Jets' Darnold looks like rookie in 15-13 loss to Redskins
LANDOVER, Md. (AP) Limited playing experience in high school and college makes Sam Darnold appreciate every game, even if it's just the preseason.
The third overall pick made his first exhibition start for the New York Jetson Thursday night and showed some of the growing pains of a rookie quarterback by throwing an interception , taking two sacks and having a couple of balls batted out of the air.
Darnold was 8 of 11 for 62 yards in the first half before giving way to Teddy Bridgewater in a game the Jets lost to the Washington Redskins15-13 on a last-second field goal.
''Any game experience is huge,'' said Darnold, who felt he played well but wasn't as sharp as his 13 of 18 for 96 yards preseason debut. ''I feel like I'm going to continue to grow and get better every single day, and that's what I'm most excited about is to see how much I'm going to be able to grow and get better.''
Darnold went in looking like the front-runner to win New York's starting QB competition, and it's still muddled after Bridgewater was 10 of 15 for 127 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Veteran Josh McCown didn't play after starting the first preseason game because coach Todd Bowles already knows what he has in the 39-year-old.
''It's already been cloudy,'' Bowles said. ''It'll be a tough choice.''
Darnold showed flashes for the Jets (1-1), going 5 of 5 on his second drive but was sacked by Preston Smith to force a field goal on a night full of them. Bridgewater took some intentional risks to test the left knee he injured two years ago to the point Bowles joked he had a neighborhood he could send the former Vikings quarterback to if he wanted to get hit.
''Some of those plays, I could've thrown the ball away or run out of bounds, but I wanted to challenge myself to see if I could take a hit and it was fun,'' Bridgewater said.