Rex Ryan is sticking with Geno Smith for now, but at this rate it won’t be long before the head coach might be risking his own job to protect Smith’s.
Amid the carnage of the Jets’ 19-3 loss to the Ravens on Sunday in Baltimore, Ryan said he saw enough good things in Smith’s performance to keep him as the starting quarterback for Sunday’s game against the Dolphins at MetLife Stadium.
He talked about Smith’s “pocket awareness” and stepping up at the appropriate time and bailing out at the appropriate time. The coach also emphasized the Jets’ recent struggles in losing three of their last four games can’t solely be blamed on Smith, who hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass since Oct. 20, and has had quarterback ratings of 10.1 and 22.3 in back-to-back losses.
“The areas of concern are not at one position,” Ryan said.
The coach even pointed to inconsistent pass protection, dropped passes and bad routes as contributing factors for Smith’s league-high 18 interceptions. “Our team understands this is about us,” Ryan said in spreading the blame.
A good coach never singles out a player. But if Smith’s play doesn’t improve and the Jets continue this tailspin, it hurts Ryan’s chances of coming back as the head coach next season.
It was only a few weeks ago, Ryan appeared to be a lock to come back. The Jets had just beaten the Saints 26-20 and were 5-4 after defeating the Patriots two weeks earlier.
But the shine is gone after consecutive losses to the Bills and the Ravens, games in which Smith threw a total of five interceptions. Another dreadful performance against the Dolphins could not only eliminate any hopes of making the playoffs, but also rekindle discussion of whether Ryan is the right coach for this franchise.
It seems almost unfair to tie Ryan’s future to Smith’s performances. He has built the league’s best run defense, though the secondary remains a work in progress, and he has generally had the Jets performing better than anyone expected.
Marty Mornhinweg is entrusted with the offense and finding a way to guide Smith through games. But the quarterback’s performance has been so woeful of late, it reflects poorly on Ryan, who might also have to keep his locker room from becoming divided between a defense grumbling about the offense and the offense grumbling about the quarterback.
Defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson mentioned his unit made only three bad plays in the loss, while Smith seemed to be talking about dropped passes when he said: “When it’s there the great ones make the play and we’ve got to make those plays.”
Ryan insists there will be no division in the locker room.
“This team is close,” he said. “There’s always going to be ups and downs with each unit.”
But there are five more games to go and Smith seems to be regressing instead of getting better even though he insists he is.
“I’ve grown and I’ve learned from every single mistake,” he said.
Ryan said any switch at quarterback would be made with input from the coaching staff. For now, he is sticking with Smith and ignoring the critics who are calling for backup Matt Simms to get a shot. Smith is ignoring them, too.
“I completely shut it out,” the quarterback said. “One, you have to. Two, I always will because I know what it takes to win and what it takes to be a good quarterback and it doesn’t have anything to do with anything outside of this building. It takes preparation and hard work and that’s what I’ll continue to do.”
The preparation and hard work better start paying off soon or Smith and Ryan could each be out of a job.