New York Jets Coach Rex Ryan on the QB Competition: Game One

Aug 9, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan on the sidelines in the first quarter of a preseason game against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

Like we said, the Jets got back to work yesterday, following the preseason debut against the Detroit Lions. With that, we heard from coach Ryan for the first time since Friday night.

He addressed the issue of him not watching the offense, saying that it was overblown. In the future, he will simply say that he needs to watch the tape. So, here is what he had to say about Mark Sanchez from Friday night:

Well again, there’s a lot of positives. You can look at the numbers and see that. Are there areas for improvement? Of course, you always look for those things. I thought when Mark was in there, I thought we had a chance to make a couple big plays down the field, yet the (protection kind of) broke down a little, we slid one way or the other, maybe never had the vision down the field a little bit. Obviously, (he) clearly made a mistake on the interception. You have to get rid of that ball and we practiced it today, the same scenarios we went over for the corrections. Marty (Mornhinweg) went over it and the staff went over it today and now we’re going to simulate the tackle and the ends sluff (movement), now you have to get rid of the ball. You have to dirt it, whatever, so we have to get better at that. There’s no question that was obviously a huge error. I did like the way he responded. He came back and I thought he threw the ball well, threw it with some accuracy, so that was good to see.

This was pretty much in line with everything that has been said about Mark’s performance, including by me. The INT was bad, but he rebounded nicely.

Here are his thoughts on Geno Smith’s debut:

I thought he did some good things. I liked that he showed some poise, made a couple nice throws, accurate with the football. I think he missed one pass that got tipped. I thought he looked pretty good. (You’ve) got to give Detroit credit. We were trying to run kind of a speed sweep or whatever and they got two guys blitzing off the edge. Chalk one up for them. That one kind of looked bad. They hit us in the backfield, about a four-yard loss. For the most part, I thought Geno played well. One time he did a good job avoiding a rush. I would still like to see him get two hands on the football anytime transferring the ball from the top shoulder to the bottom shoulder. I’d still like to see that better. I thought he did well.

The issue of transferring the ball hadn’t occurred to me, but other than that, similar thoughts yet again. Both guys had their highs and lows Friday night.

The competition is still muddy, and close. Nobody is pulling ahead, yet.