ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Oh, Geno. What are the Jets to do about Geno Smith, their rookie quarterback who has been the same turnover sieve Mark Sanchez was the last two playoff-less years?
In pattern with this season of win-one, lose-one, “Bad Geno’’ reared his head again in Sunday’s 37-14 loss to the Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium, where he turned the ball over another four times, giving him 20 giveaways in 10 games.
Smith, as he always is after poor performances, was stand up following this one, absorbing all the blame. But it is becoming a broken record.
“The way I can sum up this game for myself is awful,’’ Smith said. “I know that I can play better. I know this isn’t who I am or what I want to be. I’ve got to be mindful of taking care of the ball. I just didn’t get the job done today. That’s pretty much as simple as I can put it.’’
Bills coach Doug Marrone, as his is weekly ritual before games, writes up a synopsis of the team’s gameplan and distributes it to management and ownership as a sort of informative heads-up. Among the prophetic items on that list for the Jets game included several ways to unsettle Smith.
l He positioned 6-1, 303-pound defensive Kyle Williams over rookie left guard Brian Winters, who has struggled. Result: Williams, road-grating Winters late in the second quarter, had a strip-sack of Smith that gave Buffalo the ball at the Jets’ 4-yard line. Two plays later, the Bills blew the game open, taking a 17-0 lead.
l He gave Smith different, more complicated looks on defense than he had in the teams’ earlier meeting thanks to the return of injured secondary starters — safety Jairus Byrd and cornerback Stephon Gilmore. Result: Byrd picked off Smith late in the first half, leading to a Bills field goal and a 20-0 lead. Byrd had a second pick in Jets territory late in the third quarter, and safety Da’Norris Searcy disguised a blitz had a 32-yard pick-six on a play the Bills said they “stole’’ during the week.
l Noting Smith has struggled most and has been most prone to turning the ball over when pressured in the pocket, the Bills harassed him with a variation of front-seven pressure and exotic, disguised blitzes. Smith was sacked four times, hurried several others and turned the ball over four times (three interceptions and a lost fumble).
Smith, who finished 8-of-23 for 103 yards with a quarterback rating of 10.1, was replaced by backup Matt Simms with 12:55 still remaining in the game and the Jets trailing 34-7.
Smith called it “extremely frustrating’’ to be pulled, saying, “I hate to come out of games. At the same time, I understand decisions have to be made.’’
Coach Rex Ryan, pressed on whether Smith would remain the starter, stood by his rookie.
“We’ll look at everything, but I don’t think it’s fair to place [blame] on one man,’’ Ryan said. “We have to take a hard look at what we’re doing, but I would say Geno is our starting quarterback against Baltimore next week.’’
Smith’s offensive teammates also stood behind him.
“My confidence level is high [on Smith],’’ right guard Willie Colon said. “He’s my quarterback, bottom line, and I’m going to ride with Geno ‘til the end. We didn’t do a good enough job to keep him clean.’’
Receiver David Nelson professed his believe in Smith “because I’ve seen it in practice, I’ve seen it in the meeting room, I’ve seen it in the games.’’
Smith said, “I’ve just got to do it. It’s not talking about it, it’s not about standing up here at this podium and saying, ‘Hey, I’ve got to be consistent.’ It’s about doing it on the field. I make one good play and come right back and make a mistake.’’
That’s the story of Smith’s rookie year and, no coincidence, the Jets’ season.