Rex Ryan got this job because he made a career out of ruining quarterbacks. But when your latest franchise quarterback is in ruins, when your so-called Quarterback of the Future goes so deep in the tank that he and everyone else no longer knows whether he is the Quarterback of the Present, it isn’t the rookie general manager who drafted him who becomes the fall guy. It will be the coach who failed to develop him and have a viable backup quarterback in place and missed the playoffs for the third straight season.
By the time Dolphins 23, Jets 3 mercifully ended, it was impossible not to reach the conclusion that with Ryan’s future in the trembling hands of either Geno Smith or Matt Simms, he is doomed, and his team is doomed, all of them destined to be sleeping with the fishes at the bottom of Idzik Ocean.
I have championed the cause of patience with Smith, fully expecting him to fight through the growing pains most young quarterbacks endure, but he looks so lost, so inept, that it has become unfair to the team to keep trotting him out at a time when he has presided over a playoff pipe dream that has gone up in smoke, and I can no longer defend him.
Smith (4-for-10, 29 yards, 1 INT) played himself to the bench Sunday after yet another half of amateur hour football. The odds are against a change making a difference, but Ryan should keep Smith on the bench next Sunday against the Raiders, give the ball to Simms (9-for-18, 79 yards, 1 INT in the end zone) and see what he can do and let Smith look in the mirror and try to figure out why his quarterbacks ratings over the last three weeks are 10.1, 22.3, 8.3. Why, in his last 36 possessions, he has engineered one touchdown drive. Why, since Oct. 13, he has one TD pass against 11 interceptions.
Of course the blatant lack of playmakers around him hasn’t helped one bit. But it’s no excuse for making the boo birds yearn — gasp — for the pre-buttfumble days of Mark Sanchez, who met his Waterloo when Ryan threw him to the wolves in a desperate effort to win the Snoopy Bowl.
“I think I am the best option for this time,” Smith said.
He has been the best option for 12 weeks. He has optioned himself to the bench.
“I look myself in the mirror and I own up to my own mistakes, I didn’t get it done. … We haven’t scored points. That all falls on me. … I’ll keep plugging at it, I’ll get better, and there will be some light at the end of the tunnel,” Smith said.
In the meantime, he is enveloped in complete darkness, blinding Jets fans with his skittishness and decision-making and one ball that only a member of the Flight Crew had a chance to catch. It is your defense that is supposed to be bend-but-don’t break, not your offense. BOOOOOO.
“I block that stuff out,” Smith said. “That’s just NFL football, and quite frankly, that’s going to happen. Hey, it’s fine. I block it out and I move on.”
It is of no solace to Smith that in their rookie seasons even Hall of Fame quarterbacks — perhaps John Elway rings a bell — have been sat down for a timeout. He isn’t interested.
“I want to be on the field,” Smith said. “Maybe down the line I can say there was something gained from it, but right now I don’t see it.”
Ryan was noncommittal on his starter.
“It’s a tough decision, it’s a tough situation for everybody, especially in New York City, especially when we’re in the playoff hunt,” he said.
Smith, asked his reaction when Ryan and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg informed he was getting the hook, said: “I had none.”
He began having one when Simms began directing his offense.
“It’s tough not to be out there with my guys fighting, no matter what the score is. But you got to suck it up, and you got to be a man about it,” Smith said.
A roar went up when Simms trotted out to the huddle. It wasn’t long before he and Bilal Powell botched a handoff and lost the ball.
“Just a lack of focus really on both me and Bilal. … That’s my fault, and we’ll correct that,” Simms said.
He isn’t Phil Simms, and no one should expect him to be. But he isn’t Geno Smith right now either. And the Ryan Watch is officially on.