Geno Smith went through a quarterback competition before his rookie year, and he is expecting another one before next season.
Smith, who has thrown 10 touchdowns and 21 interceptions this year, was asked Monday if he expects to have to compete for the job again in 2014.
“Yes, I do,” he said. “I’m going to be in full competition with myself and every other guy who’s in camp.”
The Jets face a decision this offseason whether to move forward expecting Smith to be their starting quarterback or if they need to draft a quarterback or sign a free agent.
At one point this season, it appeared Smith was developing into someone who could be a franchise quarterback. But he regressed badly over a five-game stretch from October-December. Smith admitted Monday he has not lived up to his own expectations.
“I haven’t,” he said. “I think I could have played a lot better. I obviously understand there are growing pains you have to learn from and experiences you have to get better from. I set the bar high for myself, I always will. That’s the way I’ll improve, by setting that bar high and keep climbing.”
A day later, the Jets were still dissecting what went wrong when the Panthers blocked their punt in the fourth quarter. The play gave the Panthers a huge momentum boost. Carolina put Jason Williams over Jets long snapper Tanner Purdum after the Jets lined up with three flyers on the outside. Williams used a swim move to get past Purdum, who received no help, and blocked the punt.
“There’s six rushers and you have seven blockers,” Jets coach Rex Ryan said. “We have seven blockers, but are there things that we could’ve done a better job physically? Absolutely. It wasn’t really necessarily a bust in assignment, it was more of a technique deal. But, we could’ve helped. Obviously, certain guys [are] in a tougher predicament. Tanner is in a tougher predicament because he’s got somebody over his nose. So, you’re challenged a little bit that way, but we just have to do a better job of it.”
The Jets should have slid their protection toward the left side when Williams went that way. TE Zach Sudfeld was lined up as the left guard on the play. He had a rusher come directly at him, but Williams ran between him and Purdum. It appeared Sudfeld should have given Purdum some help before blocking his man.
“They caught us slipping a little bit,” Sudfeld said. “It was kind of the perfect storm of them hitting it. It’s tough when that happens, especially at a critical point in the game.”