Mornhinweg: No QB controversy

[Larz]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10858164/marty-mornhinweg-new-york-jets-offensive-coordinator-believes-geno-smith-michael-vick-work-beautifully

 

 

When the New York Jets begin OTA practices in a few weeks, Geno Smith will get most of the first-team reps at quarterback, not Michael Vick.

It's a potential quarterback controversy, but offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg doesn't see it that way. He expects a harmonious competition.

"I think this thing will work beautifully," Mornhinweg said Tuesday, speaking to reporters for the first time since Vick signed last month. "I expect Geno to progress at a high rate with Mike's help. It's just that simple."

Mornhinweg was careful not to define the players' current or future roles, but he made it clear the organization's objective is to help Smith continue the progress he showed at the end of last season.

Geno Smith, not Michael Vick, will get first-team reps when the Jets start OTAs.

Reading between the lines, it means the Jets hope Smith is good enough in the preseason to retain his job. Without calling Smith the starter, Mornhinweg said the second-year quarterback will be the first behind center, but it will vary on a daily basis.

"We're going to structure it a certain way," Mornhinweg said. "One thing I want to make sure of is that nothing impedes the young quarterback's progression. I'm talking about Geno. He progressed beautifully, and I'm talking the last quarter of the season. He played at a high level. "

Smith said last week he expects to be the opening-day quarterback. While hopeful that he will continue his ascent, the Jets aren't sold on him as their long-term answer. He was wildly inconsistent through his first 12 starts as a rookie. That's why they signed Vick, who worked under Mornhinweg with the Philadelphia Eagles.

 

 

Upon signing a one-year, $4 million contract, Vick conceded the starting job belongs to Smith as of now. Mornhinweg wouldn't put it that way, at least not in so many words.

"We brought Mike in to compete, to push Geno and to make Geno the very best he can be," Mornhinweg said.

At least one of Mornhinwg's former players doesn't agree. On Monday, Eagles running back LeSean McCoy told the New York Post that Vick is "way better" than Smith and will be the opening-day starter.

Mornhinweg tried to make light of McCoy's comments.

"I like LeSean, LeSean is one of my favorites" he said. "He had a good day media-wise, didn't he? Sounds like it."

This will be a highly scrutinized competition, and every comment will be magnified. The Jets experienced a similar situation last summer, when it was Smith and Mark Sanchez, who was replaced by Vick. Smith won by default, when Sanchez suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the preseason.

Vick enjoyed his best season, 2010, when Mornhinweg was the Eagles' offensive coordinator, but he has suffered from durability and turnover issues, losing his job to Nick Foles last season after a hamstring injury.

Mornhinweg said he expects a "seamless transition" for Vick because he already knows the system.

"He's 33 years old and he's still got it," Mornhinweg said. "I look at him as a young 33; he's still got it. He's going to compete hard, he's going to push, he's going to make Geno and the rest of the quarterbacks the very best they can be. When he's called upon to play, I've got great confidence in Mike."

The Jets' offense, which finished 31st in scoring, will have a different look. The team signed two high-profile free agents, wide receiver Eric Decker and running back Chris Johnson.

"What a great player," Mornhinweg said of Johnson. "He's certainly electric, dynamic. He has speed."

Johnson rushed for a career-low 3.9 yards per carry last season with the Tennessee Titans. Mornhinweg believes it was partly due to a torn-cartilage injury, which occurred in Week 3. His hope is that Johnson and Decker can add to the foundation the Jets set last season.

"Last year was quite possibly the start of something special," Mornhinweg said.

[Larz]

it sure seems like vick was brought in to not only push geno, but mentor him.  I think it may be premature to just assume vick is the opening day starter

[Stonehands]

If Vick is the starter, it will be because Geno regressed from the last 6 games last year. I think Geno is going to be a better QB this year.

[kelticwizard]

In a QB competition, the incumbent usually starts training camp as the starter.  That doesn't mean the new guy can't beat him, it just means that that he was the incumbent last year.  On the other hand, if Vick was taking the first team snaps from the first day of training camp, it would be a sure sign that Geno had already been surpassed on the depth chart.

 

I do believe though, that if Geno shows improvement this year, Vick would have to play lights out to win the competition.

[CrazyCarl40]

If Vick is the starter, it will be because Geno regressed from the last 6 games last year. I think Geno is going to be a better QB this year.

 

It would be hard to be much worse.

 

If Vick is the starter, the Jets are in trouble and looking for a new QB of the future next offseason.

[slats]

"We're going to structure it a certain way," Mornhinweg said. "One thing I want to make sure of is that nothing impedes the young quarterback's progression. I'm talking about Geno. He progressed beautifully, and I'm talking the last quarter of the season. He played at a high level.

I can't imagine what the uproar would be if this quote was from Rex, but this is Marty Mornhinweg, a guy who knows good QB play when he sees it. In fact, he knows Mike Vick when he was playing at his best. Looks pretty clear to me that he sees Geno's upside as much higher than Vick's.

And he should. Geno's passer rating over those last four games was better than Vick's career mark. He cut back on the turnovers drastically, something Vick has been unable to do over the course of his career. He made much better decisions down the stretch, tucking the ball and running rather than throwing the ball away - or to the other team. And he made those improvements with a pretty crappy cast of talent around him. With the additions of Decker and CJ already, and the very real possibility that they come out of the draft with a top 5 WR and a top 5 TE, the weapons he has to work with will be significantly improved.

I'm looking forward to Vick being planted on the bench.

