Jets Run-Heavy Game Plan Hurting Geno Smiths Future: Is Geno Smith a franchise quarterback? That’s the biggest question facing the New York Jets this season. Gang Green has managed to show its fans and players that Smith isn’t the guy in the most painful way possible. Smith returned to the starting lineup against the Miami Dolphins in Week 13 and wasn’t given the chance to prove hes an efficient NFL quarterback. The illustration tweeted by the ESPN Monday Night twitter handle shows why: According to NFL writer Kevin Patra, Rex Ryan justified the imbalanced offensive attack by stating the need to win games. Here’s an excerpt from Patra: Its easy to sit back and question the fact that we didnt throw it as much, now, but at the end of the day, we wanted to run the football. ... We felt that gave us the best opportunity to win the game. If the best chance of winning includes never passing, that doesnt speak well at all about the man paid to throw the ball. What does that say about a quarterback that cannot attack R.J. Stanford? Stanford is a four-year backup cornerback, playing his first game of the season matched against Percy Harvin. It says more about the incompetence of the coaching staff and why Smith hasn’t developed beyond his rookie year. The Jets had opportunities to attack the Dolphins through the air and chose not to do so. Stanford was targeted only four times per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Apparently, Harvin was wide open on a rare pass from the Jets quarterback. The overthrow is Smith’s fault, but he’s given very little margin for error. The play-calling didn’t allow the signal-caller to establish any type of rhythm or build a connection with the talented, newly acquired receiver. Its worth noting that Harvin and Smith played their first complete game together in Week 13. The quarterback-receiver tandem is obviously lacking in-game chemistry, and the Jets passed on a perfect opportunity to develop some continuity. Ryan’s lack of in-game adjustments has always been questioned, but the rushing attack was effective throughout the contest. However, choosing to purposely become a one-dimensional type of offense is a dangerous plan of attack. Good teams adjust. Eventually, weaknesses of an imbalanced offense are exposed and are the cause for defeat. This is exactly what happened to New York last Monday night. Smith threw into triple coverage, and the Jets fulfilled their fears of throwing the ball. Ryan and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg limited turnovers by taking the ball out of Smiths hands. Nonetheless, when it was time to deliver in the clutch, the second-year quarterback was ill-prepared to lead the offense. Think about this. Smith hadn’t played a down in five weeks. The coaching staff only allowed him to throw eight passes before the final drive. You can only get a couple of results from this low volume of throwing opportunities: a failure to convert on fourth down or an interception. Sabotage is a harsh word to use, but Smith wasn’t given the best circumstances to lead his team to victory. The irony of it all is that he has the ability to move the ball in critical situations. Last season, he led five game-winning drives. Now all of the sudden, he isn’t capable of throwing for a first down. How does anyone expect a young quarterback to develop when the coaching staff doesn’t place the quarterback in the best position to flourish? Smith’s future hangs in the balance of Ryan’s approach to winning. If winning games is the only goal, Vick would still be playing. A popular perspective is Ryan is trying to appease his bosses by playing the quarterback selected by general manager John Idzik and the front office—a viewpoint expressed by Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News: Sources told the Daily News that offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg was among the majority of people in the organization, including players, who wanted to stick with Vick. Ryan also preferred the veteran, but placated his superiors to avoid conflict on his way out. Ryan, the quintessential people pleaser, isn’t interested in sabotaging GM John Idzik or owner Woody Johnson during his final few weeks. He wants to take the high road before looking for his next gig, according to sources. Mehta’s viewpoints are speculative, but keep in mind it was Ryans decision to bench Smith in favor of Vick. The 34-year-old veteran clearly had a better handle on the offense, but he was pulled after three starts despite only throwing one interception. According to Kristian Dyer of metro.us, the veterans in the locker room felt Ryan did the opposite of emphasizing the need to win with the switch back to Smith. One unnamed player expressed his viewpoint: Weve packed it in, waived the white flag, whatever you want to call it. ... It wasnt a good sign, not at all. They gave [Geno] how many chances over the past year? He does badly, gets benched and starts the next week. Mike has one bad game in three starts and hes put down for the rest of the year. Doesnt make sense. Youve got guys busting their [butts] this year, fighting for jobs, and you want to win. You want to win but it seems like theyve got something about the future and only the future now. With Michael, you know what youre getting, hes done it all. Been in every situation. If he starts this season, Im not saying were perfect but we win a few more games. Maybe were in the playoff mix, I dunno. But you bench him, well, the older guys I talk to werent that happy. Were not anti-Geno, the kid does it right and tries, but we want to win. He needs to improve, ya know? The accumulation of support for Vick over Smith hurts the young quarterback’s playing credibility, wherever he plays next season. Smith has started 26 games in his career, and his strong ending to the 2013 season is a distant memory. He’s already labeled as a turnover-prone, inaccurate, game-managing quarterback, which aren’t the most endorsing qualities if you’re a young signal-caller looking for a fresh start. The fact that the Jets aren’t willing to allow Smith to change his perception hurts him more than Mark Sanchez’s infamous butt-fumble game: Sanchez had several parachutes to help him land a starting position on another team. He led the Jets to two AFC Championship Games with an overall 4-2 playoff record and proved capable of winning postseason games on the road. Smith’s resume lacks notable accolades, and there will be absolutely nothing to add if the Jets decide to run the ball 30-plus times per game—leaving Smith with about 10-15 throws. When you think of his career at this point, you think about his missing a meeting for the movie Gone Girl, cursing at fans and turning in inconsistent quarterback play. Some of these incidents can be dismissed as minor mistakes in a young career, but when a general manager or head coach analyzes this, he’ll see an unprepared, somewhat immature, below-average quarterback who needs a lot of work before leading an NFL offense. This isn’t a completely fair assessment, but then again, one butt fumble labeled Sanchez a quarterback klutz, despite the totality of his body of work. Smith’s body of work: 9-17 as a starter, no playoff wins, a 56.3 percent pass-completion percentage, 19 touchdowns to 32 interceptions, benched multiple times and last seen as a hand-off quarterback. Any takers? Follow @AuthorLysander. 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Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 01:07:27 +0000
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