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Jets rookie QB Christian Hackenberg was historically bad against the Eagles
The New York Jets were reluctant to give rookie quarterback Christian Hackenberg any time on the field in the first two preseason games. If you look at his last two stat lines, you can probably see why.
In his last two preseason games -- also the first two of his career -- he’s been terrible. Hackenberg, a second-round pick, completed 36.2 percent of his passes for 159 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
If those numbers seem bad, take a glance at his stats from Thursday night against the Eagles by themselves.
In his first extended action of the preseason, Hackenberg laid an egg. A historically bad egg. He completed 11 of 31 passes for 54 yards and an interception, which was returned 90 yards for a score.
None of those statistics are marginally good, but one in particular sticks out: 1.7 yards per attempt. By comparison, Carson Palmer led the league in that department last season at 8.7 yards per attempt. The worst was Nick Foles at 6.1 yards per attempt.
It’s typically used as a gauge for how often the quarterback throws downfield, and how long his completions are. With that in mind, you’ll realize just how bad Hackenberg’s mark on Thursday night was.
In fact, it’s rarely been done in the regular season. Only three times in NFL history has a quarterback attempted at least 20 passes and averaged under 2.0 yards per attempt. Those players are Peyton Manning in 2015, Anthony Wright in 2000, and Anthony Wright again in 2001.
No player has ever done it with 30-plus pass attempts, or even more than 23 throws. Given his completion percentage and low yardage total, his outing could have been worse. After all, he did throw just one interception. But Hackenberg didn’t think it was all bad.
“I saw things well tonight, what they were doing from that standpoint,” Hackenberg said. “It’s just getting repetition to do it. It was a good opportunity for me to be able to go out there and do that.”
His interception went to safety Ed Reynolds, who was stunned Hackenberg actually threw the ball his way on the play.
“I was like, ‘There’s no way he is throwing this ball.’ And he threw it,” Reynolds said.
Of course, it’s just the preseason. There’s almost no chance Hackenberg -- or any quarterback -- would have been left in the game for 31 pass attempts unless the team’s backup quarterback was on a stretcher … or Tim Tebow. But this truly shows how unprepared Hackenberg is for the NFL.
He’s not a viable starter at this point and has shown he’s not even ready to be a backup for the Jets. Fortunately, he still has plenty of time to sit behind Ryan Fitzpatrick and learn the ins and outs of the NFL, but the start to his career has been a shaky one.
He’s going to take his two rough outings and turn them into positives.
“I think statistics are what they are,” Hackenberg said. “There is a lot that can be learned from the film, and that is something that we’ll go back and we’ll evaluate. Again, I was very grateful for the opportunity to go out and get the reps. It’s something that I hadn’t had throughout the majority of the preseason, so the last two weeks have been awesome for me, and I think are really going to help me move forward.”
