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New Jersey – As the Jets turn. A lot of stuff going on today. Let’s break down the current state of affairs.
As most of you know by now, Geno Smith tore his ACL and is out for the season.
This shocked a lot of people because Smith made it seem like it wasn’t a serious injury after the game.
And did a press conference.
Usually when guys blowout their knees in a game, there is no post-game presser.
Reporters generally stay away form them because it’s such a bad time for the player, and the player doesn’t want to talk.
Geno went to the podium and every there seemed to think this was just a minor injury.
He was at his locker after the game, dressing to go home, and there was nothing on his knee. No wrap, no brace, no ice – nothing.
And now he’s out for the year.
I guess you can view it as a surprise. I don’t.
I’ve seen guys walk off the field after hurting their knees, and it looks very minor, and then the next day you find out it’s a torn ACL.
You generally get the MRI the day after a knee injury to determine its severity.
So Geno is done for the year, and the Jets go back to Ryan Fitzpatrick for now. I think once they are clearly out of contention (the AFC is very weak after New England), if that happens, they will got to Bryce Petty.
The next important question is how Todd Bowles handled Ryan Fitzpatrick’s rip job on him, the GM and the owner after the game.
“The biggest thing in this game — to last — is to have belief in yourself,” Fitzpatrick, who entered the Jets-Ravens’ game in relief after being benched the week before in favor of Geno Smith, said. “Because when the owner stops believing in you and the GM stops believing in you and the coaches stop believing in you, sometimes all you have is yourself. That’s kind of something I’ve dealt with before and something I’m dealing with now.”
Bowles hit it out of the park with his response today.
“If pissed off is going to stop the turnovers, then I’m more than happy to have him play pissed off the whole time,” Bowles said.
Tremendous answer.
And you kind of saw the template from Fitzpatrick against Baltimore the Jets need to see the rest of the season.
While his performance was pedestrian, he didn’t force anything. He decided to err on the side of caution at all times. No forces to Brandon Marshall, which has been his Achilles heal this year.
If something wasn’t clearly there, Fitz threw it away or took a sack. That needs to be his mindset from now on.
Throw it away and live to see another play.
That pass Fitzpatrick threw in Arizona, when he was picked off in the end zone, forcing it to Marshall, can never happen again.
When you look back at that drive, he was doing a great job until that pass. He was spreading it around all over to different guys.
And some Cardinals said they knew he like to force it to Marshall on third down. It’s ridiculous to do that, and even more ridiculous that other teams know this.
I think Fitzpatrick has finally got the message.
October 24, 2016
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