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The Jets need to win this year. Let me repeat myself. The Jets need to win this year. The development of Geno Smith is secondary to winning.
I respectfully disagree with the premise of a column by ESPN’s Ashley Fox from a few days ago.
“To take the next significant one, Smith will need more time on the field,” wrote Fox. “There is nothing like game experience. It is hard to make strides while holding a clipboard on Sundays.
“The Jets need Smith to continue climbing up the learning curve, but given who they brought in to challenge him, it is quite possible Smith won’t get the chance.”
I disagree with this kind of thinking.
This is the NFL, which means “not for long,” if you don’t win.
After missing the playoffs for three years in a row, why would should the Jets priority in 2014 be the development of Geno Smith?
They need to win!
If Smith gives them the best chance to win, then he should be the starter.
If Michael Vick gives them the best chance to win, then he should be the starter.
It’s so unfair to teammates, coaches and fans for the team’s brass to view the quarterback position through a developmental spectrum, to basically say, “heck, we need to develop Geno, if we win, that is gravy.”
That was clearly how John Idzik viewed last year.
That isn’t going to fly this year.
The Jets have a really tough schedule this year, much tougher than last year.
In my opinion, if Rex goes 6-10, he’s going to get fired. So much of this new contract is window-dressing. He’s basically in the same situation he was last year – two guaranteed years left on his deal.
“In the last four weeks of the season, Smith gave the Jets reason to hope. Against the Oakland Raiders, Carolina Panthers, Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins, he led New York to three wins in which the team averaged 25.3 points while he accounted for seven touchdowns against two picks<‘ wrote Fox. “In essence, Smith played winning football.”
People need to chill out with this last four weeks Pollyanna. In some ways it’s a Potemkin village.
Smith did a serviceable job down the stretch. Two of those games were victories over horrid, banged-up teams (Cleveland and Oakland) at MetLife Stadium. The Carolina game he wasn’t that good for him, and threw another Pick Six. The Miami game, he didn’t throw a touchdown pass.
He did run well in these games, but do you really think that it’s a good long-term plan for him to run around like Bobby Douglass or Randall Cunningham moving forward? It’s a very dangerous plan from a durability standpoint. The Jets are very fortunate he didn’t get hurt last year.
I will give you a perfect example of a very hazardous running play, the kind of play most NFL quarterbacks avoid like the plague. It was in the Jets’ season finale against Miami.
Smith scrambled to the one-yard line. He got hit low by safety Chris Clemons, did a somersault, and then defensive tackle Jared Odrick hit him high. He landed just short of a touchdown.
“This is the last game of the season, so I guess it doesn’t make a different, but you hate to see your quarterback (take hits like that).” said Dan Dierdorf, formerly of CBS.
If the Jets are foolish enough to think that Geno was “outstanding” over the last month, and turned a corner, they lack vision.
He was okay.
He has a lot of work to do
Smith needs to speed up his decision-making clock and show better awareness in the pocket. He needs to quicken his eyes, expand his field vision and learn to manipulate safeties. Geno needs to polish his footwork. It often deteriorates under duress. He also needs to stop staring down his primary target.
And the Jets need to win this year
This concern about upsetting Geno’s development is misguided.
If he has to sit for part, or all of this year, and he re-emerges in a year or two, he will survive that.
So I respectfully disagree with Miss Fox’s premise.
April 21, 2014
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