Sam Darnold was having one of his best practices of training camp, throwing darts, creating plays with his legs, burning the No. 1 defense in the red zone for touchdowns. “I like the fact our quarterback’s pretty good,” Jets coach Adam Gase would later say.
While there were plays that offered encouraging signs during the second week of training camp, something not witnessed was also a positive: push-ups.
It almost became laughable during training camp under Todd Bowles how many times practice sessions were interrupted because a penalty was committed and the entire unit had to stop and do push-ups. They were used as a deterrent, but in reality didn’t have much of an impact.
Each of the four seasons Bowles was the head coach, the Jets committed more penalties than their opponents. That’s a trend that has to stop if the Jets are truly going to be contenders. “Self-inflicted wounds can hurt us in the long run,” DL Steve McLendon said.
The deterrent this year at least on the defensive side isn’t push-ups. Instead it’s avoiding the wrath of coordinator Gregg Williams, who uses his voice and video to call out players for mistakes and penalties committed during practice.
“Coach does a good job of holding everybody accountable for their mistakes and if you mess up, you’re going to hear about it in front of the defense,” defensive end Henry Anderson said. “I think that pushes guys to not want to screw their assignments up and commit penalties..”
Anderson wasn’t looking forward to the next film session after being one of a handful of Jets who jumped on a hard count by Darnold. Still, the morning practice after a day off was typical of the generally clean practices the Jets have held under Gase. Real NFL officials were on hand Wednesday to help the Jets get a feel for right and wrong.
“Today I don’t know what it was,” Anderson said. “We weren’t as disciplined up front. We jumped a few times. We’ve got to do a better job of that, but overall I think we are being a little more disciplined, trying to trust our keys up front and on the back end, trusting their technique and not holding receivers.”
The last time the Jets had fewer penalties than their opponents for a season was 2012, when they had just 83 under Rex Ryan. Cutting down on penalties was more talk than action under Bowles, and the Jets seemed to always find a way to hurt themselves. If the push-ups didn’t work, maybe the wrath of Williams will.
“If you mess up, you’re going to hear about it,” Anderson said. “You never want to be up on the board getting called out.”
Anderson doesn’t mind the tough-love approach. “I know for me it’s effective because I never like to get called out,” said the fifth-year veteran, who signed a three-year $25 million extension in the offseason to stay with the Jets. “I try to do my job and have the trust of my teammates to do what I’m supposed to do.”
How effective it will be during regular-season games won’t be known until the penalties start counting for real. The Jets committed 114 penalties in 2018 after totaling 119 in 2017. It’s their two highest penalized seasons ever.
The plan is for Darnold to take a huge jump forward in his level play during his second NFL season and first under Gase’s tutelage. But that growth will be hampered if the Jets continue their pattern under Bowles of being one of the league’s most penalized teams.
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