Thank the Falcons for 2026 season's most underrated Geno Smith-Jets storyline

Much like a child who ignores their parents, the New York Jets aren’t allowed to have nice things.

Thankfully for our own sanity, the Jets didn’t doom themselves by loudly yelling while running back and forth in an airport terminal at 5:30 a.m.

Instead, as you might remember, the Jets pulled off a 27–24 upset victory over the Atlanta Falcons last November.

That win, as the New York Post’s Brian Costello reminded readers on Thursday night, may have cost the Jets a shot at the No. 1 pick.

Although the Jets and Raiders both finished 3–14, the Raiders won the tiebreaker and the opportunity to draft Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza.

The Jets, meanwhile, settled for a reunion with former Raiders quarterback Geno Smith, who will face his old team in Week 8.

Would Geno Smith be playing for the Jets if not for the Falcons?

Rarely, if ever, has a Jets–Raiders game truly been worth getting excited about this century.

However, Costello asked the “what if?” question, though it’s one that goes far beyond the Jets simply taking Mendoza at No. 1.

Sports fans love a good “what if?” scenario, whether it’s the Colts taking Ryan Leaf over Peyton Manning or LeBron James picking a different team in 2010.

But in instances like this, the smaller storyline of where Smith would be playing this season is itself an interesting topic.

Smith became a tragic figure among some Jets fans, perhaps in part because of the broken jaw and torn ACL he suffered during his final two seasons in New York.

Nothing helped Smith win Jets fans over again more than his career resurgence for the Seahawks in 2022, when he impressed in place of an injured Russell Wilson.

Suddenly, Smith was no longer the forgettable journeyman backup best known for a locker room “sucker punch.” He was a solid, competent starter who kept the Seahawks in games.

Ask any Jets fan what they want from a quarterback, and “solid, competent starter” is the equivalent of an MVP.

Even if the Jets were in a position to take Mendoza at No. 1, perhaps they still would have made a move for Smith.

Smith could have opened this year as the starter, with Mendoza waiting in the wings until the team felt he was ready. The Raiders appear primed to do that after signing Kirk Cousins this offseason.

But the Falcons decided to do what they always did under Raheem Morris: come up short when it mattered most.

Knowing the Jets’ luck, Mendoza will either spend Week 8 on the bench or carve through their defense all afternoon.

Such is life when the Jets are involved.

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