EARNING HIS STRIPES:Geno Smith, selected in the second round by the Jets last night, looks to throw a pass during the 2012 Pinstripe Bowl. (Neil Miller)
EARNING HIS STRIPES: Geno Smith, selected in the second round by the Jets last night, looks to throw a pass during the 2012 Pinstripe Bowl. (
)
Never mind that only the Jets can force a lame-duck head coach on the rookie general manager and a rookie quarterback on the lame-duck head coach. Let the Geno Smith Era begin.
Maybe Smith will prove to be a franchise quarterback this franchise desperately needs, maybe he won’t. You never know. There’s never any guarantee. But after what we have seen the past two years from Mark Sanchez, dropping the ball and throwing it away the way he did, it is time to find out whether Smith is, if you have the conviction that he is.
It is over for Sanchez. At best, coach Rex Ryan no longer blindly believes in him, or has enough self-preservation instincts to recognize that he can no longer defend him to Woody Johnson. At worst, all of them, Johnson, GM John Idzik and Ryan, have moved on emotionally from their once-beloved Sanchise. And have every right to.
The message to Sanchez, from the New York Jets:
Butt Out.
“I’m ready to compete, I’m ready to go in there and try to win a starting job,” Smith said last night at Radio City Music Hall.
Idzik Friday night would not even guarantee that Sanchez would make it to OTAs.
“We’re going to take this one step at a time,” Idzik said. “Let things play out. I don’t want to put the cart before the horse.”
And Sanchez ain’t his Secretariat.
You only can wonder what Ryan was thinking at 7:07 p.m. last night when Roger Goodell introduced Wayne Chrebet to announce the 39th pick at Radio City Music Hall, and you can only imagine what Sanchez was thinking.
Because Geno Smith is not Tim Tebow. He is not David Garrard. He isn’t here to run the Wildcat.
He’s here to be the next Jets franchise quarterback.
“We’re going to the playoffs next year,” Smith said.
Cut the kid some slack, he’s still recovering from an agonizing night in the green room waiting futilely for his name to be called Thursday night.
Only two summers ago, Ryan was dreaming about a 10-year run with Sanchez, once the apple of his eye, the kid who charmed the pants off him and then-GM Mike Tannenbaum and Johnson.
And now? Sanchez is Dead Quarterback Walking more than Ryan looks like Dead Coach Walking. Ryan may very well be doomed at the end of a third straight season out of the playoffs, but it should be clear now that the owner has more affection for him than he does for Sanchez.
In truth, the Jets should do Sanchez a favor and release him. He was booed roundly when they showed him on the Garden scoreboard at Knicks-Celtics Game 1. Sanchez would be Public Enemy No. 6 in our town without pity. The Jets could designate Sanchez a post-June 1 cut where he would count $12.3 million against the cap, less than he would if he is on the roster. The Jets would owe him at least $8.75 million.
Asked if he expects Smith to start, Idzik said: “We expect him to compete.”
It doesn’t mean Smith is this year’s Andrew Luck, or Robert Griffin III, or Russell Wilson. He has looked like the little girl with the curl at times, but the Jets see a beautiful arm and beautiful legs. But it would be reckless of Ryan and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg to make Smith the Opening Day starter. It would be tantamount to throwing Smith to the wolves.
Don’t make him a sacrificial lamb.
He is the Quarterback of the Future on a team with no championship present.
As this team is presently constructed, very few quarterbacks would succeed. A rookie quarterback has no chance.
A capsule on Smith from scouting company Ourlads: “Moves the team with the game on the line. He is a master distributor of the football. He has the arm strength to zip it through very small windows in the defense. A team captain and leader.”
Idzik kept talking about how Sanchez was on board with the new Jets mantra of competition. Ryan offered no defense of Sanchez last night.
How could he?
“We drafted Geno Smith because he has exceptional talent,” Idzik said.
The NFL Network’s Mike Mayock had mixed reviews on Smith.
“I don’t think you can hand him the keys,” Mayock said.
It’s a broken-down jalopy. It would behoove Ryan to hand him the keys only after Idzik makes major repairs on offense.
I asked Smith if he believes he is a franchise quarterback.
“Yes sir I do believe so, for a number of reasons,” Smith said.
For a number of reasons, he’s Broadway Geno.