Fate of New York Jets' 2014 Season Rests on Geno Smith's Continued Development

Rex Ryan's eyes stared down at the sideline in front of him, his hands on his hips, his lips pursed, his head shaking in frustration. 

In the front of his mind, Ryan was probably bemoaning the obvious missed pass interference penalty on the New York Jets' final offensive play of the game, where Chicago Bears safety Brock Vereen pushed Jets wide receiver Jeremy Kerley out of bounds as he tried to reel in a potential game-altering touchdown. In the back of his mind, he had to be thinking about the other similar missed calls throughout the game.

But somewhere in between, Ryan had to be wondering how the Jets could allow such a stalwart defensive effort to go to waste.

The Jets lost to the Bears, 27-19, on Monday Night Football, and fell to 1-2 on the young season. This year is far from over for New York, but the offense has to play better if the Jets are going anywhere this year, and it starts with quarterback Geno Smith.

Offense	Yards	3rd down	Red zone	Penalties	Turnovers
New York Jets	414	6/15 (40%)	1/6 (16.7%)	6-78	3
Chicago Bears	257	7/15 (46.6%)	2/3 (66.7%)	9-95	1

Smith went 26-for-43 (60.5 percent) for 316 yards (7.3 YPA), one touchdown, two interceptions and a 71.5 passer rating. His two picks came at the worst possible times—a pick-six on the Jets' second play of the game, and another pick in the end zone that deprived the Jets of an opportunity to score. 

There were highs and lows, and that's part of the problem with Smith. It seems the Jets can hardly get through a half—much less a full game—without taking a ride on Smith's roller coaster of quarterbacking. There are beautiful throws delivered in rhythm, and there are throws that come a breath too late. There are brilliant decisions and bone-headed ones. Sometimes the ratio is 2:1, one way or the other.

As with most things in the AFC East this season, the only thing consistent about Smith's play is inconsistency.

"Guys, this ain't the same quarterback as last year," Ryan said after the game.

Smith's flashes look brighter than they did last year, but his inability to sustain those flashes has not changed. Neither has his propensity for lapses in smart decision-making. There is simply no excuse for pulling the trigger on a broken screen to running back Chris Johnson, with Bears safety Ryan Mundy in perfect position to make a play.

The second interception (with 5:10 remaining in the third quarter) is a little more excusable; Smith was probably just trying to make a play, down by two touchdowns in the third quarter, but he couldn't have expected it to end well when he threw to a well-covered David Nelson in the end zone.

In all, the Jets made six trips to the red zone and scored only one touchdown on those drives.

"If we convert, if we execute in the red zone, we're not having this conversation," Ryan lamented.

Some of that blame falls on Smith's decision-making issues, but some of it is on the play-callers. The Jets had first-and-goal from the 10-yard line with 2:35 to go in the third quarter; they proceeded to run the ball three times and ended up settling for a field goal. 

That being said, if the players did a good job of executing, the play-calling wouldn't be an issue.

A bad play-caller turns into an afterthought with a good quarterback to hide those issues. The Jets are still finding out whether they have one.

In a way, the Jets can feel good about themselves after this loss; they hung in and had a chance to tie the game in the end. If their offense could have closed the deal in the red zone, it would never have reached that point—even without the seven points the Jets had wrongfully taken from them on a fumble recovery with 1:34 remaining in the second quarter.

Smith gave his team a chance to win with a brilliant play that resulted in a 51-yard completion to Greg Salas. The second-year quarterback rolled to his right and found Salas streaking over the middle of the field in open space. He flung the ball to his receiver, and Salas took over from there, putting on the jets as he scampered down the sideline.

It was fitting, though, that the drive—and game—ended with a controversial non-call in the end zone, and that the Jets' drive stalled out in the red zone, as had already happened four previous times on the night.

New York could have won with either the poor play on offense or the poor officiating—not with both—but the Jets can only control one of those things. The sooner they get that corrected, the more likely they are to steer the ship back on course for the playoffs.

Unless otherwise noted, quotes obtained firsthand or via team news release.

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