The Jets like to say they signed Michael Vick in March to push Geno Smith. Consider Thursday night a gentle nudge.
Neither quarterback was overly impressive or unimpressive in the preseason opener against the Colts at MetLife Stadium, but Vick got the team into the end zone while Smith led the Jets only to a field goal in a 13-10 win.
The quarterback non-competition now returns to Cortland, where the Jets have another week of practice before their second preseason game in Cincinnati. Thursday night’s game probably did little to influence the Jets coaches when it comes to their opinions of the quarterbacks.
“We’ll just let this thing play out,” coach Rex Ryan said. “This was our first preseason game. We know we have two excellent quarterbacks.”
Smith, who got the start, finished 4-of-6 for 33 yards with one rush for 10 yards on two drives. He made one terrible throw, when he tossed it across the field while under a rush, but there was no Colts defender near enough to pick the ball off. Smith got the Jets to the Colts’ 33, where they had to settle for a 51-yard field goal from Nick Folk.
“It felt smooth,” Smith said. “I was able to go through my reads and hit some open guys. With time, we’ll get better and just continue to progress and continue to work hard.”
Vick entered the game in the second quarter and played one series with the starting offense. The 34-year-old showed what he can do, eluding Colts defenders on a 15-yard gain. He marched the Jets down the field on a 14-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that ended with Chris Johnson plunging into the end zone from the 1.
Even after a good performance, Vick expects things to remain status quo, with Smith taking the majority of the first-team snaps.
“We have to continue to move in the right direction and continue to put the best players out there to make the plays and figure out ways to win football games,” Vick said.
Granted the drive came against the Colts’ second-team defense, but Vick made some nice plays, including a fourth-down pass to fullback Tommy Bohanon to set up the score. Vick’s best plays came with his legs as he showed he remains quick and still has that “wow” factor.
“He looked great,” Ryan said of Vick. “Shoot, that’s the thing when you have them all covered up, but you better account for the quarterback. When a quarterback can run for first downs, we saw Geno do it a couple of times and obviously with Mike, it puts a huge stress on the defense.”
The quarterbacks were the main event, but the game also served as the Jets debuts of Johnson and wide receiver Eric Decker, both signed as free agents this offseason.
Decker caught the first pass of the game, a 7-yard strike from Smith. He added another catch, this one a 5-yard pass from Smith to finish the night with two catches for 12 yards. That’s a better night than he had the last time he played at MetLife. During February’s Super Bowl, he had one catch for 7 yards with the Broncos.
“You see why we’re so high on them,” Ryan said of the new guys. “Decker presents that big target and things. I tell you the thing I like the most about him is he’s a team guy. He’s competitive. He blocks. He was starting to dig out those safeties. I was really happy with him.”
On defense, the Jets’ secondary looked shaky, particularly cornerback Dimitri Patterson. This is the Jets’ biggest question mark on defense and rivals the quarterback position for the biggest question mark on the team. Patterson gave up a 45-yard pass to Colts backup quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who found Da’Rick Rogers down the sideline. Patterson also was flagged for a holding call in the second half.
The good news defensively for the Jets was they looked strong as ever against the run, and second-year cornerback Dee Milliner made some nice plays. Milliner had a pass breakup in the end zone when Hasselbeck tried to hit Donte Moncrief.
An Andrew Furney 51-yard field goal with 1:08 left in the game gave the Jets the win.