NFL

Jets offense goes nowhere fast in scrimmage

CORTLAND — As Jets quarterback Geno Smith began to answer questions from the media after Saturday night’s “Green and White Scrimmage,” fireworks began going off to his right.

“How about we all stare at the fireworks for a second?” Smith said to the reporters.

It was the first fireworks anyone had seen all night.

The Jets offense was about as effective as a wet firecracker, and scored just two field goals as Smith and Michael Vick failed to get the team into the end zone. That new and improved Jets offense still has a lot of improving to do.

“We didn’t score enough points as an offense,” Smith said. “We got down to the red zone two or three times and had an opportunity to score and only came away with three points. We’ve got to do a better job of capitalizing once we get down to the red zone.”

Of course, Jets coach Rex Ryan felt the scrimmage was proof of how good his defense is, not how poor his offense is.

“Overall I was really pleased,” Ryan said. “If we’re looking at it from the numbers perspective, hey, we never threw X amount of touchdowns, all right no touchdowns. It was much more competitive than that.”

OK, Rex, whatever you say.

The offense looked dismal. Smith nearly threw two interceptions and the running game was stuffed all night long. The offense also committed several penalties that put them in bad situations.

Smith finished the night 7-of-14 for 84 yards, with 41 of those coming on a long pass to Stephen Hill, the lone offensive highlight of the night. Vick went 7-of-13 for 47 yards and ran the ball twice for 35 yards. Vick was the team’s leading rusher. Each quarterback had four series; Smith had three with the starters while Vick had one.

“It could have been better,” Vick said. “As an offense, you always want to strive to put points on the board. Our defense is extremely tough. I don’t know if they game planned for us in one day or what, but they did a good job. We did some good things on offense, but there are a lot of corrections to be made and I think we’ll be all right.”

The new additions did not add much. Running back Chris Johnson gained 14 yards on five carries. Wide receiver Eric Decker had one catch for 7 yards.
The Jets have three practice days to fix things before their first preseason game Thursday night at MetLife Stadium against the Colts.

“I think when we tee it off for real on Thursday night, we’ll probably put up some points,” Ryan said.

The closest the Jets came to a touchdown was on Smith’s drive with the second team. He connected with Greg Salas, Jalen Saunders and Clyde Gates to move the ball into the defense’s territory. He then threw a ball up to Salas on fourth-and-5 in the end zone that fell to the ground, but cornerback Darrin Walls was called for pass interference.

The offense had four shots from the 1-yard line, but running back Alex Green was stuffed three times near the line of scrimmage. On fourth down, Garrett McIntyre sacked Smith on a rollout.

Ryan, forgetting he coaches both sides of the ball, was thrilled by the goal-line stand.

“That was awesome,” Ryan said. “You love it as a defensive coach.”

The good news for the Jets is it’s just early August. The bad news is we’ve seen this script before under Ryan when the defense plays lights out and the offense sputters. They have a month to figure it out.