Content available exclusively for subscribers
While it might not be the most important issue in the big picture, it will be interesting to see how Todd Bowles handles this matter on Wednesday.
This Wednesday will the first time the media will have a chance to ask Bowles about what Chan Gailey said last Wednesday, when he ended the quarterback competition before it started.
Q)Will Ryan Fitzpatrick and Geno Smith have an equal opportunity to start?
Gailey: Right now Geno’s the starter and to me, Coach Bowles has said it, I’ve said it, I think everybody has said it, that’s the way it sits and that’s the way we expect it to be. Unless something happens that you get an injury or something like that that you don’t foresee, that’s how we anticipate it going.
Q)Is the quarterback position an open competition?
Gailey: Not going in, no.
Q)Why isn’t it an open competition…
Gailey: Because Geno is the starter.
Q)Why will it not be an open competition?
Gailey: (Geno has) done enough good, quality things (while) he’s been here and he’s done enough quality things that he deserves the opportunity to be the guy. We told Fitz (Fitzpatrick) coming in that’s the way it was going to be. We didn’t try to pull the wool over somebody’s eyes. That’s exactly how we told (it to) him.
I know I don’t matter in all this, and I shouldn’t, but I feel as a close observer the wool was pulled over my eyes. Perhaps you feel the same way.
Again, here is the quote from Bowles at NFL Owner’s Meeting in Phoenix in March.
“You can’t have even first team reps at quarterback – Geno will start out taking them, but that doesn’t mean Ryan can’t take his spot,” Bowles said. “But I’d be sitting here lying if I said they were going to have equal reps.”
Does that sound like the same narrative as Gailey?
It doesn’t to me, and clearly not to other writers. Notice there were three questions in a row from reporters to Gailey basically asking, “What the heck is going on here?”
One of the questions was from Brian Costello, who seemed to be shocked to learn Geno was being handed the job.
I think some on the beat have “competition-fatigue.” It’s hard to know what that word means around here anymore.
Two years of John Idzik re-defining the word, along with Rex constantly anointing high draft picks starters before they were ready, and now this.
For Gailey to say, “Geno’s the starter and to me, Coach Bowles has said it, I’ve said it, I think everybody has said it.”
I must have been living in a cave the last few months.
I didn’t hear Bowles or anybody else say it, until Gailey said it last week.
I will be closely attuned to how Bowles handles this matter tomorrow.
The Jets hurt themselves a little with the media on this one.
But more importantly, surely some in the locker room are wondering what is going on here?
If you are going to preach competition, which this regime is, like the previous one did, if you don’t back it up with your actions, you can develop a slight credibility issue in the locker room.
I’m not saying that has happened. Not at all. But Bowles better be careful.
Let’s see what he has to say on Wednesday.
May 26, 2015
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Tuesday.