The last time Geno Smith threw a football against the Patriots it was intercepted … and so were two of his previous seven throws.
The Jets rookie quarterback had a rough night a month ago in a 13-10 Jets loss in New England. Now, he gets another shot at Bill Belichick’s crew when the Patriots come to MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
“Yeah, anxious to go out there and have another opportunity once again to go out there and try and get a victory for the organization,” Smith said Monday. “I think every single guy felt bitter after that loss, on the road that Thursday night. But, we’ve put it behind us and we’ve learned from it. We’ve gained experience from it and we’re going to move on.”
This will provide a test for the Jets to see exactly what type of team they are. Are they the team that went on the road last week and beat the Falcons or the one that laid an egg Sunday against the Steelers?
It also begins a three-game stretch in which the Jets will face first-place teams. They travel to Cincinnati to play the Bengals next week and then face the Saints at home. But the Jets are just worried about this week right now, and they know that they cannot afford to fall three games behind the Patriots in the AFC East.
“ In my opinion, it’s a must win,” running back Chris Ivory said. “They’re up two games on us. I feel like we have to win this game to be still in the running to win the division or at least tie it up. It’s a must win.”
Coach Rex Ryan would not go that far, but acknowledged this game is a big one.
“A must-win might be a little much right now even for my deal,” Ryan said. “Certainly it’s huge.”
Ryan has always believed division games count as 1 ½ games in the standings. The Jets have already dropped one of those to the Patriots.
The Week 2 game was a frustrating one for the Jets, who had one defensive letdown for a touchdown. They actually had Tom Brady visibly frustrated that night, but still could not pull off the win. The wheels fell off in a three-interception fourth quarter from Smith.
“I think we played pretty well, not to go back, but we played really well in the early parts of the game,” Smith said. “And then pretty much the bottom fell out, those last 12 plays. We had three interceptions, which were on me and then we just didn’t get a chance to get down in field-goal range or possibly score a touchdown.”
The Jets are coming off a tough 19-6 loss to the Steelers on Sunday. Smith threw another two interceptions in that game and has 10 this season, the third-most in the NFL.
“I don’t look at them as rookie mistakes, I just seem them as mistakes,” Smith said. “I think every quarterback in this league is going to make some of those mistakes and the key thing is to try and eliminate them, try to avoid those mistakes. Although I am a rookie, I don’t tend to use that excuse as the reason behind me making those mistakes. I think they’re just simple mistakes in a game and they’ve got to be eliminated.”
It has been a while since the Jets came out on the winning side against the Patriots. You have to go back all the way to the 2010 divisional playoff game. The Jets have dropped five straight since, and have been humiliated the last two times they have played New England at MetLife — last year’s Thanksgiving 49-19 debacle and 37-16 in 2011. They have had close games with them in Foxborough the last three times they’ve played.
“We haven’t fared well the last several games against them, the last three years we haven’t beat them,” Ryan said. “I know we’ve been close, but that doesn’t matter. Like I’ve said before, we’re not betting the point spread.”