Geno Smith Shows Improvement, Still Not Jets Answer at Quarterback
Numerically, Geno Smith made as big of a leap from his bench-worthy performance last week as any reasonable person could expect. He multiplied his quarterback rating by about 10 (was at 7.6 last week), threw for a pair of touchdowns and was turnover-free until the final drive of the game in a desperate situation.
Nonetheless, all Smith did on Sunday was give the New York Jets more reason to get back into the starting quarterback market next offseason.
Taking into account the situation he is in, Smith has done a serviceable job as the Jets' signal-caller. Without his top target, Eric Decker, for games at a time while working with a leaky offensive line, Smith has been able to keep the Jets competitive in most of their games.
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The blame for the Jets' one-win record cannot be placed on Smith but whether Smith deserves blame and whether Smith is the Jets' long-term solution at quarterback are two entirely different questions. Adjectives like "serviceable" and "competitive" are terms reserved for backups, not players whose jerseys decorate your local Modell's Sporting Goods.
After "leading" the Jets to four straight losses, the Jets' attitude toward the former West Virginia star has wavered just a few months after rigging a competition to ensure he was their starter for Week 1.
Rock bottom was reached after Smith was benched at halftime in a shutout loss to the San Diego Chargers, just hours after he missed a meeting because of a time mix-up the night before.
Between a fight with an airline attendant, cursing at a fan (h/t Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News) and failing to add up time zones, Smith was starting to betray the organization that put its blind faith in him one innocent squabble at a time.
As a team source told Mehta, whether Smith's confident on-camera presence was ever authentic is now certainly up for debate.
“It’s all false bravado,” one front office executive told the New York Daily News. “That’s why he responds the way he does when he’s challenged.”
This week, Smith needed to not just bounce back and show improvement—he needed a performance like the man on the other sideline, Peyton Manning, to prove to the Jets' decision-makers that he was not just an underperforming, marginal player at heart. Brian Costello of the New York Post highlighted just how dismal Smith's passer rating really is:
While Smith did play like a man who spent a bit more time in the film room than last week's version, it is difficult to envision someone such as John Idzik watching Sunday's game and thinking, "You know, that quarterback can be the guy who can win us a Super Bowl one day"—especially with last week's events still fresh in the team's mind.
Even when taking away the late pick-six on the Jets' last drive of the game, Smith only flashed instances of competence. While the defense was able to hold the high-flying Denver Broncos offense to 24 points, Smith and the offense were unable to take advantage. Specifically, he took far too many sacks because of his indecision, a lingering problem from his rookie season.
The argument that Smith's supporting cast is insufficient is a valid one. At times, the Jets have wide receivers in the starting lineup who would have a tough time finding room on the practice squad for some clubs. Combined with a leaky offensive line and a Jekyll and Hyde running game, Smith is hardly put in a position to win games.
However, the fact that the Jets offense is not playing up to championship caliber is not the reason why the Jets should be ready to move on from Smith sooner rather than later. It's the fact that Smith has been unable to elevate the play of his teammates to offset these deficiencies—the true mark of a franchise quarterback. NFL Network's Michael Robinson is not optimistic about Smith's job opportunities if the Jets release him, per Dennis Waszak Jr. of The Associated Press:
If the Jets are content with looking for excuses for their quarterback on a weekly basis, they may as well start hammering out a new contract extension right now.
Even the best players go through rough stretches, but those who are true franchise players eventually find a way to work themselves out of their situation and give their team a chance. So far, Smith has yet to drag the Jets out of the abyss on his own—instead, he has only added to the off-field drama that comes with any underperforming team.
When Smith has played against at least average competition—in other words, any team, except the Oakland Raiders—his play has been below-average at best.
| 1 | 82.1 | 7.9 | 96.1 |
| 2 | 50.0 | 5.5 | 64.1 |
| 3 | 60.5 | 7.3 | 71.5 |
| 4 | 51.5 | 6.3 | 68.9 |
| 5 | 33.3 | 2.3 | 7.6 |
| 6 | 53.5 | 3.7 | 70.9 |
Smith's pedestrian outing against the Broncos confirmed that he was not the only problem with the Jets offense, but it also made it even more clear that he is not the solution, either.
Smith has made improvements in his game, but those improvements have been slow and marginal. Even if Smith does develop into a viable every-week starter, is it even a worthy decision that Jets throw away yet another season to find out?
Regardless, Smith is going to be on the roster next season, but he won't enter training camp as the prematurely anointed starter as he was this year.
If the Jets don't want to waste any more time then they have to in their never-ending search for a quarterback, Smith should assume the role Mark Sanchez was in during Smith's rookie season—playing the role of the struggling veteran trying to prevent his inevitable successor from taking his job.
Idzik spent his third-ever draft pick as a general manager on Smith, but he should not feel as if his fate is married to that of a second-round pick.
Sure, moving away from Smith (whether it be drafting or signing a potential replacement) would be Idzik admitting defeat on yet another draft pick, but showing the ability to cut losses and to minimize the damage of draft-day misfires is Idzik's best way to turn around his rebuilding project.
Technically speaking, Smith could salvage his future with the Jets by getting red-hot for the rest of the season and bringing the Jets back to relevancy. Based on his only marginal, almost unnoticeable week-to-week improvements, there is no reason to expect that Smith will be a much better player that he is right now—if at all.
It is a proven adage (the Jets themselves are a prime specimen) that teams without a quarterback can spin their wheels for years—even decades—until they find one. The faster the Jets can admit that the odds of Smith becoming the Jets' long-term answer at quarterback is slim to none, the faster they can get on the proper rebuilding track.
Advanced statistics provided by Pro Football Focus (subscription required).
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