So this is where it stands: with half a season left in this months-long nightmare, the Jets are pinning their hopes on two of the best athletes in the NFL-- the same two guys whose play leaves you scratching your head so much that you’ll find yourself burrowing through your skull by halftime.
After seeing Geno Smith’s knack for interceptions and touchdown-saving tackle -- the best play the second-year QB has made all year -- Rex Ryan and John Idzik may well shift Smith to safety. Maybe he can actually cover Sammy Watkins the next time these two teams meet, unlike the rest of the team’s beleaguered defensive backfield.
As such, the second half of the season is in all likelihood in the hands -- and, more importantly, legs --of Michael Vick and Percy Harvin. The Jets wasted little time in integrating Harvin into their game plan in their 43-23 loss to the Buffalo Bills. In fact, he was their game plan. Whether lining up as a receiver, running back or returner, Harvin showed the type of playmaking ability that has been so lacking throughout the Jets’ miserable 2014 campaign. At one point in the third quarter, the former high school QB even attempted to showcase his skills as a passer. Unfortunately, his supposed target --fellow return man T.J. Graham -- didn’t seem to be in on the plan, as he was lying prone (apparently asleep) in the end zone.
Like Harvin, Vick’s talent is electric. Even at 34, Vick can make a third-and-long look like a sprint in the park. However, also like his newest receiver, Vick’s downside is seemingly locked in a pitched battle with his upside, and, at least Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, downside kicked butt.
Vick entered the game late in the first quarter, relieving Smith after he connected with his own receivers twice and the Bills three times in the first 10 minutes of play. There was said to be some kind of breakdown in the communications system between Smith and Jets offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg. It seems that, instead of Smith, Mornhinweg’s headset transmissions went directly to Bills defensive chief Jim Schwartz.
I’m not sure if the problem was fixed during the game, because, like Smith, Vick seemed to throw every pass as if it were a Hail Mary -- except for the fact that those plays usually at least have a prayer. Vick threw one interception and tried his best to throw several more, and also fumbled the ball four times, with the Bills recovering two of them.
Crazy as this sounds, the Jets defense was actually effective for much of the game, especially considering that, because of the home team’s six turnovers, they were almost constantly in goal-line situations. No NFL team has ever scored more than 73 points in a game, but if the Bills weren’t so offensively inept (the rookie Watkins notwithstanding), they’d have pushed for triple-digits.
Sports
With eight games to go, it’s the Vick and Harvin show. Talk about must-see TV.
