Geno Smith and EJ Manuel sat together in the green room at Radio City Music Hall five months ago at the NFL Draft. Now they meet again on the field at MetLife Stadium.
The first two quarterbacks taken in the 2013 draft are starting Sunday for the Jets and Bills, respectively. Manuel was the only quarterback selected in the first round, with Buffalo taking him with the 16th overall pick. Smith only could sit and watch that night in New York as Manuel was taken and he was left waiting. The Jets ended Smith’s wait the following day when they took him in the second round, 39th overall.
So who got the better quarterback? Both teams hope that question is debated for years to come as the two do battle in the AFC East. This is the first round.
“I stood up, I congratulated him and that was it. Like I said, I was happy for him,” Smith said this week about draft night. “I was happy for every single guy that got drafted. I’m past that now. I hate to talk about it because I’m focusing on what we have here, which is a great opportunity, [a] good team, and we’ve got a tough matchup coming up on Sunday. We’ve been preparing for it, and we’ll be ready.”
Manuel and Smith both are 1-1 as starters with Manuel leading a comeback win against the Panthers last week while Smith came off a win in his first game with a three-interception letdown against the Patriots.
Both defenses are salivating at the thought of facing a rookie QB. The Bills defense is led by former Jets defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, who will blitz Smith all day long. Rex Ryan is 5-1 against rookie quarterbacks as a head coach, and he let his defense know this week they are going after Manuel.
“He’s a rookie. We just have to get after him. That’s pretty much it,” defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson said. “We have to stop the running game and make a rookie quarterback beat us, make them one-dimensional.”
A look inside the game:
MARQUEE MATCHUP
JETS RT AUSTIN HOWARD VS. BILLS DE MARIO WILLIAMS
Williams is coming off a monster game when he registered a career-high 4 ½ sacks against the Panthers. Now, Howard draws the primary responsibility of stopping him. Howard played well against Williams last season and frustrated him to the point Williams complained about the officiating after the first game.
Williams’ numbers last week are impressive, but if you watched the game you would see three of the sacks were brought on by Cam Newton holding the ball too long. It will be imperative for Smith to get the ball out quick to neutralize Williams.
“I think that might have been our team high last year for the season,” Rex Ryan said of Williams’ 4 ½ sacks. “The fact that God touched this guy, like gave him unbelievable gifts — he’s got the height, the size, the length, the arms, the speed — that’s kind of what jumps out. And he plays hard, he’s smart.”
LIVE ON THE EDGE
The Jets defense was embarrassed last year by Bills RB C.J. Spiller when he ran for 169 yards against them in the first game of the season. It is the second-most rushing yards against Ryan’s defense with the Jets.
So far this season, the Jets defense has been stout against the run. They are fourth in the NFL allowing an average of 59.5 yards per game on the ground. They must stop Spiller and Fred Jackson to force Manuel to make plays. Spiller did his damage on the outside last year, leaving it up to the Jets outside defenders to set the edge.
“You’ve got to tackle,” cornerback Antonio Cromartie said. “I think last year when he had 150 some yards on us in the first game of the year, we didn’t do a great job of tackling. That’s one thing we have to do — make sure we do a great job of tackling their running backs because C.J. and Fred Jackson give us some problems.”
GET SOME STICKUM
The Jets wide receivers had a brutal game last week against the Patriots with six drops. The group should get a boost this week with the return of Jeremy Kerley from a concussion, but Clyde Gates (four drops) and Stephen Hill (one drop, one fumble) must be more sure-handed.
“The biggest thing,” wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal said, “is that mentality of, ‘As soon as I step on the field, whether it be practice or a game or in my yard with my kids, I’m a professional wide receiver, and when that ball is in the air nothing else exists other than catching it and securing it.’ That must be the mentality, 24/7. That’s the thing we’ve really talked about this week. No changes in drills, because like I said, we do everything. But that mentality of there is nothing else but the ball.”
TURN THEM OVER
The Jets defense has been nearly flawless through two games, but one area they need to improve is forcing turnovers. The Jets have forced just two so far, both against the Buccaneers.
On the other side, the Jets have turned the ball over six times, giving them a minus-four turnover ratio, tied with the Steelers for the second-worst in the NFL. The defense needs to help out the sputtering offense by forcing Manuel into mistakes and maybe even scoring some points themselves.
DON’T FORGET KELLEN
Tight end Kellen Winslow and Smith seemed to have a nice thing going in Week 1 against the Buccaneers when he had seven catches for 79 yards and a touchdown. Then, he vanished last week. The Patriots certainly had something to do with it, but Winslow just caught three passes and was a non-factor for much of the game.
Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg must make Winslow a big part of the game plan this week. Panthers tight end Greg Olsen was Carolina’s leading receiver against the Bills last week.
COSTELLO’S CALL
These teams look like mirror images. Rookie quarterbacks, good defenses, strong offensive lines. But the Bills have an edge at playmaker. Stevie Johnson, C.J. Spiller and Fred Jackson help out EJ Manuel and get the Bills the ugly win.
BILLS 17, JETS 3