A look at the quarterbacks in intriguing matchup
If you’ve ever traveled around California, you realize the vibe in SoCal is quite different than NorCal.
Sam Darnold is SoCal to the bone. He grew up on the beaches of Orange County, played the most glamorous position in college football (quarterback at USC) and when asked Wednesday about Andrew Luck, the Colts quarterback whom he and the New York Jets will play host to Sunday afternoon, the first phrase out of his mouth was “bright dude.”
But if you drive up the 101 far enough from Los Angeles, inevitably you’ll hit Palo Alto, home of Luck’s alma mater, Stanford.
Stanford and USC are both elite academic institutions — and bitter football rivals — but couldn’t be more diametrically opposed. USC is known for its dramatic arts and communication programs (Darnold was enrolled in the latter before heading to the pros after three years on campus), while Stanford is known for its engineering and biological sciences, and also has an excellent architectural design program from which Luck graduated in 2012.
The 29-year-old Luck isn’t a native Californian. He’s the son of Oliver Luck, a former pro quarterback with the Houston Oilers who moved his family, and a young Andrew, back to the area to become the CEO of the Houston Sports Authority, which got the three new arenas — Minute Maid Park (Astros), the Toyota Center (Rockets and WNBA’s Comets) and NRG Stadium (Texans) — built in the city in a three-year span in the early 2000s.
So Andrew went to high school (where he was co-valedictorian) deep in the heart of Texas, not on the shores of the Pacific like Darnold. When Luck was asked about Darnold after Indy’s Wednesday practice, he laughed and said: “I didn’t even think about who the other team’s quarterback was until you asked that question.”
Too often we who write about the NFL try to make that week’s game about the quarterback matchup. But Darnold won’t be pass rushing against Luck, and Luck won’t be trying to intercept Darnold.
So, then what? Can we compare the two?
Darnold said he “could see some similarities,” between himself and Luck, while Colts head coach Frank Reich (who was Eagles offensive coordinator the last two seasons) compared the 21-year-old, at least as far as NFL readiness, to Carson Wentz.
But Luck and Darnold are not really similar quarterbacks, except for their ability to scramble. Luck’s throwing motion is more compact (especially after surgery on his throwing shoulder), while Darnold’s delivery is more elongated (though still quick). Oh, and they both have beards.
There’s no one way to skin a cat in the NFL. For Darnold, Sunday’s game is about stamping himself and the 2018 Jets as a team that can take care of business in a game it’s supposed to win. New York (2-3) is a 2.5-point favorite as of Thursday morning, and rightly so. Aside from Luck, the Colts (1-4) don’t have many playmakers on either side of the ball. And the ones they do have — wide receiver T.Y. Hilton (294 yards, two touchdowns) and linebacker Darius Leonard (leads the NFL with 54 tackles) — are hurt. Leonard (ankle) is expected to be back Sunday, but not Hilton (hamstring).
Darnold has been the prototypical rookie, with his immense talent fully recognizable, but so too his inconsistency. He’s made eye-popping throws, including a 76-yard touchdown to Robby Anderson last week, but he also has six interceptions.
At USC, Darnold lost his first career start and then won 14 in a row; he never lost two straight with the Trojans.
He responded to the Jets’ three-game losing streak last week, but this franchise has seen far more losing streaks than winning ones the last few seasons.
But don’t ask Darnold about that. He was too busy watching Luck dominate at Stanford as a high school freshman in 2011 (yes, he’s that young).
Said Darnold: “I got to watch them a lot, and kind of how they dominated for a little bit up there in the north. It was really fun to watch, and really cool to see how Andrew Luck dissected defenses at such a young age. … It was kind of inspiring to me.”
“Up there in the north” — the true way someone from SoCal would categorize NorCal.
SERIES HISTORY: 70th regular-season meeting. Colts lead series, 41-28. The Jets have won three of the last four games these teams have played in the regular season, but their last meeting was a 41-10 Colts victory on Monday Night Football in Dec. 2016, as Andrew Luck threw four touchdown passes, three to tight end Dwayne Allen.
The teams have met four times in the postseason, with the first being the most famous game in Jets history, their 16-7 win over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, before which Joe Namath famously guaranteed victory for the 18-point underdogs. They also beat the Colts, 41-0, in the wild-card round in 2002, behind three Chad Pennington touchdown passes. The defense picked off Peyton Manning twice as he fell to 0-3 in the playoffs.
The Jets lost in Indianapolis, 30-17, in the 2009 AFC Championship Game, but beat the Colts 17-16 in the wild-card round the next year en route to their second straight conference title game appearance.
The Jets’ last win in the series was Sept. 21, 2015, also a Monday Night Football game, when New York earned a 20-7 victory at Lucas Oil Stadium behind Ryan Fitzpatrick touchdown passes to Eric Decker and Brandon Marshall. Darrelle Revis, Calvin Pryor and Marcus Gilchrist all intercepted Luck.