Rex Ryan Talks About Geno Smith’s Recent Performance

Oct 13, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan and New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith (7) shake hands during the pre game warmups for their game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

It’s been a topsy-turvy year for Rex Ryan, with his young quarterback, Geno Smith. He wins, he loses. He plays well, he plays badly. One thing that has been a constant, however, is the turnovers. We all saw it on Sunday, four more turnovers for the young Geno Smith.

During the post game, Joe Klecko invoked a memory that nobody wanted to hear, when he said that Geno is starting to remind him of the “previous quarterback”. This is not the time for Mark comparisons, however. It’s time to start realizing these turnovers need to stop. Geno needs to start making drastic changes here.

Matt Simms came into his second relief appearance on Sunday, leading the team to a touchdown. At least for the time being, coach Ryan is continuing with Geno Smith as his starting quarterback. He did speak yesterday about Geno’s performance over the last five games:

First off, I think he did get hit. There’s no question about it. He got hit hard and sometimes you rush things. I think normally a strength of Geno’s is his pocket presence – pocket awareness and I think, whether it was taking the hits or whatever, I feel that he never had the feel that he normally has. (When a) guy gets beat inside, sometimes you can avoid that a little bit. He wasn’t doing that as much as he’s done in the past. I thought there were times when he could’ve run with it. He didn’t do it, pull it down and run. And again, that could be attributed to a lot of things. But, the fact that he got hit, he got hit hard a few times, might have something to do with that.

Rex knows his on the team, not just on Geno Smith. He talked about how the team can help him learn from his mistakes:

I know how this affects him. I know the competitiveness in him and he would love to get out there today. But, we’re fortunate because we have some time. We have to get him dialed in better and take the opportunity to get better as a team and as a group. We’re certainly looking at a lot of different things, what we’re asking him to do and other things. Not just him, but our players. I challenged our coaches that way and we recognize that we have to get better. We have to protect the football better, first and foremost on offense and it hasn’t (happened). I get it, I know it doesn’t look like that we’re trying that way. We’re trying desperately to see that this happens. We’re trying desperately to see that the ball doesn’t get thrown over our head and yet it’s pretty obvious we still have a long way to go. We have to improve in those areas.

On this one, I am having a tough time getting a read on coach Ryan, on how really happy he is with Geno Smith. Geno needs to get better. The turnovers have to improve. Rex did acknowledge, however, that Matt Simms might get more reps on practice this week.

Maybe that will help light Geno Smith’s backside up just a little.