without any games. But he showed big improvement from the Jets’ first intrasquad scrimmage to the second.

Darnold made a nice back-shoulder throw to Bell for a touchdown. On a two-minute drive to end the game, Darnold saw he had nothing and scrambled for a first down. The series, and scrimmage, ended with Darnold being flushed from the pocket again, rolling right and finding Hogan for the touchdown.

“He’s reacting to things,” Gase said. “The thing that I really love is when things go bad he can make plays. Those are things that he’s going to keep getting better and when he reacts like that that gives us a great shot because he’s fixing a lot of things that aren’t going right.”

Darnold lives to do that.