New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold, left, loses control of the ball as he is sacked by New England Patriots' John Simon (55) during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Oct. 21, 2019, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun) AP
In New England, Patriots fans remember Sam Darnold for his woeful performances as a Jet.
He was the guy who completed 11 of 32 passes with four interceptions in a 33-0 loss to New England in 2019. That was back when the Belichick Patriots were still good and the Jets were every bit as bad as they always are.
So when suddenly-good-again Patriots earned a trip to the Super Bowl to find Darnold waiting for them, many New England fans got excited.
But this is not your ghost-seeing Sam Darnold, still dripping with Jets stink.
Freed from Gang Green’s gangrene, Darnold has emerged as one of the NFL’s better quarterbacks.
He finished in the top 10 in the NFL in passing yards (4,048), passing yards per game (238.1), completion percentage (67.7) and touchdown passes (25).
But more than that, he’s become a winner. He’s the prized graduate of the San Francisco 49ers quarterback rehabilitation program. After a year as Brock Purdy’s backup under Kyle Shanahan, he moved to Minnesota and thrived.
He’s won more games in each of the last two years (14) than he did in his three seasons combined with the Jets. Now he’s the first quarterback from a 2018 draft class that includes Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield to get to the Super Bowl.
Darnold is a reminder that the Jets problems might not be getting the right guy at quarterback, it’s their complete inability to develop good players that they already have.
With Darnold at quarterback last year, the Minnesota Vikings went from lousy in 2023 (7-10) to good in 2024 (14-3). The Seahawks jumped from a team just outside of the playoffs (10-7) in 2024 to the No. 1 seed (14-3) and the Super Bowl this year.
Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah admitted he second-guessed himself for letting Darnold go in favor of first-round pick J.J. McCarty.
“There are nights you wake up and stare at the ceiling and ask yourself,”Adofo-Mensah said. “I always go back to the process and what we thought at the time. I still understand why we did what we did. The results maybe didn’t play out the way we wanted them to, but ultimately, at the end of the day I think we could have executed in certain places.”
Last week against the Rams, Darnold went toe-to-toe with likely MVP Matt Stafford and threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns.
To beat the Seahawks, the Patriots will need to be better on offense than they’ve been. They can’t count on Darnold folding like Justin Herbert, C.J. Stroud and Jarrett Stidham did or like Darnold used to, back in the day.
Outtakes from a busy week...
Playing the Patriots was bad for job security in 2025
Of the 17 teams that the Patriots have played to this point, 12 fired either their head coach or at least one coordinator. Nine teams fired head coaches, and Mike Tomlin stepped down from the Steelers. Three others, who kept their head coaches, including two playoff teams, fired at least one coordinator.
Only Carolina, New Orleans, Cincinnati and Houston kept their leadership intact.
A second non-Belichick voter comes forward
The second voter to admit he didn’t vote for Bill Belichick comes from Indianapolis, a town where Belichick’s popularity might be the lowest of any NFL market.
Mike Chappell, who works for Fox59, joined Kansas City’s Vahe Gregorian among the voters to admit they didn’t vote for Belichick.
Gregorian wrote a well-thought-out column about the problems in the voting process and how his intention was to vote for senior players, who he deemed worthy, whose chances might be dwindling.
Chappell tried to sell his vote as for Kraft and not against Belichick, but then he wrote as one of his reasons:
“But there’s no erasing the stain of Spygate from his bio. This wasn’t alleged behavior. The NFL fined Belichick $500,000 – the maximum allowed – along with docking the Patriots $250,000 and a first-round draft pick for illegally videotaping New York Jets signals in 2007."
That certainly sounds like voting against Belichick.
Real Jeopardy! Clue
Sports clues from actual editions of America’s favorite quiz show. As always, mind the date
CATEGORY: Women’s Sports $1000
Date: Jan. 26, 2026
Russian gymnast Larisa Latynina is tied for most women’s Olympic golds with this American who may try for more in 2028
— Answer below
The Top 5
The Top 5
5 — Downhill Skiing
4 — Bobsleigh
3 — Curling
2 — Speed Skating
1 — Men’s and women’s hockey
Today in Sports History
Jan. 30
1996 — Magic Johnson returns from temporary retirement with 19 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds for the Lakers.
Lightning round
The Buffalo Bills clearly had no plan for a coaching search if they were considering Philip Rivers and settled on Joe Brady, who was part of what they were already doing.
Shouldn’t Dan Vladar have a Darth Vader themed goalie mask?
Bill Belichick may have been snubbed, but in the lead up to the Super Bowl, people are talking about what a great coach he was instead of cracking jokes about his personal life or mocking his failure at Carolina.
I cringed every time Jayson Tatum said something or posted a video of his rehab insinuating that he might be back sooner than expected. There was no value to raising expectations and now that he’s doing an about face, it looks bad.
Bruins rookie defenseman Jonathan Aspirot leads the team at +21.
Real Jeopardy! Question:
Who is Katie Ledecky?
Finally...
Happy National Fun at Work Day to those who celebrate.