There isn’t much you can ascertain from a preseason match, apart from players finally getting to hit opponents on the field. But there are still minute observations from a seemingly pointless game that can be extrapolated onto the regular season.
Sam Darnold and the first-team offense played minimally but showed what they can do in Adam Gase’s offense, rookie linebacker Blake Cashman literally flashed his speed, Chandler Catanzaro struggled with kicks and the Jets earned a couple of free yards while testing a new NFL rule.
The Jets lost to the Giants, 31-21, on Thursday, but what’s more compelling is what happened with a closer look at the stat book. Here are four strange facts from the Jets’ first preseason game.
Sam Darnold’s passer rating
It was only one series, but Darnold showed off what he can do in his second year with a 75-yard drive. Darnold displayed precision passing, great mobility and completed 4-5 passes for 68 yards with a touchdown to Jamison Crowder. He also finished with a perfect 158.3 passing rating to cap off his short preseason debut.
Yes, this is only the preseason, but it’s still encouraging to see Darnold play so well under a new head coach. His first pass probably should have been intercepted, but like his regular-season debut against the Lions last year, Darnold bounced back. He pulled off some nice chunk plays – a scrambling throw that led to a 32-yard completion to Chris Herndon and a check-down to Crowder for 28 yards – and looked to be in absolute command of the offense.
Blake Cashman shows off his speed
The Jets drafted Cashman in the fifth round in 2019 to be a quality coverage linebacker coming off the bench. In his NFL debut, Cashman delivered on that promise and even showed off his speed in the middle of the defense.
Cashman reached a max speed of 19.7 miles per hour, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, in six snaps against the Giants. That top speed is fourth-fastest on the team. Pretty impressive for a linebacker, and a good display of his abilities as he continues to learn in his first summer.
Chandler Catanzaro’s kicking percentage
The Jets don’t currently have another kicker on their roster behind Catanzaro, but they might have to bring one in after his horrific preseason game Thursday night.
Catanzaro missed his first two PATs of the game and finished 2-4 on kicks. He was missing all over the crossbars – one extra point he missed wide right after a penalty, the other wide left. The Buccaneers cut Catanzaro after he missed two field goals in one game in 2018, and now his kicking woes have continued in 2019.
Jets win big with a new rule
Adam Gase took advantage of a new rule this season – challenging a pass interference penalty that wasn’t called. Gase contended that Giants cornerback Corey Ballentine grabbed the hand of Jets wideout Tim White while he was trying to make a catch in the third quarter. Gase won the challenge and the play resulted in a 33-yard pass interference call in favor of the Jets.
The new rule is a direct result of another pass interference non-call in the 2018 NFC Championship and was approved by the owners this offseason to use only during the first 28 minutes of a half. The 33-yard penalty didn’t help the Jets score, but the experiment by Gase was a good test for how officials will deal with the new type of challenge, which will likely have consequences for the regular season.
