Can Geno Smith Save the Jets?

[JetNation]

For the Jets last year, coming up with good quarterback play seemed harder than getting front-row tickets to “The Book of Mormon.” After leading the Jets to two AFC championships and scoring a $58 million contract, quarterback Mark Sanchez struggled during both the 2011 and 2012 seasons. In 2012, he completed less than 67 percent of his passes and committed the infamous “butt fumble.” No sports betting site has odds on Sanchez starting for the Jets this season.

What about Tebow? The divine favor that seemed to be with Tim Tebow in Denver didn’t accompany him to New York, where he threw eight passes, ran 32 times and was then released by the Jets in April. Veteran David Garrard sat out the season, hadn’t played since 2010 because of injury, and is now officially retired. Greg McElroy got some play in 2012, although he missed the last game of the season because he was suffering from concussion symptoms.

What’s a franchise to do? Enter Geno Smith. Smith was a second-round draft pick for the Jets, coming in at 39^th overall. Smith threw 4,200 passing yards and 42 touchdowns for West Virginia last year. At first, Smith took some flak from the media (coincidentally, right after he fired his agents). He was busted for texting during draft meetings, and some people mocked him for getting new representation from Jay-Z’s Roc Nation agency. However, Geno has managed to squelch his naysayers by putting in a solid performance during training camp. In fact, many Jets fans and armchair quarterbacks are rooting for Smith to replace Sanchez as the starter.

A Rocky Start

Geno Smith’s experience at the NFL draft was not so great. He wasn’t picked at all in the first round and even considered leaving New York’s Radio City Music Hall to go home. He decided to stay for the second round, but rumors circulated about his diva-like behavior. For example, when he was visiting teams for pre-draft meetings, according to Yahoo Sports, Smith sat alone sending out text messages, scrolling through Twitter and playing with his phone during the meetings.

Pro Football Weekly gave Geno a scathing review. The review described him as having a marginal work ethic and called him out for being neither “committed” nor “focused.” Also, the review said he had a nonchalant field presence that neither inspired nor commanded respect. A league executive said that Geno had the ability to throw and obviously wanted to be good, but that he “doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.”

Once preseason practice began, Geno demonstrated his abilities. During his first-team reps, he threw eight out of nine passes even though he was sacked twice. Most commentators agree that it’s a two-man race between Geno and Mark Sanchez. And many feel that it’s a race that Mark Sanchez is likely to lose.

Getting Geno to the Front of the Line

Smith has a few obstacles to overcome before he gets the nod from Rex Ryan. First of all, he has to learn a completely new offense. Second, he has to overcome the perception that he’s more about celebrity than performance. However, his passes have good velocity and he throws a nice spiral.  He is also getting more comfortable with leadership as he learns offense, although he acknowledges that his footwork needs improvement. More than likely, Ryan will give him the starting job against Tampa Bay on Sept. 8.

So how do you solve a problem like Mark Sanchez? If another team’s quarterback suffers injury during the pre-season, then the Jets will probably trade Sanchez away. The owners know that the fans will not be pleased if Sanchez goes up against Tampa Bay at MetLife Stadium.

Sanchez won’t go away quietly. He’s agreed to help Smith when he can, but he’s also made it clear that he plans to compete for the starting job. Sanchez’s enthusiasm is too little, too late. He won’t be wearing a Jets uniform in September.

Image by Zennie Abraham From Flickr’s Creative Commons

About the Author: Gary O’Brien is a writer and betting enthusiast. He uses www.sportsbettingsites.com when it comes to his football-related bets.

Follow Me:

View the full article

[FloridaJetsFan]

And who is this desperate team that is willing to trade for an $8 Million substandard backup?

[slats]

Sanchez won’t go away quietly. He’s agreed to help Smith when he can, but he’s also made it clear that he plans to compete for the starting job. Sanchez’s enthusiasm is too little, too late. He won’t be wearing a Jets uniform in September.

[..]

About the Author: Gary O’Brien is a writer and betting enthusiast. He uses [a website] when it comes to his football-related bets.

Does the betting enthusiast care to make a wager?

[faba]

We are stuck with him this year -can not get around that fact

[flgreen]

We are stuck with him this year -can not get around that fact

Which one?

[faba]

Mark and his contract makes a trade unrealistic and we will not just dump him and eat the cost- we all know this

[CrazyCarl40]

I think there should be wayyyyy more articles about the QB situation.

[JoeKlecko]

Save the Jets from what? Themselves?  Sanchez?  Gay marriage?

 

The title is more than a little silly.  Let's give the kid a chance to work on his footwork fundamentals, learn the offense, get to know his receivers, and adapt to the NFL before we dump a ton of pressure on him by hanging the "savior" title on him.

 

In all likelihood, Sanchez is here this season.  IMO, several things would have to happen for Sanchez NOT to be with the Jets in 2013.  First and foremost, some other team would have to suffer a catastrophic loss of their starting QB for the season between now and the end of TC, and perhaps their backup as well.  Second, not only would Smith have to blow Sanchez away in the QB competition in TC, demonstrating that he solidly knows the offense and has resolved his footwork issues, but probably also Simms or McElroy would also have to emerge as a solid backup option.  

 

Idzik's no fool (or at least hasn't proven to be one yet).  Can you imagine the hits he'd take if the impossible happened and some team did blow the Jets away with a trade offer for Sanchez, Idzik accepted, then Smith either fell flat on his face once the season started and/or went down with a serious injury right off the bat?  The Jets would then be faced with either Simms or McElroy starting for them.  While many of us Jets fans may have accepted the fact that this will be a rebuild year and are so sick of seeing Sanchez on the field that we'd be willing to see Simms or McElroy just because we haven't seen them play much yet (or any in Simms case), but I doubt Woody or Idzik would go that far.  Further, while I have no doubts that Sanchez won't be with the team past this season, I think Idzik prefers for Sanchez to start this season and to thus give Smith some time to work out his fundamentals, learn the offense and adapt to life in the NFL relatively free from pressure.   I think he has a goal of Smith starting at some point this season, possibly by mid-season if not somewhere around game 5-6.  He may want Mornhinweg to ease Smith into playing time, giving him a package of plays, and steadily increasing his amount of playing time each week, until they are ready to annoint him the starter.