Content available exclusively for subscribers
Wilkes-Barre – The Jets had their final practice in Cortland today, and after that session, Rex Ryan said something you wouldn’t expect him to say. Let’s take a look at this . . .
The Geno Smith situation this week at camp was a little bizarre.
He hurts his ankle in Detroit on Friday, but was back to action in the team’s next practice on Sunday in Cortland.
He didn’t miss ANY practices this week.
But it’s clearly impacted his performance in practices over the last four days.
Watching him practicing Sunday, I wondered why he was out there; why not give him some days off to let the ankle heal.
Rest is one of the best ways to heal a sprained ankle.
Perhaps the Jets brass felt that since it wasn’t a high ankle sprain (he would have a hard time practicing on that – ask Dalton Freeman), he wouldn’t make it worse, and it would be a teachable moment for the kid about playing hurt on the NFL level, which most players do. There is a 100 percent injury rate in the NFL – every player has something wrong with them.
But then in today’s practice, on a cold wet day (which probably made the ankle feel worse), Smith had his worst practice of the summer.
“It was brutal, that was Geno’s worst day,” Rex Ryan said today. “Obviously the ankle is part of it. (He threw) way too many picks and things. (He) did not look comfortable today. Obviously he has to come back from it, he will come back from it but it was a bad day. We’ve seen it, guys have bad days, but this was a really bad day for Geno.”
That might be the most candid remark I’ve heard Ryan make about a player since he became Jets coach.
I’ve never heard him call a players performance “brutal,” and anything close to that.
Blogger Bob Bulluck tweeted to @jetswhispers, “When has Rex ever called Sanchez brutal in a PC?”
Bob, the answer is “never.”
To me, this statement had some political ramifications to it.
Mark Sanchez has clearly forged ahead in the quarterback competition, and this uncharacteristic quote from Ryan, ripping a player, was perhaps a way to start preparing the public for the Jets’ QB decision.
By saying Smith was “brutal,” and then likely not playing him against Jacksonville due to the ankle, is the perfect segue for the Jets to announce early next week that Sanchez is the starter.
That quote was so out of character for Rex, it definitely raised by antennae.
I would categorize it as “suspicious behavior.”
But with all this being said, Sanchez has outplayed Smith this summer.
So if the Jets go with him, you can make a strong argument he won the job fair and square (though Greg McElroy should have been in the competition, but Sanchez had nothing to do with that decision, so I’m not going to hold that against him) . . .
I saw Brian Winters (knee) attempt to run today, and it didn’t look pretty.
I think this knee injury is worse than many of us thought.
It looks like Stephen Peterman is going to start at left guard.
He’s not a great athlete, but he’s a seasoned pro who knows what he is doing out there. The Jets could do a lot worse . . .
Another strong pass rushing performance from OLB Troy Davis. He really came on late in camp. Davis has a nice spin move . . .
April 14, 2013
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Thursday.