Geno Smith: The Good and The Bad – What Does The Film Say?

The Jets (1-1) are coming off a loss to the Pats, a game in which they should’ve won in my opinion of course.  The opportunities were there and the inability for the Jets to capitalize on said opportunities caused a lot of finger pointing and  A lot of fingers are being pointed in every direction but of course the QB gets the most of the blame as well as he should.   Jets QB Geno Smith didn’t have a good game by any stretch of the imagination but the tape will tell us more than that as it shows there’s legitimate cause for concern with Geno as well as reason to be very optimistic with the rookie QB out of West Virginia.  As usual, I’ll try to keep this quick and sweet with a simple and sweet  look at the “Good” and “Bad” re: Geno Smith……

 The Good –

First Quarter, 1st and 10 at the Jets 19 yard line the Jets come out in Shotgun, a four WR set with Chris Ivory as the lone RB in the backfield.  The Patriots CBs have press coverage on the inside Jets WRs and soft coverage on the outside WRs Gates and Holmes.

Geno Smith takes advantage of great O-line protection, stands tall and patient in the pocket and allows Stephen Hill time to hit his fly route and hitting Hill in stride.  This was a huge play in the first quarter that of course was negated by Stephen Hill’s awesome ability to suck when his team needs him the most.  Hill has the ball freakishly kicked out of his arms which makes it partly his fault but still.  The pass by Geno was a great pass indeed and it shows that he will stand in the pocket and deliver aka “The Good.”  Lets continue with more good from Geno shall we?

We’re still in the 1st quarter; 3rd and 7 at the Jets 23 the Jets once again come out in Shotgun, 3 WR set with an empty backfield.  The Pats CBs once again come out with press coverage on all Jets WRs, which means Geno will have to give his WRs time to beat the press and get open.

Geno once again stands stall in the pocket with the pressure seconds from destroying him (he actually gets destroyed here as you will see in the next pic) delivering the 27 yards strike to a streaking Santonio Holmes who is running an out route towards the sidelines. 

Same play. Geno standing in the pocket amongst the pressure and delivering the strike to Holmes.  Geno took a heck of a shot here but got right back up.  That’s essentially what you want to see from your rookie QB but you just hope he doesn’t have to take these kind of shots this early as you fear it may affect his confidence. Kudos nonetheless though.

The Bad –

The bad starts on the same drive as the 27 yard completion to Holmes in which Geno took that shot.  Here 3rd and 7 at the goal line  the Jets come out in a 4 WR shotgun set with an empty backfield.  Immediately what I noticed is that Stephen Hill is open right away for a quick strike over the middle for what would most certainly be a TD strike (then again you never know with Stephen Hill).  

Geno misses Hill here for an easy TD but instead decides to leave the pocket at an attempt at making a play.  Smith has to go with his first read and not second guess himself and question his abilities.  It seemed he lacked confidence here to make that quick throw to Hill but instead chose to panic and leave the pocket in an attempt at making a play, truly a move he didnt have to make.  Hill has to learn he has to take what the defense gives him and in this case the defense gave him that inside pass to Hill for the quick TD. Geno is kicking himself in film study after this one no doubt.

The bad continues. 3rd and 5 at the NE 27 yard line, the Jets come out in a 3 WR shotgun set.  What I see here is an opportunity for Geno to hit Gates in stride for the long completion over the top or even possibly a TD but instead of leading Gates and putting the ball in front of him in order for him to make a play on it, Geno once again hesitates in the pocket and second guesses himself and waits too long before deciding to hit Gates on this play resulting in his second int of the game.  He has to get this pass out much quicker and be much more decisive in the pocket in order to stay ahead of the defense.  Geno even has Powell open in the flat here and if he pump fakes to Gates then dumps it off to Powell, we’re talking about a huge gain, possibly a TD.  Two potential plays that never happen, instead this drive ends in a turnover.

Geno’s last INT comes again in the 4th quarter. 3rd and 4 at the Jets 46 yard line the Jets are out in shotgun in a 4 WR set with an empty backfield. Geno once again targets Stephen Hill but in actuality he NEVER has Hill opened here and shouldnt have made this throw. 

Hill is blanketed by Talib the entire time. After reviewing the film on this play there was NO WR opened and Geno should’ve probably either look to run it or thrown it away.

Again, most of this seems like it can be fixed with coaching and experience as there’s a lot to like and a lot to be concerned about when it comes to Geno Smith. There’s seemingly no indication one way or the other that he will be a great QB or a bust as right now its way too early.  The only thing Jets fans can hope for is that Geno is good at learning from mistakes.  From what we’ve seen of him thus far he’s a film junkie and has committed himself in becoming a better QB and that’s essentially all we can ask of him at this point but we need to start seeing some consistent development from him or the Jets will have decisions to make before next April’s draft.