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Lupica on the Jets' QBs


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NY Jets will stick with Geno Smith, no matter how well Mike Vick plays

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Published: Sunday, August 10, 2014, 1:18 AM Updated: Sunday, August 10, 2014, 2:17 AM

You know why the Jets have to be right about Geno Smith? They have to be right because if they’re not, it means they were wrong about two quarterbacks in a row.

It didn’t look that way at the start with Mark Sanchez, when the Jets were making it to two AFC championship games in a row. But they were wrong. Now Sanchez is gone to Philadelphia, and even people in outer space know that the starting job is Geno’s to lose, even though nobody thinks he is going to lose it unless he slashes the tires on the team bus. And maybe not even then.

Once the Jets turned into the circus when Tim Tebow came to town to back up Sanchez, so the Jets have done everything possible to make sure it doesn’t happen again now that Mike Vick is the lefthander backing up Geno. Vick is not really competing for the starting job, it’s not even a competition, Geno so far has taken 80 percent of the first-team snaps.

And after the first preseason game the other night, after Geno had gone 4-for-6 with 33 passing yards, Rex Ryan talked about how well Geno had played. He even used the word “great” in assessing that performance, talking about how well Geno stepped up in the pocket and protected the ball.

Vick on the same night wasn’t exactly electrifying in his own small sampling, 3-for-6 he was, with 17 yards. But he did take the Jets on a long touchdown drive and got everybody’s blood flowing a couple of times with scrambles, and gave you (brief) reminders of why there was a time when we thought he really was going to be the most electrifying player in the game, before injuries and prison stole so much of his prime and his magic.

So Vick says all the right things about Geno and everybody says all the right things about the Jets quarterback situation, to the point where you think that if anyone did anything to the contrary, they’d disappear from the Jets’ second tour in Cortland, N.Y., this week in the middle of the night. And everybody understands how the program gets set back with the Jets if they are wrong about Geno, if he’s not good enough to take them back to the playoffs, if they have to start all over again, all this time after they were building the program around Sanchez.

It seems that no matter how hard Vick pushes him or how good he looks, it will be Geno Smith under center against the Raiders when the season starts. You don’t have to be a math or analytics genius to see that even if they’re right about the next young starting quarterback after Geno, he might not start to come into his own until almost a full decade after they drafted Sanchez. That’s the timeline when you’re wrong about a young quarterback.

But this whole thing is interesting, not because we’re talking about future Hall of Famers here, but because of how complicated it all is. Ask yourself this question: Which quarterback gives the Jets the best chance to make the playoffs this year, so the team doesn’t go four years under Rex Ryan without making the playoffs?

Maybe Rex doesn’t have to make the playoffs, maybe all he’s got to do is have the team show some promise and some fight the way it did last season on its way to an 8-8 finish for Woody Johnson to keep him around again. But if he really is coaching for his job, you wonder which quarterback he thinks gives him the best chance to hold on to it? Here is something Ryan said this week before the game against the Colts at MetLife on Thursday night:

“Well, I think that if you have Mike Vick come in here, you better be on top of your game, and obviously Geno is. Whether (Smith) needed Mike Vick to be here or not, I’m not sure. But probably not because I know Geno wants it in the worst way to be a great quarterback and the preparation that he did in the offseason, the things he did, but certainly with Mike Vick in there, that does push him.”

But for the time being, one game into the preseason, it seems that no matter how hard Vick pushes him or how good he looks, it will be Geno Smith under center against the Raiders when the season starts for real in September.

I am one who wanted the Jets to draft Geno, I want him to be the guy, even with that awful stretch in the middle of last season, the kid came on at the end, did get his team to 8-8, showed you a lot of arm and a lot of heart, despite all the rookie mistakes he made, and kept making. But I don’t know if he’ll ever be a top quarterback and neither do John Idzik, the Jets general manager, or Rex. And neither do you.

The Jets are clearly playing a long game with Geno Smith. You hear, well, they didn’t use a No. 1 pick on him, it’s different than if they turned out to be wrong about a No. 1 pick. But guess what? Once you hand him the job, you’re treating him that way, whether you took him in the second round or not. He is the new Sanchez. And they desperately want to be right, because the new general manager doesn’t want to be wrong about his guy the way his predecessor was about Sanchez.

