Growing up Smunt

[steves850]

http://mmqb.si.com/2013/11/05/geno-smith-nfl-new-york-jets-midseason-report/

Growing Up Geno
The same way it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a 53-man roster (and then some) to nurture and bring along a rookie quarterback. At the season's midpoint, the Jets' second-round pick has them looking like playoff contenders

By
Jenny Vrentas

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — David Garrard feeds Geno Smith a stream of what he calls “little life lessons” on the sideline during Jets games. The 35-year-old veteran hasn’t suited up for a game since rejoining the team in October following his brief retirement, but he’s riding the roller coaster as a mentor to the rookie quarterback.

He crouched next to Smith at one point last Sunday and told him, “Hey, this is a game where we’re going to have to put our pride to the side a little bit. Just keep feeding the horses.”

“Absolutely,” Smith replied.

We all know how this one turned out: The Jets pounded the ball for a season-high 198 rushing yards, Smith didn’t turn the ball over and the green team (literally and figuratively) earned a surprising 26-20 victory over the Drew Brees-led Saints. It was the Jets’ second signature win in three weeks—they knocked off the Patriots in overtime, 30-27, on Oct. 20—and it would have meant so much more had they not been embarrassed by an ugly 49-9 loss in Cincinnati two weeks ago.

So goes the Jets’ 2013 season. The team’s 5-4 record has been one of the NFL’s first-half surprises, even if it has followed an undeviating pattern of winning in odd weeks and losing in even ones.

“There are definitely some growing pains,” says receiver David Nelson, “especially when we have a starting quarterback that’s a rookie.”

That’s not to say the inconsistency is limited to one player, or even to one phase of the game. The same Jets defense that frustrated Brees into using three timeouts in the first quarter on Sunday allowed Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton to throw five touchdown passes. Rookie cornerback Dee Milliner, a first-round pick, has been benched twice this season, and the team’s top corner, Antonio Cromartie, has been erratic. Though Sheldon Richardson says that Ryan, the Jets’ defensive play-caller, “always puts us in the right positions,” the rookie defensive tackle admits, “sometimes we don’t execute.”

But Smith is viewed as the one who’s controlling the team’s yo-yoing. As he goes, so do the Jets. In odd weeks: Seven touchdowns, four interceptions, and an 89.4 passer rating in five wins. Even weeks: one TD, nine picks, and a 51.7 rating in four losses.

“He’s growing, so you’ve got to deal with it,” right guard Willie Colon says.

Dealing with it from all angles explains how this team is above .500 going into its bye week—the first even week in which they’re guaranteed not to lose. The group mentality is a bit like the old saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Garrard has become a proxy for Smith on the sideline, offering big-picture wisdom (trust the running game plan) and small-scale advice (retreat from pressure, throw the ball in front of your receivers). What’s a bit unusual for an NFL sideline is that offensive linemen Nick Mangold and Austin Howard often pull aside receivers and speak to them like a veteran quarterback would. Their message on Sunday: Keep holding your blocks, because we’re gashing the Saints on the ground.

This is a unique team,” David Garrard says. “Everybody is very observant and trying to pull for one another.
Even some of the Jets’ defensive players have lent a guiding hand to the offense. During the Week 7 win over the Patriots, Smith threw an early pick-six to cornerback Logan Ryan on a pass intended for Nelson. Later in the game, Jets cornerback Kyle Wilson noticed that Nelson was still getting good separation from Ryan on a couple out routes and a go route, and he wanted to make sure Smith knew the opportunities were still there—that he shouldn’t shy away because of the pick-six. “Just tell Geno so he knows,” Wilson told Garrard. The message relayed, Smith found Nelson for key gains of 27 and 12 yards against Ryan in the third quarter and overtime that helped the Jets to a win.

Early in the Saints game, a Jets’ drive stalled at the New Orleans 3-yard line after Smith threw back-to-back incompletions on second and third downs, the second pass a throwaway. It was smart for Smith to play it safe, but that’s also a spot where it’s OK to tuck the ball and run. While Nick Folk was lining up for a 21-yard field goal, Cromartie approached Smith as he walked off the field. “Hey man, keep using those legs,” Cromartie told him. “They hate that.”

Two possessions later, Smith slashed into the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown run, an ankle-breaker against Saints defensive end Cam Jordan. It was a read play that Smith said offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg called at the suggestion of Mangold.

“This is a unique team,” Garrard says. “Everybody is very observant and trying to pull for one another.”

Defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson, a fellow rookie who called the Jets "elite" on Sunday, embraced first-year quarterback Geno Smith following the Jets' shocking 26-20 win over the Saints. (Ron Antonelli/Getty Images)Defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson, a fellow rookie who called the Jets “elite” on Sunday, embraced first-year quarterback Geno Smith following their shocking 26-20 win over the Saints. (Ron Antonelli/Getty Images)
The Jets weren’t supposed to be this good, not with a roster that has 30 players who are 25 or younger. During the preseason, The MMQB joined most pundits in wondering, “Where are the offensive playmakers?” Against the Saints, the Jets were without receiver Santonio Holmes (hamstring); tight ends Jeff Cumberland (concussion) and Kellen Winslow (suspension); and running back Mike Goodson (injured reserve). Plus, starting wideout Jeremy Kerley left early with an elbow injury.

But the Jets have made it work. Bilal Powell and Chris Ivory have powered a running game that ranks 11th in the league (129 yards per game). The Jets added Nelson before Week 5, and he said the expectation for him was to be a consistent receiver to “seal the wound” at the position. Josh Cribbs signed before Week 7, hoping to give the team “momentum.” None of the Jets’ top four pass-catchers against the Saints were on the roster opening day: Greg Salas (two for 57), Zach Sudfeld (two for 46), Nelson (one for 19) and Cribbs (two for six).

