NFL

The quarterback question hangs over start of Giants, Jets seasons

The NFL is a quarterback league, and few know what to expect from the pair that will be starting in New York this season.

Geno Smith finished an uneven rookie season playing his best football for the Jets and held off Michael Vick to keep the starting job this preseason. While Eli Manning led the league with 27 interceptions last season and has struggled to grasp the West Coast offense brought in by new coordinator Ben McAdoo this preseason.

“I played on some offenses that had almost no success the whole preseason and then came out at the start of the season and we were terrific,” CBS analyst and former Giants quarterback Phil Simms said.

“But it’s different in this day and age, and the Giants do need to find some rhythm. Eli Manning has been in this league a long time, he’s won two Super Bowls, but I don’t care who you are you want success and [to] feel comfortable. So, that has to weigh on your mind.”

The Giants hoped they would find some of that success in the preseason, even playing the starters in the fifth and final game against the Patriots, but Manning ended that night without a passing yard. If nothing else, the offense will not come in overconfident to the regular-season opener Monday night against the Lions in Detroit.

“I played on a few teams that killed it during the preseason and the sense of urgency isn’t there and you lose a little bit there,” Simms said. “When Dan Reeves came in during my 15th season we struggled with the offense, but we knew we had it, we were so close and it didn’t come through because the windows were so short. You get a quarter here and there, give him a whole game and then we’ll see what happens.”

Unlike the Giants, who have had Manning start every game the past 9 ¹/₂ seasons, the Jets are used to uncertainty at quarterback. The Jets have had nine starters since then (including Quincy Carter and Brooks Bollinger), but after a muddling start as a rookie Smith has shown signs of being a second-round steal. Not everyone is convinced, though.

“I am not by any stretch of the imagination sold on Geno Smith. I never was,” said CBS analyst Steve Beuerlein, a former quarterback who played 17 years in the league.

“How much of those struggles can you put on that being a rookie? Or do you look at it and say it was so bad, does this guy really have a chance to be a player in this league? I think he showed enough last year when he had his confidence and rhythm going late.

“There’s reason to believe that maybe he could get it done, but I sure as heck wouldn’t come out and endorse him. I don’t think Rex Ryan and that staff are in position to wait around and let Geno develop. If he struggles we all know who is going to be out there playing. Michael Vick is an established commodity.”

Smith was given most of the reps in the offseason workouts and played with the first-team offense in the preseason. He performed well enough that Vick never had a shot to supplant him, but who knows how much regular-season rope Smith has with the Jets opening on Sunday against the Raiders?

“I see a different quarterback: Much more at ease, very direct, much more in charge of himself and the whole situation on the field,” said Simms, who will call the game at MetLife Stadium alongside Jim Nantz.

“He’s not the same guy. Had he been the same guy then you start sweating.“