Mark Cannizzaro

Mark Cannizzaro

NFL

Rex has no clue how to stop Jets’ turnover woes

At 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jets head coach Rex Ryan said, in an effort to curb the rash of turnovers by his rookie quarterback Geno Smith, he was considering going to the red-yellow-green color-coded wristband he used with Mark Sanchez in his rookie year.

In a radio interview about three hours later, though, Ryan backtracked from that plan.

The fact Ryan was considering it gives you an idea of the gravity of the situation, with Smith’s 11 turnovers in four games killing the team. And the fact he backed off of the idea three hours after volunteering it to reporters gives you an idea of how clueless Ryan and his coaching staff are about how to fix the problem.

“Clearly, turning the football over has been a real problem — not just this season but the last couple of seasons,’’ Ryan said of his team’s minus-10 turnover ratio, which is second-worst in the NFL behind only the 0-4 Steelers. “We all know what that leads to.’’

Too many gifts for opponents and too many unnecessary losses for the Jets.

Smith keeps saying all the right things, and good for him.

He has taken ownership of his mistakes, which is a good sign of character.

He has acknowledged his significant role in hurting the team, which could (should?) be at least 3-1 and possibly even 4-0 instead of 2-2 if not for his litany of turnovers.

And in perhaps his most admirable move of all, Smith even apologized to his defensive teammates for the mess he made in Sunday’s loss to the Titans, who scored 28 of their 38 points in a 38-13 win off of his four turnovers.

But four games into this season and his NFL career, it is time for Smith to act on his own earnest words and stop giving the ball to the other guys. He says all the right things. Now he needs to do more of the right things.

If Smith turns the ball over on Monday night in Atlanta as often as he did Sunday in Tennessee, the Falcons, who have arguably the best collection of offensive skill position players in the league, will feast on the Jets like they would Thanksgiving dinner on an empty stomach.

Smith has turned the ball over 11 times with eight interceptions and three lost fumbles. That puts him on pace to turn the ball over 43 times if he lasts all 16 games this season — almost as many turnovers as the 52 Mark Sanchez committed in the last two seasons combined.

Jets coaches spent a good part of Wednesday’s practice working Smith into some special drills designed to help ball security in an effort to better simulate game conditions.

“They had me in the running backs turnover circuit with the ball high and tight with three points of pressure and taking care of the ball, and had guys ripping at it,’’ Smith said. “[Quarterbacks coach David] Lee did a good job of getting us tired at first by doing footwork drills and then we had guys tugging at the ball to see how you would hold it.

“That’s pretty much how it is in the game — you’re a bit tired, you’re running around and guys are stripping at it and you’ve got to hold onto it. At this point anything that we can do to negate turnovers and negate penalties, we’re taking action.’’

If you are thinking this all sounds a lot like 2009, you are spot on.

The Jets are ranked No. 2 in the NFL in total defense and they have the AFC’s co-leading rusher in Bilal Powell. The only thing holding them back from winning more are the growing pains of a turnover-prone rookie quarterback whom the coaches are desperately trying to reel in to “manage’’ the game better.

Does that sound familiar?

Much the way the Jets endured “good Mark’’ and “bad Mark’’ moments in Sanchez’s rookie season in 2009, they are living (and dying) with “good Geno’’ and “bad Geno’’ now.

The Jets survived Sanchez’s rookie-year growing pains to sneak into the playoffs and then get hot enough to make it to the AFC Championship Game.

Will they be fortunate enough to do that again this year with Smith?