The NFL season is fast coming upon us, and the soap opera that is the “education” of Geno Smith reality show been renewed for a third season—although by the sounds of it, it seems that it is a little short on the “reality” part, just people playing stupid for the cameras. ESPN’s poll of coaches and NFL insiders have for the second year running ranked Geno last among starting quarterbacks. According to one coach, "Geno is a 5, and that is it. He cannot process fast enough. He is not a natural guy, sliding in the pocket and knowing when to run it. He has some legs to run, but no, he is trying to prove he is a pocket passer. Let's do something at the position before we start limiting ourselves for image."
Image. Therein lies the rub.
Geno’s incomprehensible level of support among Jets’ fans, teammates
(especially black), most sports commentators and Mark Sanchez-haters are all
tied-up in knots that they cannot untangle themselves for fear of looking like
what they are—foolish. There is a lot of “hope” that this season Geno will
“blossom” into a competent quarterback, now that he has what is being called a
talented receiving core, including two head-cases, Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker.
Marshall is perhaps a better receiving threat than Percy Harvin was, but he has
been bouncing around the league (for a reason), and who knows long his
“rapport” with Geno will last when his “touches” inevitably fall. And, lest we
forget, Decker was there last season.
In the middle of all of this
bovine scatology is the endless trashing of Mark Sanchez. The truth of the
matter is that he didn't have a have a competent quarterback coach, and still
won twice as many playoff games (all on the road) than any other Jets
quarterback. Sanchez' playoff QB rating of 94.3 is in the top-10 all time. In
2010, Sanchez had 5 TDs to 1 interception in the playoffs, and it was the Jets
defense’s failure to play “big” with the game on the line against Pittsburgh
that cost the team a Super Bowl berth.
One apologist says that Sanchez’s numbers don't compare "favorably"
to Geno’s, but that is loose talk—just as Darrelle Revis, protecting his
"brother," insipidly derided Sanchez’s as not being a “real”
quarterback. And Geno is? Does the fact that Sanchez is the only Hispanic
quarterback in the league—play a part in all of this?
Back to reality. Every draft
scout warned teams that Geno was a likely bust, and Jets fans and Smith's political
apologists just can't face the fact. They have to believe that he is better
than Sanchez, who proved last year that he was at least a competent quarterback
in the right system, even completing 64 percent of his passes and throwing for
an average of almost 270 yards per game. People forget just how horrible the
Jets' offensive line was his last season (his backup was sacked a team record
11 times in one game). At best, Smith's ability to run can occasionally allow
him a lucky big play catching defenses’ off-guard, but he is certainly no Russell
Wilson in that regard. Jets fans better just forget about any
"improvement" in his decision-making, because it just isn't part of
his "game"; the only competent decision he is capable of is run like
hell.
However, some local Jets commentators,
like Steve Politi, are lamenting that the Jets new management and coaches have
already essentially named Smith the starting quarterback, despite the presence
of Ryan Fitzpatrick as the “backup.” The new offensive coordinator, Chan Gailey
was adamant when asked last May if Smith was expected to actually “compete” for
the starting position after two awful years. "No. Wasn't a thought…It's
hard to have a quarterback competition going into a season." Gailey noted
that Smith was able to make “good decisions” on “clean reads”—meaning making
throws to designated receivers without pressure; the euphemisms he used could
disguise that reality. Nor can belittling Sanchez make Smith look “better.”
I can’t wait for the season to
begin. The NFL never fails to deliver fascinating story lines.
No comments:
Post a Comment