Jets quarterback Geno Smith made the boneheaded play of the preseason when he ran out the back of the end zone for a safety on Saturday night. He also threw three interceptions, including two in the first quarter. But Jets coach Rex Ryan says Smith did some things well, too.
Ryan acknowledged the rough part of Smith’s game before also saying that Smith showed a good command of the offense, and saying that Smith had a better game than his stat line would suggest.
“With Geno, there was the good, the bad and the ugly. I think the ugly was the safety. The bad was the interceptions,” Ryan said. “But there was a lot of good, too. And I think his decision making during the game, there were a lot of positives there. Sometimes the numbers might be a little bit disordered. I think there were four or five drops in the game as well, which might have helped his case a little bit.”
Some critics think Ryan’s decision to put Mark Sanchez in the game after Smith left was both bad and ugly, as Sanchez suffered an injured throwing shoulder and may not be back for the beginning of the regular season, which would make Smith the starter by default. Ryan, however, declined to address that criticism at his press conference on Monday.
“Do I regret that he got injured? Of course. But I’m not going to say anything about it because I’ve addressed it already,” Ryan said.
Now Ryan just has to hope that he’s not addressing any more questions about bad or ugly plays by his quarterback when he does his first Monday press conference of the regular season in two weeks.