It was hard for Geno Smith to get comfortable at Jets practice Wednesday. The coaches made sure of it.
Three days after turning the ball over four times against the Titans, the Jets rookie quarterback had his arm tugged on, with people trying to knock the football from his hands, worked out with the running backs and was asked to hold onto the ball after being worn out by drills.
The Jets are trying to come up with everything they can to cut out the turnovers that have plagued Smith, who has 11 this season, tied for the NFL-high with Eli Manning.
“Today we just emphasized the turnovers more — running with the ball high and tight,” Smith said. “I had a guy tugging at it and just keeping two hands on the ball aggressively in the pocket, stepping up in the pocket and getting the ball out faster. That’s always been an emphasis for us, but today we put a little extra emphasis on it.”
Earlier in the day, coach Rex Ryan suggested the Jets might bring back the color-coded wristband they used with Mark Sanchez during his rookie season in 2009. But Ryan backtracked from the idea during a radio appearance a few hours later.
The Jets seem puzzled as to how to get Smith to stop turning the ball over. When they drafted Smith in the second round of the draft, they touted the way he rarely threw interceptions. He had 21 in four years at West Virginia, including just six as a senior. Smith already has eight picks this year to along with three fumbles. He could top 21 by Halloween.
“There’s no question you want to be aggressive, but you don’t want to do something to the detriment of your football team,” Ryan said. “Clearly turning the football over has been a real problem. Not just this season, but the last couple [of] seasons as well.”
Smith seems to be struggling in all areas when it comes to turnovers. He made a poor read on his first interception Sunday, missing an open Santonio Holmes to go to Stephen Hill and then compounded the problem with a bad throw. On his second interception, he stared Holmes down and threw into tight coverage. His first fumble was caused by him carrying the ball with one hand and the second came when he tried to transfer the ball behind his back while under pressure.
“I go out there and my job is to manage the game and the situations,” Smith said. “A part of that is not forcing the ball and not putting us in harm’s way, not putting us in jeopardy. I’m just going out there and focusing on what I need to do. I know our defense is going to prepare and going to go out there and fight hard. I know we’re going to go out there on offense and score points.”
Veteran center Nick Mangold said he has spent time with Smith, trying to help him understand where he could face pressure and where possible problems could pop up.
“Just making sure he knows where he’s protected, how he’s protected, where his problems are in the protection, what could arise,” Mangold said. “Once we get through that in the week and once we get to a game, rely on your prep and the plan that is put forward by the coaches and usually one or two things are going to come up during a game that you kind of have to get sorted out but really once you’re into the game, you’re in it and you just have to make sure it’s clean.”
Smith spent part of Wednesday’s practice working with the running backs, and then quarterbacks coach David Lee wore him down with drills before he was challenged to hold onto the football.
“Today 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, had guys ripping at it. We did a bunch of that,” Smith said. “D-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.”