The Jets named Geno Smith their starting quarterback for the season opener on Wednesday morning, but that doesn’t mean they’re ready to stop having weekly discussions about who will start the next game.
Coach Rex Ryan was asked Wednesday afternoon if Smith was going to be the long-term starter or if the team would be revisiting the decision each week of the season and Brian Costello of the New York Post reports that Ryan wouldn’t say one way or the other how the Jets are planning to proceed. Ryan said the team’s only focus is on this week’s game against the Buccaneers and that the team isn’t thinking about anything beyond that.
Most would argue that quarterback is the kind of position where you like to do some long-range planning, but the Jets clearly beat to their own drum when it comes to the way they handle things under center. That doesn’t make it any easier to understand why they wouldn’t just say that Smith is the starter and it is his job to run with until Mark Sanchez is healthy or Smith plays his way out of it, if only to stop the daily tragicomedies at the podium by Ryan, but you wouldn’t expect anything else at this point.
Since we mentioned Sanchez, Ryan confirmed that he won’t play on Sunday but said that injured reserve is not a consideration right now. Matt Simms will back up Smith.