The last time Jets quarterback Sam Darnold suffered a losing streak, he barely saw the field.

The year was 2013. Darnold was a junior at San Clemente High School. And the Tritons lost eight straight to finish the season - though Darnold appeared in just three games that year due to injury.

That was the last time one of Darnold's teams lost three straight.

It never happened at Southern Cal; the Trojans lost three out of four three times in his three seasons, but all before Darnold took over as the starter.

Now, just a few weeks into his NFL career, Darnold is in unfamiliar territory.

So how does a guy who has never had to handle prolonged losing deal with failure in the country's largest market and at football's highest level?

"Every single day you come in here and work and obviously when you lose - we're not trying to lose, we're trying to win ballgames here," Darnold said. "It's just obviously, it sucks because you put so much time into the week trying to beat these guys and then you just come up short on the weekend and during the game. That's not what you want.

"But at the same time, we just have to keep the same mindset that we've been having. One team, one goal, we're all we have. We're just going to continue to think about it like that and just understand it from a team perspective is just sticking together and continuing to prepare the way we have and we're very confident and, like I said in the beginning, very optimistic that this thing - our offense, defense, special teams, all phases - it's going to start clicking."

So, in short, Darnold seems to be handling it just fine.

And despite a second straight ugly stat line - 17-of-34, 167 yards, one TD - in Sunday's 31-12 loss to the Jaguars at TIAA Bank Field, Darnold found some positives from that performance, too.

"I felt like I was seeing the field a lot clearer," Darnold said. "I made some progress there and just being able to see pressures and see coverage and all of that. You know, I'm feeling more and come confident. Obviously not the outcome that we wanted, but I'm feeling more and more confident as a quarterback in the NFL in general. It was reassuring to watch the film and see how much I've grown, but also all the stuff that I need to work on. But I'm optimistic about where our team is headed and where I can grow as a player."

Matt Stypulkoski may be reached at mstypulkoski@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @M_Stypulkoski. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.