Chan Gailey has named Geno Smith as the starting QB for the New York Jets this season and says there will be no QB competition. Let’s be honest, what did people expect him to say? Who would Jets fans rather see as their QB this season? Fitzpatrick is the only other option worth considering but he is still recovering from a broken leg. Bryce Petty is a rookie who still has a lot to learn in the NFL. He ran a spread offense in college which is very, very different from an NFL pro style offense. He needs to show he can understand and remember a much larger NFL playbook and prove he can call a play in the huddle, and how to read a defense to call audibles if necessary. Petty just simply is not ready to be a starting NFL QB. Don’t even get me started on Matt Simms. Any “Jets fan” who thinks Simms should be the Jets’ starting QB clearly doesn’t actually watch football. Simms is a third string QB who plays decent against OTHER THIRD STRING PLAYERS!!! The man has played in four regular season games. In those four games he only has one touchdown with a fumble and an interception. He has a completion percentage of only 48.7% and has thrown for a total of just 195 yards. Those are not starter numbers. Simms belongs on the sideline holding a clipboard, not the field.

Jets fans need to cut Geno some slack. Yes, he has played less than stellar in his short career and I won’t argue that he hasn’t. However, it is difficult to be productive when you have offensive tools around you who are average at best. This is the first season Geno has actually had a legitimate wide receiver core. The additions of Brandon Marshall and Devin Smith should help improve a passing game that ranked dead last in passing yards per game last season. When the Jets went to back to back AFC championships in 2010 and 2011 under Mark “The Sanchise” Sanchez, they had a solid receiving core of Santonio Holmes, Braylon Edwards, and Jerrico Cotchery. With good WRs an average QB such as Sanchez was able to have success. As his career progressed, for some reason the Jets organization decided to take away his weapons and force Sanchez to try to win on his own which he could not. This eventually caused the end of The Sanchise in New York and brought in the Geno Smith era. If Geno cannot produce with this offense then yes, maybe it is time to move on.

NFL fans are extremely unrealistic. They expect rookie QBs to come in straight from college and lead their team from the depths of the league to the Super Bowl. If they can’t do this in their first or second season after being drafted, the QB is labeled as a bust. I call this the Andrew Luck Effect. Andrew Luck is a rare breed who comes along once a decade. Not all QBs can come in and take a 2-14 team and turn them into an 11-5 playoff team as a rookie. QBs need time to develop. Fans need to be patient with young QBs. Let the QBs develop and adjust to the professional game. Aaron Rodgers spent three seasons sitting on the bench as a back up and I think he turned out alright. This season is a make or break season for Geno. Either he will have a break out season and all the “haters” will be running out to buy their no. 7 Jets jerseys, or he will play like hot garbage again and Jets fans will be watching The Amish Rifle, Ryan Fitzpatrick as our QB. To be perfectly honest, I don’t care who is the Jets starting QB, as long as he wins games I am happy.

-Kev