Geno Smith won’t have to worry about Rex Ryan throwing him to the wolves during garbage time to win the Snoopy Bowl Friday night against the Giants, the way poor Mark Sanchez was a year ago. And Smith doesn’t seem to mind being the only quarterback in the league whose head coach, for absurd reasons known only to the general manager, has not publicly anointed him the starter. Only the Jets.
But Smith can announce himself as the leader of the Jets by standing in front of his offense, his team, and tell everyone in no uncertain terms that the kind of brass-knuckled, Gangs of New York lack of control and discipline the Jets exhibited Saturday night will only interfere with winning.
It is the precise message Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, any starting quarterback worth his salt, really, would deliver.
From the second he blew into town, Rex Ryan guaranteed no one would intimidate his Jets.
“We want to be known as the most physical football team in the NFL,” Ryan said. “The players will have each other’s backs, and if you take a swipe at one of ours, we’ll take a swipe at two of yours.”
There was much too much swiping going on at Paul Brown Stadium, especially by Smith’s bodyguards. Ryan seemed more pleased than bothered by it, but he’s better off putting his foot down now once all the testosterone wears off.
And Smith can take the lead in that regard, because on a team in dire straits at cornerback, in a league driven by the play of its quarterbacks, BullyBall alone will only get you so far.
When he met the media after the Jets’ misleading victory over the Bengals, Smith was cool, calm and collected and the voice of reason when asked about the proliferation of personal fouls.
“It’s something that we got to clean up,” he said. “We can’t have those penalties throughout the course of a regular-season game … drive-stopping penalties, and things that’ll set us back. … Obviously, we want our guys to be tough, but we’ve got to clean those things up. We’ve got to make sure that we’re not shooting ourselves in the foot, not hurting ourselves. At the end of the day, it’s about winning games. We understand that all of our guys are tough, but there’s a way to exhibit it out on the field.”
And those must be his words of wisdom for his offense, for his team, Monday morning inside the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center.
Because you don’t make the playoffs nowadays being a Fight Club.
Smith, for the most part, has answered the bell that Michael Vick came tolling, albeit quietly, selflessly and deferentially. He appears to have better presence and command and is admittedly more comfortable and judicious in the use of his legs.
“There’s a fine line when to do it,” Smith said. “You never want to pass up an open guy, but if you do have the opportunity to tuck it and run, then it’s always an option for us.”
General manager John Idzik whiffed on the cornerback crop, but at least he got Smith a few quality toys to play with, namely Eric Decker and Chris Johnson. Decker didn’t play in Cincinnati, but Johnson looked frisky in the backfield.
“Hopefully, we’ll get some safeties down in the box, and we’ll have more opportunities to have some one-on-one shots down the field,” Smith said.
Smith has been the good soldier from the start, through the uneasy QB competition with Sanchez, through the trials and tribulations of his rookie season, to Vick’s much-ballyhooed arrival that has not been disruptive in any way.
He refuses to bite on the notion that it is time for Ryan to declare him the starter when it is clear that it was his job to lose all along and he has done nothing to lose it, that Vick has declared Smith the starter for the rest of the Jets to hear.
“I’ll let the coaches do the coaching, and I’ll fulfill my job as the quarterback,” Smith said.
He can fulfill his job as the quarterback by taking ownership of the kind of team he wants to lead: A smart team, a poised team, an efficient team, always a tough team, but first and foremost a football team. Toughness isn’t only never backing down. Toughness is finding a way to win.
The Jets need Smith to flip his numbers from a year ago (12 touchdowns, 21 interceptions). He will need as much help as possible from his teammates, because he is still a pup.
And maybe, if Smith is comfortable enough in his own skin to deliver that message that wanton behavior is unacceptable,Idzik might feel compelled to feel the way he did in Miami when he embraced Ryan and announced joyously for the world to hear, “This is our coach!,” and put his arm around Geno Smith and announce: “This is our quarterback!”
It is the perfect time for Smith to speak up. It is the perfect time for Ryan and Idzik to name Smith the starting quarterback already.
There wouldn’t be a better way to begin defense of the prestigious Snoopy Trophy.