[Lizard King]

"I like LeSean, LeSean is one of my favorites"  -- /sarc

[Klecko73isGod]

If Mike Vick starts any regular season games for the Jets this season we are ****ed. 

[SenorGato]

Mornhinweg knows that Geno has got this. I don't know how it's not common knowledge.

[Joe Jets fan]

I can't believe I am gonna defend Geno but I just looked at this and can see a interesting fact.

 

This is Geno's Game log from ESPN for 2013. 

2013 REGULAR SEASON GAME LOG PASSING RUSHING DATE OPP RESULT CMP ATT YDS CMP% AVG LNG TD INT QBR RAT ATT YDS AVG LNG TD Sun 9/8

 

TB W 18-17 24 38 256 63.2 6.74 26 1 1 48.5 80.6 6 47 7.8 13 0 Thu 9/12

 

NE L 10-13 15 35 214 42.9 6.11 37 0 3 15.0 27.6 3 17 5.7 16 0 Sun 9/22

 

BUF W 27-20 16 29 331 55.2 11.41 69 2 2 85.8 89.9 4 14 3.5 8 1 Sun 9/29

 

TEN L 13-38 23 34 289 67.6 8.50 36 1 2 7.8 79.2 3 7 2.3 16 0 Mon 10/7

 

ATL W 30-28 16 20 199 80.0 9.95 47 3 0 73.2 147.7 3 21 7.0 8 0 Sun 10/13

 

PIT L 6-19 19 34 201 55.9 5.91 29 0 2 6.5 48.8 3 8 2.7 9 0 Sun 10/20

 

NE W 30-27 (OT) 17 33 233 51.5 7.06 27 1 1 38.9 71.9 6 32 5.3 14 1 Sun 10/27

 

CIN L 9-49 20 30 159 66.7 5.30 26 0 2 4.1 51.9 2 8 4.0 5 0 Sun 11/3

 

NO W 26-20 8 19 115 42.1 6.05 44 0 0 14.8 62.4 6 18 3.0 6 1 Sun 11/17

 

BUF L 14-37 8 23 103 34.8 4.48 38 0 3 0.7 10.1 1 0 0.0 0 0 Sun 11/24

 

BAL L 3-19 9 22 127 40.9 5.77 30 0 2 3.8 22.3 3 6 2.0 5 0 Sun 12/1

 

MIA L 3-23 4 10 29 40.0 2.90 12 0 1 1.6 8.3 1 2 2.0 2 0 Sun 12/8

 

OAK W 37-27 16 25 219 64.0 8.76 32 1 1 87.3 88.6 5 50 10.0 32 1 Sun 12/15

 

CAR L 20-30 15 28 167 53.6 5.96 35 1 1 34.6 68.6 6 44 7.3 14 0 Sun 12/22

 

CLE W 24-13 20 36 214 55.6 5.94 22 2 0 83.1 91.7 10 48 4.8 17 1 Sun 12/29

 

MIA W 20-7 17 27 190 63.0 7.04 34 0 0 90.7 83.9 10 44 4.4 

 

 

 

Now this is Kerleys game log. 

 

 

2013 REGULAR SEASON GAME LOG RECEIVING RUSHING FUMBLES DATE OPP RESULT REC TGTS YDS AVG LNG TD ATT YDS AVG LNG TD FUM LST

 

Sun 9/8

TB W 18-17 3 4 45 15.0 26 0 1 -1 -1.0 -1 0 0 0 Sun 9/22

 

BUF W 27-20 2 5 25 12.5 18 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 Sun 9/29

 

TEN L 13-38 4 5 65 16.3 23 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 Mon 10/7

 

ATL W 30-28 5 6 68 13.6 21 1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 Sun 10/13

 

PIT L 6-19 2 7 19 9.5 10 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 Sun 10/20

 

NE W 30-27 (OT) 8 10 97 12.1 22 1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 Sun 10/27

 

CIN L 9-49 3 4 27 9.0 14 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 Sun 11/3

 

NO W 26-20 1 2 1 1.0 1 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 Sun 12/8

 

OAK W 37-27 4 7 41 10.3 25 1 1 3 3.0 3 0 0 0 Sun 12/15

 

CAR L 20-30 1 3 25 25.0 25 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 Sun 12/22

 

CLE W 24-13 5 11 70 14.0 22 0 1 8 8.0 8 0 0 0 Sun 12/29

 

MIA W 20-7 5 8 40 8.0 12 0 1 1 1.0 1 0 0 0 REGULAR SEASON STATS 43 72 523 12.2 26 3 4 11 2.8 8 0 0 0

 

 

Now if you compare games that Kerley played in and played the entire game Geno played much better.

 

Kerley was the Jets only WR that was in camp and is a real WR.   

 

Big diffrerence in how Geno played when he had at leat one real QB.  Now he is going to have Decker, Kerley, Neilson with a full camp and a draft pick WR.     I expect Geno is going to be a lot better in 2014.

 

Maybe its my hatrid of Vick that made me look buts its pretty legit that Geno played better with Kerley then without.

[kelticwizard]

The three games Kerley was out the beginning of the second half of the season-Bills, Ravens, and Dolphins-the Jets lost by a combined score of 79-20.  Kerley comes back against Oakland and the Jets win 37-27.

 

Draw your own conclusions.  And that's with one genuine, experienced receiver who was there from the beginning to throw to.  David Nelson from Buffalo came in the middle of the season, took him some games to get in the flow with Geno.

[JohnnyLV]

If anyone watches the Mornhinweg's  interview on the official Jets sight, there is no doubt that Geno is the starter and Vick the mentor/emergency guy