There is one more thing in play here: Usually teams that don’t know who their quarterback is in August don’t end up doing much in January. So there’s that.

But if it were an open competition, if they were sharing first-team snaps and getting the same amount of time with the first team in preseason before coaches get their starting quarterbacks out of there, who would be the Jets’ quarterback against the Raiders in September?

Put it another way: If you didn’t know who the Jets starter was watching the first half of the Colts game the other night, who would you think it was?

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I am one who wanted the Jets to draft Geno, I want him to be the guy, even with that awful stretch in the middle of last season, the kid came on at the end, did get his team to 8-8, showed you a lot of arm and a lot of heart, despite all the rookie mistakes he made, and kept making. But I don’t know if he’ll ever be a top quarterback and neither do John Idzik, the Jets general manager, or Rex. And neither do you.

The Jets are clearly playing a long game with Geno Smith. You hear, well, they didn’t use a No. 1 pick on him, it’s different than if they turned out to be wrong about a No. 1 pick. But guess what? Once you hand him the job, you’re treating him that way, whether you took him in the second round or not. He is the new Sanchez. And they desperately want to be right, because the new general manager doesn’t want to be wrong about his guy the way his predecessor was about Sanchez.

This would appear to be Lupica's conclusions, and why I think he's confirming my suspicions that he's just a hack.

1.) If Lupica, Idzik, Rex, or you or I don't know if Geno will ever be a top QB, we also all don't know that he won't.

2.) It's a lot different than if they spent a first rounder on him. He's pretty much got this year to prove himself. If he doesn't, the Jets won't hesitate to go back to the well next year. Also, for the first time since Rex has been here, the Jets have a viable backup in Vick. If Geno is proving he's not the guy during the season, there's somewhere else to turn.

And really, the Jets desperately want to be right about Geno? More excellent analysis. Of course they do. Even people here who absolutely believe that Geno will never amount to anything recognize that if they're wrong the Jets are much better off going forward. It's not the same as being wrong when you trade up to #5 and then hand over a huge contract extension. Being right about a second round QB would be huge, and being wrong wouldn't be the end of the world. Idzik bought himself another shot at a QB by taking his first in the second.

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I am one who wanted the Jets to draft Geno, I want him to be the guy, even with that awful stretch in the middle of last season, the kid came on at the end, did get his team to 8-8, showed you a lot of arm and a lot of heart, despite all the rookie mistakes he made, and kept making.

This sentence tho

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Its simple why Geno is getting the preference because its in the JETS interest to find out if he is the long term solution at the QB spot.. If Geno stinks  they are going to draft another one in next years draft. If Geno shows is average but shows enough progress and proves he can lead the team they will work on providing him more weapons next draft and give the reins to him for one more season. JETS are hoping Geno makes the job his own.

 

Reason why Vick won't get a shot at starting. Because he is just a one year insurance at the QB spot. At his age no team is going to plan a long term future with him and neither are the JETS. If Vick is smart he keeps signing up as the backup for a 5 mill payday every season for holding a clipboard.

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You start the players that give the team the best chance to win. This Geno starting stuff is a joke and I can't believe Jets fans are buying it. If you replace Geno Smith's name with Blair Thomas, you would have thought this article was written in 1991.

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This would appear to be Lupica's conclusions, and why I think he's confirming my suspicions that he's just a hack.

1.) If Lupica, Idzik, Rex, or you or I don't know if Geno will ever be a top QB, we also all don't know that he won't.

2.) It's a lot different than if they spent a first rounder on him. He's pretty much got this year to prove himself. If he doesn't, the Jets won't hesitate to go back to the well next year. Also, for the first time since Rex has been here, the Jets have a viable backup in Vick. If Geno is proving he's not the guy during the season, there's somewhere else to turn.

