Geno Smith has more at stake than seeking revenge on his former team in a preseason game. The Giants quarterback, who arrived from the Jets in the offseason, is fighting for his football life. He is competing with Josh Johnson to backup Eli Manning while third-round pick Davis Webb develops.
Smith knows “it’s not really about the Jets,” the team that drafted him in the second round in 2013.
“Obviously, going against your old team, you may have a few emotions here and there, but I think I’ll be able to manage it well,” Smith said, via quotes distributed by the team. ". . . You always have that mentality. You always want to go out there and prove yourself. Nothing extra added towards them, though. I have a lot of great respect for a lot of people in that organization and I appreciated my time there, but now it’s just focusing on what we have to focus on, which is going out there and executing on game day.”
Smith, 26, went 12-18 in four seasons with the Jets, throwing 28 touchdowns and 36 interceptions. He has continued his troubling turnover trend in the preseason, going 21-for-33 for 193 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.
“You can never eliminate turnovers from the game,” Smith said. “Every quarterback has them. It happens. Unfortunately, that’s a part of the game, but you’ve got to overcome it. So without being able to play a full game, you can’t necessarily see that, but all in all when you’re in the red zone, you’ve got to take care of the football. All those things come in as factors. You’ve definitely got to be mindful of it. You know, that’s first things first is protecting the football, but you don’t want to go out there and play scared or just check it down every time.”