What do Steve Young, Dan Fouts, Terry Bradshaw, Troy Aikman and Jets legend Joe Namath have in common? They're all Hall of Fame quarterbacks. And, in terms of both personal performance and team results, all were demonstrably worse in their first 20 or so career NFL starts than Geno Smith has been to date.
Is Smith the Jets QB of the future? I don’t know. Was Browning Nagle? Kellen Clemens? Mark Sanchez? What I do know is that, after just 20 games, it’s far too early to give up on a young signal-caller who has shown signs of significant promise -- as Smith did on Sunday while leading the Jets to two second-half TD drives to keep them in the game despite a horrible first half.
Yes, Smith has been a turnover machine during his time as a Jet, with 32 since the start of the 2013 season. Guess what? The other New York QB -- Eli Manning -- has more, and he’s an 11-year vet who should by benefit of experience make far fewer dumb mistakes than his 23-year-old counterpart.
Right now, Smith is playing like QBs with 20 games under their belts had played for decades -- right up until about three or four years ago, when the greatest infusion of talent the position has ever seen entered the NFL. (Old-timers can rhapsodize about the 1983 NFL Draft all they want, but if they say Elway and Marino, I say Blackledge and Eason.) The likes of Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck, Colin Kaepernick, Cam Newton and (when-healthy) RG3 have dramatically raised expectations for young quarterbacks -- and all but eliminated the steep learning curve that coaches and fans had always accepted as part of the bargain.
At this point, Smith surely isn’t the equal of any of those young stars, and it’s very possible he never will be. But based on what he’s done so far, he’s earned the chance to grow in the position, and show much more of what he can do for the Jets … in 2015 and beyond.
Right now, though, with the team likely needing to win nine of their remaining 12 games to secure a playoff spot -- and Rex Ryan’s future -- Smith should be sitting. Simply put, Michael Vick gives the Jets the best chance to win over the next three months, so what else needs to be said? Just this --Ryan can hold his head up high all he wants for his loyalty to Smith, but what about what he owes his other 52 players? Isn’t he being disloyal to them when he doesn’t start the best player at the game’s most important position? And, if he’s sticking with Smith because he doesn’t think the young QB can handle the adversity that would come with a benching, then Ryan isn’t showing any more faith in Smith than Jets fans were on Sunday.
Pete Zwiebach writes about the Jets for NBCNewYork.com. Zwiebach lives in New York City with his wife and two kids, who without fail manage to block his view of the TV whenever a game-changing play occurs.
