The Jets will pick up from their off-week with Joe Flacco at quarterback. Sam Darnold will be out with an injured shoulder. Darnold played through the pain, re-injured his shoulder, played through again only for the braintrust to finally realize they should let him get 100 percent healthy before sending him out to play again.
“Sam, what we’re going to do with him is he’ll be on an interval throwing program, he’s not going to practice, he won’t play in the game, so Joe (Flacco) will end up starting, that’s where we’re at with him right now,” Adam Gase said. “Hopefully looking for him to play, kind of see where he is following the game, hopefully we can get him back sooner than later.”
Gase said as of right now there is no thought of placing Darnold on IR. For now they will assess the situation week-to-week. Of course this means the fate of the tank now rests on Flacco’s arm for this week. The Jets are still the only winless team in the league and with the Jaguars still with only one win, fans clamoring for that first overall draft pick are hoping Flacco doesn’t ruin the tank.
Still, it seems unlikely that Flacco is going to be the one to blow up the tank. Sure, he gave those fans a scare against the Patriots, but the scariest part of this week isn’t Flacco. It’s the Chargers and all the Chargers ways to lose.
Rookie quarterback, Justin Herbet, has looked incredible so far until he struggled against the Dolphins last week. The Dolphins defense is really good though, the Jets defense doesn’t pose the same type of problems. Of course the flip side is the Chargers defense has been a mess as well, riddled with injuries like the Chargers always are, but can Flacco take advantage of this?
This still very much feels like another Jets loss, but week-after-week the Chargers keep finding soul-crushing ways to lose games in the final minute. Injuries or no injuries, the Chargers are the more talented team, but this game might be the Jets best chance at a win. Not because it’s a good matchup, not because Flacco is elite, but because history has proven that the Chargers are exceptional at finding ways to lose games that they should win.