FOXBORO, Mass. — Geno Smith just needed to make one more throw.
A quick completion at the end, or a longer pickup at the start of the drive, and the New York Jets’ final possession Thursday might have had a different result. It might not have simply been the last gasp, as it was, in a 27-25 loss to the New England Patriots.
Smith wasn’t able to make that one big throw, though, and we hear you grumbling: Same old Geno. Another game, another example of the second-year quarterback not coming through.
Except, this wasn’t the same old Geno.
It’s small consolation to Smith or Jets head coach Rex Ryan, but being just one play away from knocking off the bully of the AFC East in its own house is about as big a step as Smith has taken this season. Ryan was incensed after the game — not because his quarterback played poorly, but because it should have been enough.
“I thought Geno played extremely well,” Ryan said. “He gave us an opportunity to win. I love the fact that he took off with it. When he does that, when he’s in that kind of rhythm, we do well. Obviously, there are probably a couple plays we wish we had back, but other than that, I thought Geno played well.”
Smith was considerably less impressed with his performance after completing 20 of 34 pass attempts for 226 yards and a touchdown.
“Not good enough,” Smith said. “Spotty at times. I had opportunities there. Just didn’t get the job done.”
It was the second straight solid start by Smith, who moved the ball but couldn’t keep pace with Peyton Manning in Sunday’s loss to the Denver Broncos. Unforced errors — both Smith’s and his teammates’ — plagued the Jets against the Pats. He had a touchdown pass to Jeremy Kerley called back by a holding penalty, plus a run by Chris Ivory that should have set up first and goal also was nullified by a hold.
And that was just in the first quarter.
Still, Smith maintained a slow and steady assault on a night the Patriots’ offense was alternately tremendous and terrible. Four of the Jets’ six scoring drives resulted in field goals, but with the Patriots ahead 27-19 late in the fourth quarter, Smith put together a methodical 5 minute, 18 second series that ended with a 10-yard completion to Jeff Cumberland for a touchdown. Unfortunately for the Jets, Smith’s pass to Jace Amaro for a potential game-tying two-point conversion sailed high.
“Jace did a great job of getting open and I’ve got to get him a better ball,” Smith said. “That’s completely on me.”
When the Patriots couldn’t manufacture a game-killing drive despite the Jets being down to only one timeout, Smith regained the ball at his own 12 with 1:06 remaining. A pair of short passes over the middle to Chris Johnson bled 35 of those seconds, however, and after three straight completions to get New York to the Patriots’ 40, an incompletion to Kerley left Nick Folk with a 58-yard field goal attempt to win the game as time expired.
The kick was blocked.
It’s tough to manage expectations for a quarterback, especially a quarterback in New York. Smith has not performed like a top-tier quarterback to date, and if anyone expects that from him, they are destined to be disappointed. Whereas Jets fans might look longingly across the line and dream of having a QB like Tom Brady, Smith said the opposing signal-caller was the furthest thing from his mind.
“We lost,” Smith said. “It’s a team game. Tom and I were not on the field by ourselves. It was all of us out there, and they beat us. Hat’s off to them.”
Photo via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
