On a day the Jets played flag football, more undisciplined than any team Rich Kotite fielded, on a day Rex Ryan managed the coach’s challenge as well as he handled Mark Sanchez in the fourth quarter of the Snoopy Bowl, they asked Geno Smith to be Mariano Rivera, and the kid saved them.
On a day the Jets committed a franchise-high 20 penalties, worth 168 unconscionable yards, on a day Ryan left himself without an invaluable challenge in the fourth quarter, on a day one of those Same Old Jets chokes was in progress, Geno Smith overcame everyone, himself included.
If the Jets give him time, in the pocket and in the cocoon, Geno Smith (16-for-29, 331 yards, two TDs, two INTs, one TD rushing) has a chance to be a deodorant who erases whatever stench surrounds the team.
A big arm like his can turn Santonio Holmes (five receptions, 154 yards, one TD) into a big-play receiver again, can turn Stephen Hill (three receptions, 108 yards, one TD) into the deep threat he was drafted to be, can offer enough of a threat to allow Bilal Powell to rumble for 149 yards behind a remorseless offensive line.
A big arm like his can make a mockery of man-to-man coverage and turn a 20-20 game into Jets 27, Bills 20 in the blink of an eye.
A big arm like his can bring Joy in Jetville, for however fleeting it may be, and leave the Jets as the New York NFL team not in crisis.
“With the game on the line, the ball in your hands — that’s the moment you live for,” Smith said. “That’s the moment you dream of as a kid. You can’t get caught up in the moment. You can’t see it as that. You got to go out there and stick to your fundamentals and do all the things that got you here. But you always want to be in that moment and you want to be successful, and it was good to do that today.”
The moment: early fourth quarter, Smith at his 31, a reserve cornerback named Justin Rogers, playing because Leodis McKelvin had been lost to a hamstring injury early in the first quarter, on Holmes. Apparently Bills defensive coordinator Mike Pettine wasn’t convinced Tone Time could be more than a shell of his former self. The Jets have a quarterback who can put the ball in the air and let the receiver make a play. And Holmes can still make a play.
“It was tight coverage, so I didn’t want to hang it too much and give the DB a chance to look back and find it, so I tried to drive it on him,” Smith said. “And Tone is very good at looking up at the last second and plucking that thing out of the sky.”
Holmes plucked it out of the sky and he was gone, and so were the Bills. Smith ran down jubilantly to congratulate him, as somehow Austin Howard wound up with the ball and an imperfect spike in the end zone.
“I think I ran about 60, 70 yards, maybe 80 yards, to go down there and just kind of give Tone a high-five and celebrate with him,” Howard said, “and he handed me the ball.”
Smith had outplayed his pal EJ Manuel, the quarterback drafted ahead of him.
“Other than the fact that we got a win, it doesn’t mean anything,” Smith said. “We’ll be battling for a number of years.”
His worst rookie mistake was a pick by fellow rookie linebacker Kiko Alsonso.
“I tried to give him a look him off and get back to the slant, and he was athletic enough and able enough to get under it,” Smith said. “At times I think I can make every single throw, and I think that’s what gets me in trouble at times.”
His 51-yard touchdown to Hill against Rogers came with Kyle Williams barreling down on him. He stood in there fearlessly. Never saw the result.
“He got a good shot on me, but it wasn’t too bad,” Smith said. “I was just more worried about placing the ball in the right spot.”
That play led Willie Colon to say: “He has all the tools to be a big-time quarterback.”
Smith (six interceptions) knows he has a defense that will keep the Jets in most games.
“My mind is focused on turnovers. … It seems like every week I’m up here saying how I need to do a better job in that area,” Smith said. “I hate to use the rookie title as an excuse.”
Imagine when he grows up.