“When it works, nobody has to say anything about it,” Cribbs says.

At the season’s midpoint, the Jets are just one victory shy of matching their 2012 win total. They’re firmly in the playoff hunt with the sixth-best record in the AFC, and the back end of their schedule features just one team, the 5-3 Panthers, that currently has a winning record. It would help, though, if they could figure out how to string together consecutive wins.

“You can see it definitely frustrates (Rex Ryan) a little bit, but I think he does a great job of managing it,” Nelson says. “In a game like the Cincinnati game, there were some frustrating moments, some guys were on the brink of losing their temper a couple times. With a rookie quarterback, and some rookies on the defense, we’ve got to continue to maintain our composure and use these as learning experiences.”

Few outside the Jets’ locker room expected them to be in the postseason conversation in November. Even fewer expected to hear a player, albeit a 22-year-old rookie, call the team “elite,” as Richardson did on Sunday. There’s a lot of football left to be played, but these Jets are proving that growing pains are OK, as long as there is growth.

[Miamipuck]

Nice Steve, I was just about to post this. It's a very good article.

[MoreCharacters]

Kyle Wilson brings veteran presents

[AlioTheFool]

I thought Vrentas moved over to the Giants beat. Maybe since it was the bye week she moved back over?

Anyway, yeah, it's a good article. Hidden in all the talk about how players are coming together etc. is something that really needs to get more traction. Rex is a unique leader. For all that circus nonsense that was pedaled last year, almost every single guy that plays for Rex responds to Rex. It's a real shame Gholston and Maybin didn't.

I completely understand waiting until the end of the season to hold contract talks with Rex, but there's no way Idzik can let Rex go. For all his "shortcomings" like poor clock management, poor use of challenges, or loyalty-to-a-fault, he's exactly what you want from a head coach: a motivational paragon. All he truly needed was an offensive coordinator who could remove his head from his derriere once in a while.

[bojanglesman]

Kyle Wilson brings veteran presents

"This is the proper way to finger wag."

[bojanglesman]

I thought Vrentas moved over to the Giants beat. Maybe since it was the bye week she moved back over?

Anyway, yeah, it's a good article. Hidden in all the talk about how players are coming together etc. is something that really needs to get more traction. Rex is a unique leader. For all that circus nonsense that was pedaled last year, almost every single guy that plays for Rex responds to Rex. It's a real shame Gholston and Maybin didn't.

I completely understand waiting until the end of the season to hold contract talks with Rex, but there's no way Idzik can let Rex go. For all his "shortcomings" like poor clock management, poor use of challenges, or loyalty-to-a-fault, he's exactly what you want from a head coach: a motivational paragon. All he truly needed was an offensive coordinator who could remove his head from his derriere once in a while.

This season is a bye week in Giants land.

[MoreCharacters]

“We have a lot of similarities, not only in upbringing, but in our views on football and players,” said Idzik, who, like Ryan, is the son of a former coach. “We want people to reflect what it is to play like a Jet, to act like a Jet. There’s no ‘my way’ that Rex had to learn or ’Rex’s way.’ I think it’s our way.”

unless it's all doublespeak Rex is coming back barring a 5-11 record

[ScotlandJet]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000277151/article/greg-schiano-leads-list-of-nfl-coaches-on-the-hot-seat

According to Chris Wesseling- (who?), Rex has it all to prove in the second half of the season.

[Ignatius J Reilly]

I disagree.  I think 8-8 or better and Rex keeps his job.

[Badger]

I disagree.  I think 8-8 or better and Rex keeps his job.

I still feel like 7-9 is my standard for what he needs to do, but oddly enough that would actually be a disappointment after the 5-4 start.

[Rosetta Stoned]

Well to be honest the latter part of the schedule hasn't been that successful for Rex, except in 2009 and that featured two borderline laydown victories. The past two seasons we've lost each of the last three games of the season.

I love Rex as much as the next guy, but if we now get on a roll and then finish like, dare I say, Mangini's final season, that paints a murky picture about Rex and his abikity to finish in the closing moments of a regular season.

[dcm1602]

I'm convinced Rex already earned his extension. 

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

[ons]

I'm convinced Rex already earned his extension. 

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

Yeah, if we come out of the bye flat and lose the next three games I'd like to see what you say.

No decisions regarding Rex are going to be made until the year is over.

[Heismanberg]

Yeah, if we come out of the bye flat and lose the next three games I'd like to see what you say.

No decisions regarding Rex are going to be made until the year is over.

dcm is a Rex Ryan fan. 

He literally became an NYJ fan when Rex Ryan became the coach.

[Miamipuck]

Well to be honest the latter part of the schedule hasn't been that successful for Rex, except in 2009 and that featured two borderline laydown victories. The past two seasons we've lost each of the last three games of the season.

I love Rex as much as the next guy, but if we now get on a roll and then finish like, dare I say, Mangini's final season, that paints a murky picture about Rex and his abikity to finish in the closing moments of a regular season.

It does if this team collapses. However, I think this team is somewhat independent of the prior 4 years of results, it's basically a new slate of players that are younger and more apt to improve as the season progresses.

The last few years Rex has had a talentless old team, that doesn't translate into effective late season pushes. I don't think a late season collapse is all that surprising and quite honestly to be expected. The Jets talent in 2011-2012 left a lot to be desired.

This year he has a better support staff (MM/Lee), a much younger dynamic. The only thing similar is he still has a mistake prone QB. If I had to guess I would be shocked if there was a collapse this year. If there was I would be very disappointed.

To be clear I am still fine with 8-8 and anything above, I think Rex did an absolutely fantastic job.