NY Jets: Sam Darnold (shoulder) ruled out Sunday vs. Cardinals, Joe Flacco to start Week 5

FLORHAM PARK — The New York Jets will be without starting quarterback Sam Darnold on Sunday when they host the Cardinals. 

Darnold, who suffered an AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder during Thursday night’s loss to the Broncos, was ruled out by coach Adam Gase on Wednesday. Backup Joe Flacco will start in his place. 

Darnold is “week-to-week,” according to Gase. 

“We went through our process,” Gase said. “Our doctors, second opinions, just making sure we did the right thing, not only by him — [for] the immediate future and long term.”

Gase said the doctors will reevaluate Darnold after this week before determining his status going forward. 

No matter how long Darnold is out, it's bad for him and the Jets, who drafted him third overall in 2018.

Through the first 30 starts of his career, Darnold has shown flashes of potential but has yet to put everything together. The 23-year-old has been average at best through his first two-plus seasons, completing 59.8 percent of his passes and throwing for 39 touchdowns and 32 interceptions. And he's mostly struggled through the first four games of this season.

The Jets are 0-4 and seem destined for a very high pick in next year's draft. And with the best quarterback prospect in years sitting at the top of the 2021 draft class, Clemson's Trevor Lawrence, every missed game is one less opportunity for Darnold to prove to the Jets, and everyone else, that he is the quarterback of this team's future. 

But Darnold, who has missed at least three games in each of the past two seasons, didn't sound downtrodden on Wednesday, despite being forced out of the lineup again. 

"I’m definitely glass half full on this thing," Darnold said. "Joe’s a great player, got a lot of experience and I’m sure I am going to learn a ton watching him play, but definitely want to be out there with the guys first and foremost."

This will be the seventh game Darnold has missed because of injury or illness. The Jets are 0-6 in those games — Darnold sat out three games with a foot injury late in his 2018 rookie season and missed three games early last year with mononucleosis. 

Gase said that this absence should be less disruptive to Darnold than last year's bout with mono. 

"I’m looking at it right now as hopefully he gets better quickly and he doesn’t miss too much time," Gase said. "I think it’s a different situation than last year for sure where he was out of the building, he couldn’t be around anybody for I think it was like 10 days or something like that. Here, he’s in the meetings today, he’s going to be able to go and practice and be around, be locked in in that way."

During the early part of Wednesday's practice, when reporters were allowed to observe, Darnold watched closely as Flacco and the other quarterbacks went through warmups. Earlier in the week, he had voiced strongly that he wanted to be on the field no matter what if he was capable of playing. But the Jets decided to be cautious and wait until some of the pain in his throwing shoulder went away before letting him return. 

No one can question the Jets for erring on the side of caution nearly a week after he suffered the injury. But it's fair to wonder why the Jets let Darnold return to last week's game, and play three full quarters after he suffered the injury on a hard sack. 

But Gase and Darnold said they have no second thoughts about that decision. 

"No, at that time [the medical staff] thought that that was the right thing to do," Gase said. "He wanted to go back in, they knew what [the injury] was. Obviously after the game, the next day, he was a lot more sore than he was in real time. They weren’t worried about further damage, really it’s just it would be hard for him to really go practice this week. We want to just be smart with him, we want to try to get him to feel better."

Both Darnold and Gase have declined to reveal the severity of the shoulder sprain, when asked specifically. 

"I don't know if I want to go into details on that," Gase said. "I know he’s in a lot of pain. That’s what it is, he can raise his arm a certain degree, but to go out and practice, it’d be very difficult for him right now."

That's the real issue with Darnold, the pain. Immediately after the injury, Darnold was able to play through the pain because of the situation. But because of the nature of the injury, it got worse after the game and obviously continues to be an issue. 

"During the course of the game you got adrenaline running through your body," Darnold said. "And for me especially, once I already start playing the game, I want nothing more than to finish. ... Yeah, I got hurt and did it hurt, yeah. But I just wanted to go out there and the doctor said I can play if I was able to and I felt like I was good enough to throw a football and sure enough I finished. The next day and even the day after, yesterday, on Tuesday, it was rough."

A year ago, when Darnold missed time the Jets were completely ineffective on offense. But one of the reasons the Jets signed Flacco in the offseason was to give the team a proven veteran presence in case Darnold ever missed time. 

Gase said the offense won’t be much different with Flacco at the helm.

“Those guys [Darnold and Flacco] have similar are strength and everything,” Gase said. “Those guys can make all the same throws.” 

This season:Could the NY Jets actually go 0-16? Breaking down their tough remaining schedule

Coaching:NY Jets won't fire Adam Gase after losing to Broncos; What happens next?

Other injuries

The Jets won't have Darnold on Sunday, but they should have some other key pieces on offense ready to return to action.

Running back Le'Veon Bell, who suffered a hamstring injury in the season-opener against Buffalo and spent the next three games on injured reserve, was designated to return to practice Wednesday. Wide receiver Vyncint Smith, who had core surgery early in training camp and has been on injured reserve since, also was also designated to return, along with linebacker Blake Cashman (groin) and rookie defensive lineman Jabari Zuniga. 

The status of star left tackle Mekhi Becton is still up in the air, however. He did not practice as he continues to deal with a shoulder injury that he suffered late in the first half in the Week 3 loss to the Colts.

Gase said Becton still doesn't have the proper strength in his injured shoulder and the Jets are taking his status "day by day."

Andy Vasquez is the Jets beat writer for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to all Jets analysis, news, trades and more, please subscribe today and download our app.

Email: vasqueza@northjersey.com Twitter: @andy_vasquez