On who the starter will be against Detroit…
Sam (Darnold) will be starting Monday night.
On what he liked about Darnold to start him instead of Josh McCown…
It was close obviously. Sam had a good preseason. We weren’t holding him back, but we weren’t rushing him at the same time. He still has some things to learn, but his poise in the pocket and the way he grasped the offense coming in right away and the guys gathered around him and absorbed him coming and playing football. He gives us a very good chance to win.
On if there was a moment in the preseason that cemented his feelings about Darnold being the starter…
No, it wasn’t a specific moment, just an actual progression. You have to go day-by-day, week-by-week. You’re still going to go through some things during the season, but his poise in the pocket, awareness in the football game and reaction, just the way he plays the game, made it a little more comfortable.
On if there was anything that surprised him about Darnold…
Well you don’t know how soon they are going to grasp the offense. So that part of it, it didn’t surprise me, but it was a pleasure to see as far as grasping the offense and having recall from the spring once he got back in, and just getting better every day. That part of it was good to see.
On when he informed Darnold and McCown on who would be starting…
I just saw you guys going down the hall and I was going to tell them, because I had met with the coaches and I told them that probably about five minutes ago.
On their reaction to the news…
They both were good. They are both professional. They both were good. Let’s go try to win a game.
On McCown’s team-first mentality…
Josh has been like that since he walked in the door, before he was even a starter last year when we played Hack (Christian Hackenberg) in the preseason the second and third game. He’s always been trying to help players out as well as compete, and that’s what you love about him because he’s a great team guy. You always want guys backing up that want to start, at least they want to play. We feel like we’ve got two good quarterbacks.
On how okay he will be if Darnold goes through struggles starting out…
I understand that, but we are going to play Detroit with 52 other guys, it’s not just him by himself. The pains he gets that he needs to see, it will be an experience probably the first couple of years. I don’t think as a player you ever stop experiencing things, the way he handles it and comes back from it and handles it in stride. We are trying to help the team win and we feel like he gives us a good chance to win. We’re not starting him because he’s a rookie and he’s not ready, we’re starting him because he gives us a chance to win the game.
On if he is excited for what Darnold can become…
I’m excited for the team. Obviously, he’s part of that. Obviously, he’s earned that right to start, so we’re going to start him. He just needs to keep getting better, I’ll be excited then.
On if Darnold gives him a better chance to win than McCown…
I think I can win with both. I think Sam’s growth gives us a chance to win with him right now and that’s who I’m going with.
On selecting Darnold when he believes the Jets can win with either quarterback…
Sam’s got feet to get himself out of trouble probably. And he has a good pocket feel. He’s probably a bit quicker, a step quicker than Josh at this point, but Josh obviously is smarter – (he’s been) playing in the league longer. But Sam picks things up very well also. It’s good to have a quarterback that can throw and move his feet.
On when he saw Darnold win over his teammates…
I think it was a process every day. He’d done some things in the spring, they wanted to see him do them in pads. I think he kind of won them over little by little. It’s not so much the throws, but the grasp of the offense, the checking of the audibles and understanding and just being a team guy. I think he’s won them over by being just one of the guys and doing his job.
On if Darnold has a calm demeanor and if that’s a good quality for a quarterback to have…
Well it’s good. I’m sure he’s got highs and lows. He hides it probably as well as I do right now. I think he will be fine. He’s great to be around from a professional standpoint and a personal standpoint. All the coaches know the guys on the team love being around him.
On what it says about Darnold that he was able to come in and win the starting job over a veteran incumbent…
That’s just him. He loves to compete and whether it was a starter or a backup, I think he would have been fine. Like I said, we didn’t hold him back but we didn’t rush him either. He just came in with a work hard mentality and kept his head down and he earned it. It says a lot about him.
On if he feels the team has enough around Darnold to make him successful…
Yeah, I do.
On what gives him that confidence…
It’s not about who you have. It’s about what you do with what you have, and that’s any team and any coach. We feel like we have a good scheme around him. We feel like he can do some things for us and the team can do some things for him to help make everybody better.
On if he would like to pursue signing Dan Bailey…
We haven’t done anything yet. When we leave here we are going to work him out.
On if he signed Jeremiah Attaochu…
Yes we signed Attaochu.
On if there is a corresponding move…
Yes, it will be coming up in a second.
On how tough it was to make the cuts over the weekend…
They were tough because we had some good football players. We had guys that had good training camps obviously. Again, that’s not a surprise that they get picked up by other teams, because they are good football players and they were tough decisions all the way around.
On what happened with Chad Hansen after having a good spring…
Other guys made plays too. I really liked Hansen. He’s a good football player, and I think he will do well up there in New England. But we understood when we let guys go that there’s a chance they’re going to get picked up. We thought we had a few good football players that we were going to let go that were going to get picked up and he did.
On how he feels about the outside linebacker situation and if Attaochu will play at that spot…
We added one, he’s got to learn some things first. Right now, I feel fine. I feel fine. We have guys that can do certain things. We are going to let them do things they do best.
On if he is exploring adding another outside linebacker…
I think all year you explore and see what’s out there to help your team get better. It’s not just that position, it’s every position.
On how interesting they were in Khalil Mack…
There was interest I’m sure, but he went to the Bears and that’s that.
On if he feels like he has returners on the team…
They’ve caught the ball. Obviously, Andre (Roberts) can return punts and (Trenton) Cannon has gotten better. We’ll just keep working at it and be ready to play.
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