ATLANTA — There is a live professional football team in our midst, a team popping out of its skin, not so much to take over the town surrendered by the Giants, but to defy the odds and the naysayers who thought they were laughing stocks, and thought wrong.
And a babe shall lead them.
The babe’s name is Geno Smith, and all he did last night was laugh in the face of danger and throw three touchdown passes and with what sounded like the whole state of Georgia howling in his eardrums, marched his team down the field so Nick Folk could kick the 43-yard field goal as time expired in a rip-roaring 30-28 victory over the Falcons that can launch a season and change perceptions.
A 27-14 Jet lead had vanished, and when Smith took over at his 19, there was 1:54 remaining.
He never blinked.
“It was always a dream of mine since I was a kid to be in those situations, to take my team down to get a last-second field goal or touchdown,” Smith said.
He hit Stephen Hill (for the first time all night) for 12 yards. Then Jeremy Kerley for 13. Then Hill for nine. Then Smith scrambled around left end for eight yards and got out of bounds. The Jets were at the Atlanta 38.
Now it was third-and-3 and Rex Ryan had burned two timeouts, and here came all the evidence you need the rookie quarterback is growing up. He called an audible to a run by Bilal Powell. It gained six yards. Ryan called his final timeout with 3 seconds on the clock.
Folk hero.
These are always the best kinds of victories, when a team fights it out on the road and learns something very important about its heart and soul.
And its rookie quarterback.
“You’ve got to give credit to Geno for having ice in his veins,” Willie Colon said. “Every time they question him he steps up.”
Ryan implored his team to play fearlessly in one of his impassioned team meetings, and it was the kid who was the most fearless one of all.
He would finish 16-of-20 for 199 yards, and a QB rating of 147.7. And not one turnover thanks in part to a brilliantly crafted game plan by Marty Mornhinweg that featured balance from the running game and mostly high-percentage throws.
Smith was asked about the audible.
“In that situation, we got the look we wanted, got the check called, and Bilal did a phenomenal job making a guy miss [and] picking up the first down,” Smith said.
He thanked his coaches for showing such confidence in him.
“They tell me to go out there and just let it rip — play with no conscience,” Smith said.
Asked to elaborate, Smith said: “Just not second-guessing myself. Not going out there and over-thinking. Just going out there and playing. If you make a decision, live with it. Just know that it has to be the right decision.”
Smith’s 20-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jeff Cumberland over the head of Joplo Bartu had made it Jets 10, Falcons 7. It sent a surge of electricity through the entire team. And immediately the kid was really feeling it. He hit Cumberland in stride for 47 yards. Smith threw right for Kerley, who broke a tackle and was in the end zone with the 16-yard touchdown catch. Smith punched the air emphatically with his right fist. Jets 17, Falcons 7. Boobirds inside the Georgia Dome.
Then it was Gang Green’s turn again. Ryan had marched the Falcons all the way to the Jets 1, because Dawan Landry would not let Julio Jones in the end zone. Fourth down. :07 on the clock. Falcons coach Mike Smith was going for it. Ryan looked for Tony Gonzalez. Got a holding call against Demario Davis. First down. :01 on the clock. Munchkin RB Jacquizz Rodgers tried right tackle. He found Sheldon Richardson and what looked like the rest of the old New York Sack Exchange waiting for him. Jets yelping now inside a hushed Georgia Dome. Ryan leaping, both arms thrust skyward.
Smith made it 27-14 after Kerley had set him up at the Atlanta 24 with a 24-yard punt return, at the end of which came a horse-collar tackle against punter Matt Bosher, when he rolled right and lofted a beauty of a touch pass on third-and-goal at the 1 in the right corner for a tap-dancing Kellen Winslow Jr., over safety William Moore.
“Great call by Marty,” Smith said. ”Got the look that we wanted once again. Had to put some touch on it to get it over the safety … great catch by Kellen.”
The Jets, 3-2, have themselves a season. And they may have themselves a quarterback, too.