And really, the Jets desperately want to be right about Geno? More excellent analysis. Of course they do. Even people here who absolutely believe that Geno will never amount to anything recognize that if they're wrong the Jets are much better off going forward. It's not the same as being wrong when you trade up to #5 and then hand over a huge contract extension. Being right about a second round QB would be huge, and being wrong wouldn't be the end of the world. Idzik bought himself another shot at a QB by taking his first in the second.

He is a hack who doesn't leave his Connecticut mansion spare to pick up a few ESPN checks for some easy work. The guy has probably not attended a Jets game in 5 years, nor attended any local team's game spare on odd playoff game.

 

It would be better if Smith is a good QB. I doubt he will be. But he was a 2nd round pick, not anywhere near the top of the draft. The Sanchez thing was catastrophic, but this doesn't have to be if you don't get overly invested in Smith. 't they cut bait with him and play Vick (again a detestable POS but a better QB than Smith) no biggie. Even with some CB injuries Vick at the helm makes this an 9-10 win team with a decent running attack and a mostly solid defense than will give up an odd big play. Vick will move the chains, not like he did when he  was younger, but enough.

 

Smith is a disaster. But if the dump him it's not the end of the world, merely a bump in the road that has had many bumps. 

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This would appear to be Lupica's conclusions, and why I think he's confirming my suspicions that he's just a hack.

1.) If Lupica, Idzik, Rex, or you or I don't know if Geno will ever be a top QB, we also all don't know that he won't.

 

 

geno's ceiling may be "good" but he has not shown anything to indicate he will ever be elite.  

 

with a strong defense and a team that wants to run the ball it's tough to argue that Vick doesn't give this team the best chance to win.  

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You start the players that give the team the best chance to win. This Geno starting stuff is a joke and I can't believe Jets fans are buying it. If you replace Geno Smith's name with Blair Thomas, you would have thought this article was written in 1991.

Did a lot of people want Blair Thomas to start at QB?

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Its simple why Geno is getting the preference because its in the JETS interest to find out if he is the long term solution at the QB spot.. If Geno stinks  they are going to draft another one in next years draft. If Geno shows is average but shows enough progress and proves he can lead the team they will work on providing him more weapons next draft and give the reins to him for one more season. JETS are hoping Geno makes the job his own.

 

you can't name one thing that Geno does better than vick.   you play the players that give you the best chance to win, otherwise what's the point in playing?

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you can't name one thing that Geno does better than vick.   you play the players that give you the best chance to win, otherwise what's the point in playing?

 

Geno gives the Jets a better chance to win than Vick? Based on what?

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you can't name one thing that Geno does better than vick.   you play the players that give you the best chance to win, otherwise what's the point in playing?

 

 

You dont know Vick is a better complete season QB compared to Geno.

 

Yes winning is important and to do that you have to know who your long term QB is going to be so you can build around him, That is important to consistently being successful. Vick right now at his age and his instances of not finishing the season is not on anyone's list to build a franchise around. That's why he was available as a backup well into the FA signing period.

 

The JETS are doing a smart thing for a change instead of finding band aid solutions.

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Don't see the big deal in playing Vick this year if he is the better qb and gives us the best chance to win. Who says such a scenario is an embarassment to Geno?. Let Geno sit and learn and play next year. Is that the end of the world? It never happened before that a highly drafted qb sat for a few years? Don't see the big deal here.

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"It seems that no matter how hard Vick pushes him or how good he looks, it will be Geno Smith under center against the Raiders when the season starts. You don’t have to be a math or analytics genius to see that even if they’re right about the next young starting quarterback after Geno, he might not start to come into his own until almost a full decade after they drafted Sanchez. That’s the timeline when you’re wrong about a young quarterback."

 

Its tough to find fault this part of Lupica's column. And to take it further, If Smith doesnt pan out, who's to say their next 1st or 2nd round qb will?

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Don't see the big deal in playing Vick this year if he is the better qb and gives us the best chance to win. Who says such a scenario is an embarassment to Geno?. Let Geno sit and learn and play next year. Is that the end of the world? It never happened before that a highly drafted qb sat for a few years? Don't see the big deal here.

 

QB controversy.

 

Its too late to let Geno sit and learn behind Vick.

 

Either its Genos team and hes the future or its not.

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