It took Geno Smith 2 games to reclaim his spot in Jets quarterback history

Geno Smith may not have lit up the stat sheet through his first two games with the New York Jets, but he’s already provided competency and stability to a position desperately needing both. 

In short, the 14-year vet has been exactly what the Jets needed.

Smith enters Sunday’s showdown with the Lions (1-1) coming off consecutive interception-free games, which in itself is an achievement. He's completed 70.8 percent of his passes, good enough for No. 7 league-wide and second-best behind Deshaun Watson, of all people, in the AFC.

Then there’s Smith's 462 passing yards, which rank 12th leaguewide. However, the far more interesting part is what the first two weeks have meant for his place on the Jets’ all-time leaderboards.

Geno Smith is quickly climbing the New York Jets’ all-time passing yards list

By this point, we hope you’d know that Smith played his first four seasons with the Jets. After throwing for nearly 5,600 yards in his first two years, he infamously lost his starting job in the summer of 2015 following a sucker punch to the jaw. The former West Virginia standout briefly replaced Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2016, only to tear his ACL during his first start.

All of this is ancient history, so who cares? We do.  

As the New York Post’s Brian Costello noted on Wednesday afternoon, Smith’s 247-yard performance against the Packers last weekend moved him into 10th on the Jets' all-time passing yards list. He's 192 yards away from moving past Fitzpatrick for sole possession of the No. 9 spot.

As of Sept. 26, here are the Jets’ all-time passing yards leaders:

Some quick takeaways from that list:

• Testaverde, Pennington, and Sanchez are the only ones with a winning record. Namath finished 60-61-4, though his Super Bowl III victory automatically overrules that fact. 
• Sanchez finishing with more yards than Esiason definitely caught us off guard. Maybe our surprise came from Boomer being a New York sports radio figure for nearly 20 years. 
• All of the top four quarterbacks averaged at least seven yards per attempt, though Fitzpatrick and Smith aren’t far behind at 6.9. 

Smith has only thrown 29 touchdowns with the Jets, which puts him at No. 13 on the team's leaderboard. However, he could easily pass Sam Darnold (45) and move into the No. 8 spot before the season ends.

For Smith to keep making progress, you must keep your faith in the Adonai Mitchell hype train. Jets fans' favorite receiver already has nine catches for 123 yards, and we expect him to finally reach the end zone on Sunday afternoon.

Hopefully, his finger injury is nothing to be concerned about.

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