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NFL New York Jets

Grading the New York Jets at the Bye Week: Quarterbacks

By @GregSulik

geno smith michael vick jets

Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Jets have reached their bye week at 2-8, a disastrous performance following an offseason where the team was not shy about expressing their playoff hopes. Last week’s win over the Pittsburgh Steelers was certainly nice, but it doesn’t change much for the Jets’ fortunes this season. There is plenty of blame to go around, so let’s start by evaluating the quarterbacks.

Geno Smith started the first eight games for the Jets, leading them to a 1-7 record. He continued his extreme ups and downs from his rookie season, as well as his poor decision making and turnover prone ways. Smith was finally benched for good against the Buffalo Bills after throwing an interception on three consecutive drives, and Michael Vick has started the last two games.

On the year, Smith has completed 56.2% of his passes for 1,370 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Smith has been sacked 15 times, and he has rushed 35 times for 139 yards with 1 TD and 6 fumbles. Those are about the numbers you would expect from a 1-7 quarterback, and it certainly appears that Smith’s time as the Jets’ starting quarterback is over. The team has given him every opportunity to develop, and he simply hasn’t progressed. You can make plenty of valid arguments about the lack of talent around him and some of the coaching decisions, but at the end of the day the failures with decision making and accuracy are on Smith and Smith alone.

Vick has been better than Smith thus far, going 1-1 in his two starts. Vick has completed 55.9% of his passes for 528 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT while being sacked 14 times thus far this season, to go with 24 rushing attempts for 149 yards, no scores, and five fumbles. Vick had a solid, game manager type performance against the Steelers, which is what the Jets will ask of him going forward. As long as he keeps the turnovers down, there is no reason to think Vick will lose his job.

However, the fact that he has half as many pass attempts as Smith and has still taken just about the same amount of sacks is a big concern. Vick has to get the ball out of his hands much quicker, though obviously his scrambling and improvising are what makes him Mike Vick. The Jets didn’t want to play Vick this season, and although he is obviously not a long term option, he has done a decent job in relief.

Overall, the grades are not pretty through 10 games for the quarterbacks. Along with the secondary, this position is the biggest reason the Jets have struggled so badly this season, and it is obviously going to be by far their biggest priority in the offseason.

Final Grades:

Geno Smith: F

Michael Vick: C

Greg Sulik is a New York Jets writer for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @GregSulik or add him to your network on Google

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