✈️ Jets Air Traffic Report Week 7: Geno Smith finally gives Jets fans something to believe in

In what was the worst loss of the team's 2026 campaign, and the one that may get his head coach fired, Geno Smith quietly had the game I've been waiting for him to have all season.

The irony is almost cruel. Just when the Jets' passing attack finally looked the way it should have all this time, the game, itself, might serve as the end of this current Jets era.

But Smith's performance against the Miami Dolphins deserves a closer look. Because while the masses want Frank Reich's head on a stake for the Jets' offensive struggles, this game may have finally absolved him.

The case against Geno Smith

I've been critical of Reich at times this season, but I've also consistently named Smith as the primary suspect in the Jets' crime against passing.

All season, Smith's favoritism for safe throws over open receivers has hypnotized the general public into thinking Reich is doing a bad job.

When receivers disappear from our television screens beyond 10 yards, we're forced to make assumptions about what's happening downfield. When a quarterback doesn't throw out of frame, we tend to automatically assume it means nobody was open.

This is dumb of us.

The reality is that Reich has been drawing up successful plays, only for Smith to be too afraid to pull the trigger. That's not to say Reich is blameless. But when we can't see the entire field, how can we confidently assign responsibility?

The Dolphins game offered something we've been missing all season: a glimpse of what happens when Smith actually takes those chances.

This game showed what this pass game is supposed to look like

You have two options: No. 1, you can choose to believe Mason Taylor and Omar Cooper Jr. became the best receiving duo in the league overnight, or No. 2, you can use common sense and realize that Smith simply made different choices.

The proof is in the routes.

After six mind-numbing weeks of shallow drags and checkdowns, Cooper and Taylor did their damage on routes that weren't those.

Cooper was a serious threat and benefited from a creative goal line formation and play call, and both of Taylor's touchdowns came on 50/50 balls against man coverage.

Football is a game of mismatches. A tight end on a defensive back equals an advantage for the tight end. As a quarterback, that's an automatic throw.

For the first time this season, Smith did.

Had Smith been throwing downfield all year with poor results, we could reasonably conclude that the receivers weren't open and that Reich was to blame. But because Smith hasn't taken those shots, we've been robbed of the opportunity.

Very rarely in the NFL are receivers wide open. There's a reason for sayings like "if he's even, he's leavin'." At some point, quarterbacks have to take chances.

Smith, in particular, has had a favorable landscape in which to do so. As I detailed last week, the Jets have faced plenty of man coverage this season. When you're the trigger man, you have to trust your receivers to make plays. Jordan Love is currently making a killing with this very philosophy.

Frank Reich is far from innocent

In case you think I'm suggesting Reich is free of blame, I assure you I'm not. However, as he could be the team's interim head coach soon, it's best not to exile him.

The red-zone atrocities and underutilization of the team's best weapons are both largely on Reich. While I continue to view Smith as the primary offender, an offensive coordinator has to find a way.

Whether it's quick screens, pre-snap motion, or creative formations, other teams have figured out how to force-feed their stars.

The Los Angeles Rams with Puka Nacua, the Cincinnati Bengals with Ja'Marr Chase, and the gold-standard Seattle Seahawks with Jaxon Smith-Njigba all offer blueprints for Reich to follow.

This season, Garrett Wilson has lined up on the outside more than at any point in his career.

Full stop right there. That alone is a problem.

Page one of How to Utilize Your Star Receiver for Dummies says not to put him in the exact same place on every play.

Though many thought Wilson was yelling at Smith during the sideline interaction caught by cameras, he was actually speaking to passing game coordinator Seth Ryan. More specifically, he was screaming through Ryan to Reich.

The short-yardage playcalling in this game was also tough.

However, when your running back is averaging 6.1 yards per carry, I personally have no problem with giving it to him back-to-back when you need far less than that. I also know that if the Jets had gotten cute and it didn't work, Reich would be getting crucified, with pundits citing that very stat as blasphemy.

That's the difficult reality of coaching a struggling team. Every decision gets judged by its outcome, and every failure becomes another piece of evidence against you.

Ultimately, there comes a point where grace is no longer given. When you consistently fail, each new failure becomes easier to justify as another example of an established pattern.

As a fanbase, we're not wrong to withhold grace from Reich. But if you can bring yourself to zoom out a bit, you'll realize he's not the devil we may think he is.

Judgment in a vacuum isn't the same as truth

At the end of the day, all we can do is speculate.

We have no idea what's happening behind closed doors or between the ears of those involved. There could be clear explanations for every concern, or significant details we're simply not privy to.

What I can tell you is that against the Dolphins, Smith made new throws, to new receivers, on new routes.

With the exception of a throwaway Week 1 game and the shootout against Detroit's league-worst pass defense, Smith had his best performance of the season against Miami.

He took fewer sacks, recorded more touchdowns and passing yards, and had a higher completion percentage, passer rating, and QBR than in any other game this season. More importantly, he finally pushed the ball down the field. And the results were glorious.

If the Jets had won, it would have been the first game this year in which the offense was the reason. Strip away everything that isn't this passing game, and I realize that's asking a lot, but it was a breakout performance.

Overall Rating: 8.8 ⭐️

Like seeing your child take their first steps after you've already filed for divorce. It's a beautiful moment, but it's probably too late to salvage the family.

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