Jets takeaways from 27-17 loss to Bills, including an off-day for Sam Darnold

It’s hard to imagine a more deflating season opener than what the Jets just experienced in Buffalo on Sunday, that in some ways could’ve been worse, and in other ways was.

It was bad enough that they fell into a three-touchdown hole not long after coming out of the tunnel. But then they squandered far too many opportunities the Bills gave them to come back.

Sam Darnold looked bad. The offense looked off. Le’Veon Bell ended the game on the sideline with an injured hamstring. And it all added up to a 27-17 loss in Buffalo that wasn’t nearly as close as it looks in the final score.

Is it too early to panic? Sure. But the Jets gave everyone plenty of reasons to hit the panic button anyway if they want.

Here’s a look back at how awful the first game of the 2020 season was:

- The Bills were on the verge of taking a 28-0 lead right before halftime when Jets cornerback Bless Austin forced a fumble by Bills quarterback Josh Allen. Big break, right? Except the Jets only turned that into a field goal. No matter, in the second half, Bills kicker Tyler Bass missed a short field goal and the Jets converted that into a touchdown, making it 21-10. And then Bass missed another short field goal and … nothing. That’s two enormous opportunities wasted, and the Jets just aren’t good enough to do that.

- Darnold just looked off from the start. In some ways, that’s not surprising given all the injuries to his receivers this summer. His timing was bound to be off. Then again, his timing with Jamison Crowder was off -- he failed to connect with him on his first four passes in his direction -- and Crowder was on the field most of August. Darnold began 1-of 6-for 0 yards. By halftime, he was 8-of-18 for 86 yards and one terrible interception. In the end, Darnold was 21-of-35 for 215 yards, one touchdown and one interception. In a very big year for the third-year quarterback, that is not nearly good enough.

- The offense was such a disaster it was hard to get a read on how Adam Gase plans to use his running back, but there certainly wasn’t a lot of the creativity he promised. He did open the game with both Bell and Frank Gore in the backfield, and he sent Bell deep for a 30-yard catch late in the first half. But otherwise, there wasn’t much variety -- and not really time for him to get creative either.

- Bell (6 carries, 14 yards; 2 catches, 32 yards) suffered a pulled hamstring and didn’t play for most of the second half. That’s alarming, because you might remember Bell was pulled from the Jets’ intrasquad scrimmage this summer because of hamstring tightness, which Bell later denied. If that’s a recurring problem, the Jets are going to have to lean on the 37-year-old Gore a lot more than they hoped -- especially with rookie La’Michal Perine out with an ankle injury, too.

- The Jets’ new-look offensive line certainly looked better than the disaster it was last year. But it is clearly a work in progress. There obviously wasn’t a lot of room to run (46 yards on 14 carries for the three running backs) and Darnold was under more pressure than he likely wanted. Keep in mind, though, this was against one of the best defenses and best fronts in the NFL, and the Jets came in with an entirely rebuilt offensive line and no preseason games for them to get used to each other.

- If you want a bright side, here it is: S Marcus Maye. That’s it, but it’s a good one. Maye looked very Jamal Adams-like in this game. In fact, he took over Adams’ old role, playing up near the line of scrimmage and blitzing often. He created an early turnover by forcing a fumble by Bills QB Josh Allen. He had a couple of pass deflections, including one that would’ve been a Bills touchdown to Stefon Diggs. He was all over the field. For whatever else went wrong for the Jets on Sunday, they didn’t seem to miss Adams much.

- The Jets cornerbacks corps is a train wreck, which is basically what the expectations were heading into the season. There were holes all over the secondary for Bills receivers to run through. And they really went after Pierre Desir, who was supposed to be the Jets’ No. 1 cornerback. He was benched in the second quarter in favor of Nate Hairston. It does look like second-year pro Bless Austin has some potential, but with no pass rush -- and there really was none -- that’s not going to be nearly enough.

- If you were hoping for breakout seasons for DT Quinnen Williams or LB Jordan Jenkins, that’ll have to wait until next week. Both players were basically invisible. Neither of them even had a tackle to themselves. And their lack of pressure is a big reason why the Jets didn’t have much of a pass rush at all in this game. That’s going to be a problem if they can’t step up.

- The Jets vowed to focus on Allen’s ability to run. Well, that didn’t work so well. Allen ran 12 times for 59 yards and a touchdown. And he did that while also having his first career 300-yard day passing (33-of-46, 312 yards, 2 touchdowns). A big reason for that is the Jets are very weak at linebacker. And they were thinned out, too, with Avery Williamson missing the game with a hamstring injury and Blake Cashman suffering a groin injury on the first series. It’s almost impossible to defend against a running quarterback in a 3-4 defense without a strong linebacker group. And look at the Jets’ schedule. That’s going to be an issue all year.