Adam Gase backs Sam Darnold again

For the second time this season, New York Jets head coach Adam Gase has backed struggling third-year quarterback Sam Darnold. 

How long either man will be linked with the franchise has yet to be determined. 

"I just keep thinking, 'He's 23, none of this can be easy,'" Gase told reporters on Monday, per Rich Cimini of ESPN. "He's a guy that did so much good in college and won a lot of football games. Things haven't always gone as smoothly as everybody always hopes when they get to the NFL."

Darnold returned from a shoulder injury that sidelined him for two games to play against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday and produced arguably the worst performance of his brief NFL career. The 23-year-old completed 12 of 23 passes for a paltry 120 yards with two interceptions, a 31.1 passer rating, and 17.6 QBR. 

Per ESPN's stats, Darnold has the league's second-worst QBR (41.2) among eligible players this season. Dwayne Haskins of the Washington Football Team, who has been relegated to third on the depth chart, is last in that category (31.7). 

The Jets sit at 0-7 and are dead last in the overall NFL standings. It's widely believed the Jets will draft Clemson star signal-caller Trevor Lawrence if they "win" the rights to the first overall pick. In such a scenario, Lawrence likely would be playing under a different coach than Gase. 

"If you look at it statistically, we're not good anywhere statistically," Gase said of his QB's poor play. "What I see in practice a lot of times, I see things that were better than last year. When we get to games, we just have to figure out a way to protect him and let him get in rhythm. I saw some really good things the first half [Sunday]. Then it started getting really muddy in the second half."

Darnold said last week that speculation about the Jets potentially drafting Lawrence is "out of my control" and that he is "here to do my best and help this team win games."