The Jets have gotten a wake up call through the arm of Sam Darnold as the offense continued to click on all cylinders in their win over the Raiders on Sunday.
The Jets put 34 points on the board (27 on offense, seven on defense Sunday) for the third straight game and those efforts were all enough to pick up W's. Despite Adam Gase still unable to get the running game going much, he's clearly woken up a flame in Darnold, who has looked like a new quarterback over the last three weeks.
"Close to it," Gase said on if this is where he expected his offense to be entering the season. "There's still a lot of things we need to improve on, just more consistent in the running game. ...When you're not going three and out... it makes it easier."
Even though Le'Veon Bell couldn't get much going on the ground--12 carries for 49 yards--he was able to contribute through the air, catching all five of his targets for 59 yards. That extra contribution from Bell helped Darnold cross to over 300 yards for the game.
"I always kind of joke with Sam about just like throwing me the ball," Bell said to SNY's Jeane Coakley after the game. "Just throwing it up, I told him I'll catch it. Today he gave me the opportunity, so I had to make sure I came down with it."
"Guys are just doing their jobs, doing their assignments," Bell said. "We haven't been turning the ball over, we've been playing smart...and we've just been executing well. Coach gase has been doing a great job of putting people into position to make plays...as long as we keep this up we should be fine."
With the team rattling off three straight wins and the Bengals and Dolphins up next on the schedule, the Jets confidence is rising to new heights.
"Our confidence, it's high," Darnold said. "I think it started in practice, it started in the week of preparation. ...For us as an offense, it's about executing and we've been doing that lately."