Jets coach Rex Ryan says there’s no dissension within the locker room about the starting quarterback situation.
After Geno Smith had a rough game in Monday night’s loss to the Bears, there’s been some talk on the outside that the Jets should turn to Michael Vick. But when Ryan was asked whether that talk could be a distraction within the team, he answered, “No, I don’t think so.”
“I think everybody’s behind Geno,” Ryan said. “He’s our quarterback and our football team believes in him, so that’s it. And like we mentioned, Geno’s a mentally tough guy. We’re happy that we have Mike Vick on this team, but we believe in Geno. We understand it wasn’t great, he made some mistakes, but we’ve just got to get better and we’ve got to learn from these and then move on.”
Smith may have improved a bit as a passer since last year -- his completion percentage has risen from 55.8 percent as a rookie in 2013 to 63.1 percent this year, and his passer rating has risen from 66.5 to 77.0. But his numbers still are far from great, and his bad decision-making, both on his two interceptions Monday night and on another pass that should have been intercepted on the Jets’ final drive, are raising questions about whether he’s learning fast enough.
Ryan says the answer is simple: Smith is the starting quarterback. Now Ryan needs to figure out a way to get Smith to play better.
