I remember Brees being only adequate and was shocked when he became what he was. Eli's first year was only half a season, I think. But it is the kind of mistakes Geno makes that drive us crazy. They are scratch your head mistakes
Ha ha. Eli is an enigma. He has played every game since he started playing, yet sometimes the prospect of a hit makes him do really stupid stuff. And sometimes nothing at all is happening and he sails it. I used to think that for some reason, Eli was an All Pro in the 4th quarter and a bit of a schlump the rest of the way. That does not seem to hold true anymore. But he used to be pretty good late..
Can you tell me ONE of those other QB that had a top 5 defense and a top 5 running game to support them? I didn't think so. With a great running game to take off the pressure he should have been better. His stats are padded with short and screen passes. Geno Smith sucks! Glennon had a horrible defense and last place running attack, yet his stats blow Smith's out of the water.
Having a good running game only helps a QB if you use play action and throw on first down or second and short once in a while. It really does not help a QB when you are only throwing in obvious passing situations.
The bad easily outweighs the good though. The offensive line was pretty bad this year, but how many times was Geno sacked because he held onto the ball too long? The amount of times I saw off-coverage on Decker, his inability to read the defense. Geno will be a 1/2 decent backup next season, but don't expect him to just all of a sudden "get it"
I believe he will develop and I don't believe he is a majority of the problem apart from being a "young NFL QB". I don't have the history of the game at my understanding as I am from Australia, but I do know stats whether they be in sport or in business. Numbers don't make liars, liars make numbers. So for consideration, and hopefully some of you football brains can help an Aussie understand outside of stats. (I wanted to post this data, but wasn't sure how to add an image, so I typed it. All this info is from ESPN Team page and I just typed in, what seemed relevant: PASSING Jets 2946 Opp 3746 OK, 800 yds. Is this because he 1) has a terrible arm, 2) has no receivers 3) has a swiss cheese offensive line. Probably a good mix of all 3. PASSING TD's Jets 16 Opp 31 (what are our corner's and safeties doing?) Hmm, you could use the 3 scenarios above again INT's Jets 15 Opp 6 I'm starting to eliminate he has no receivers. Why, because he is in some sort of spot to send the ball. Now it's a question of he just can't throw or he is under pressure. SACKS Jets 47 Opp 45 We were sacked twice more than the league average. Now you could add to the discussion that he may just take too dam long to throw the ball, which will come with development, OR, you could start to really think that maybe our vet/rook OL is just not as good as it should be. RUSHING Jets 2280 (Geno ran for 238) Opp 1489 10% contribution is pretty dam good. I believe our RB situation could be much stable (even though we were 3rd in the NFL, but the hidden message here is when our passing game is off, it's natural to revert to the run), but what the stat really tells me is our DL is rockstar (our deep DL is ?????) RUSHING TD's Jets 10 Opp 11 Not sure what to make of this one, we can seem to run a mile, but cannot cross the goal line (OL issues again?) So, firstly, there's probably a few on here that will tell me what I can do with my stats and I don't know NFL, go back home. That's ok, I can take it. But, have your own opinions and look everywhere, before Gene gets the "King Richard, off with his head" card. I believe he is better than some of you give him credit for, and fix some of the other areas this team has problems with. Corners and OL holes. And finally, here's a stat you may not even see. For the season: Season Q1 Jets 82 pts Opp 99 pts Season Q2 Jets 83 Opp 128 pts Season Q3 Jets 55 Opp 84 Season Q4 Jets 63 Opp 84 So we start out ok, then our Opp's smell blood and pour it on by the half. How deflating is it going to the locker when your Opp runs it up before half time (and it's not from our DL, you can see they don't rush many TD's, it's all long bombs)? Then our pep talk may as well not exist at half time, because we don't run back on the field with a turn around, our Q3 is terrible. All good shit huh . OK lemme have it.
Without getting too deep into it again... Many of our issues stem from Geno. He turns the ball over so much, he's not trusted to throw in the RZ, which limits us to running the ball and everyone knows it...easy to stop. I do think with more creative calls and protection, he could be a decent QB. Geno has a great arm, he has great athletics, he has a pea brain.
I wanted to make a couple comments about the varied points discussed in this thread. 1. It's kind of silly to compare Geno, a 2nd round draft pick, to guys drafted high in the first round. In fact, one of the many mistakes done with Geno by the Jets is that he has been treated like a top 5 pick. 2. Re: Sanchez vs Geno. Geno has the advantage over Sanchez when it comes to all the God given traits (e.g., arm talent and athleticism) while Sanchez's has better fundamentals (e.g., throwing mechanics and footwork). The gap between their God given ability is less than that of their fundamentals; Geno's mechanics and footwork are terrible. Geno may be better in a vaccum but IMO a team has a better chance of winning with a Sanchez because of his sound fundamentals.
But the delusional fanbase still see Geno as starting caliber, and will always continue to blame whomever our OC for his shortcomings, its rather sad
A lot of these stats, in my opinion, are more on the playcalling and offense than on Geno. Geno has a tendency to do stupid stuff at times, bad interceptions, fumbles, take bad sacks, etc. But he can also move the ball when given the freedom to sling it. He reminds me of Testaverde for that reason, but the Jets offense under Rex has been extremely conservative for the most part, so it's almost like they take away Geno's strength while he still has his weakness. That's why I would like to see him in a more passing oriented offense before I competely convinced that he is a bust.
That was one game, the worst start of his career. He's usually not that bad. Also, the one thing about Geno, he's resilient, a lot of times he had bad mistakes early and came back and had a good game after that. The pick six against Minnesota, the stupid fumble against Miami for example.
Bullshit. Our offensive problems were Rex and how he crippled the offense and put Geno in unwinnable situations.