New Jets offensive coordinator Chan Gailey says that there's no quarterback competition between Geno Smith and Ryan Fitzpatrick. "Right now, Geno is the starter, and the way we expect it to be," he said. So Smith should be behind center in Week 1.
That's what Gailey told a New York Daily News writer yesterday. In a way, there's nothing particularly noteworthy about that statement. So Smith will open camp as the starter. If he's outperformed throughout the preseason by Fitzpatrick, the coaching staff can feel free to change its mind.
Smith played fairly well down the stretch last year, but big deal. It was a short stretch of games, and the Jets were out of the playoff picture. Smith playing well when there's little pressure is nothing to get excited about.
It's when there's pressure on him that Smith has tended to crumble, one way or another. If he can't avoid sacks and turnovers, he won't be in the starting lineup for long.
The table below shows Smith's game log, including partial games. He averages twice as many combined turnovers per game (1.6) as touchdowns (0.8), while also taking 2.4 sacks per game.
GENO SMITH, GAME BY GAME | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Week | Opp | TD | Int | Sack | Fum |
2013 | 1 | TB | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
2013 | 2 | @ NE | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
2013 | 3 | BUF | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
2013 | 4 | @ TEN | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
2013 | 5 | @ ATL | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
2013 | 6 | PIT | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
2013 | 7 | NE | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
2013 | 8 | @ CIN | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
2013 | 9 | NO | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
2013 | 11 | @ BUF | 0 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
2013 | 12 | @ BAL | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
2013 | 13 | MIA | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
2013 | 14 | OAK | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
2013 | 15 | @ CAR | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
2013 | 16 | CLE | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2013 | 17 | @ MIA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2014 | 1 | OAK | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
2014 | 2 | @ GB | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
2014 | 3 | CHI | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
2014 | 4 | DET | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
2014 | 5 | @ SD | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
2014 | 6 | DEN | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
2014 | 7 | @ NE | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
2014 | 8 | BUF | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
2014 | 12 | @ BUF | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
2014 | 13 | MIA | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
2014 | 14 | @ MIN | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
2014 | 15 | @ TEN | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
2014 | 16 | NE | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
2014 | 17 | @ MIA | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Total | 30 games | 25 | 34 | 71 | 16 | |
Avg | per game | 0.8 | 1.1 | 2.4 | 0.5 |
--Andy Richardson