Geno Smith won’t be showing Sunday’s tape against the Browns to his grandkids — or any potential suitors this offseason.
After opening the game by leading an 80-yard touchdown drive, the Jets punted five straight times, eventually going nine straight possessions without gaining at least 30 yards. Smith finished 17 of 30 for 182 yards with one touchdown and one fumble, coming on one of the four sacks taken by the 35-year-old.
But offensive coordinator Frank Reich will remember Smith’s performance for his “creative thinking” in the final minutes, when he set up Braelon Allen for a 22-yard game-winning touchdown run on third-and-9.
“I actually called a pass. Geno called a run,” Reich said Thursday. “Every game your playmakers need to make plays. Sometimes that’s a great catch or a great run or a great block. As a quarterback, sometimes it’s seeing something and making a check. … Geno got to the line of scrimmage and saw something that made him think to check to the run. He checked to the perfect play.”
With the Jets trailing by two, Reich said he wanted to be aggressive and try to throw for a first down, believing that three points “would [not] be enough.”
But when Smith saw Cleveland’s coverage, he audibled, allowing Allen to go untouched around the left side on a shotgun draw.
“That’s elite instinct and execution by him and the offense,” Reich said. “There’s the science behind it — what are they playing, what’s the structure — and then it’s like, ‘This doesn’t feel right, I’m gonna check to this, what should I check to,’ and boom. We talk about a lot of [situations]. We had not talked about that one. That was creative thinking by Geno.”
Minkah Fitzpatrick has been fined an undisclosed amount by the league for his hit on Browns receiver KC Concepcion, who was knocked out of Sunday’s game following the helmet-to-helmet collision.
The Jets safety said he will appeal to have the fine reduced.
“In my opinion, it was a football play, a ‘bang-bang play,’ as their coach put it,” Fitzpatrick said Thursday. “When you look at the league rules, they say you can’t hit a defenseless player. I don’t really know what that means, but I understand why I got the penalty. … In my opinion, if a receiver has the ball you have every right to hit him as long as you’re not hitting him in the head … but league rules say you can’t hit him if he doesn’t have a chance to defend himself.”
“Obviously you don’t like to see anybody get hurt. I’m happy to see that [Concepcion is] back practicing this week.”
Tight end Kenyon Sadiq (concussion) remained limited in Thursday’s practice — along with safety Dane Belton (knee) and rookie wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. (ankle) — while running back Breece Hall (quad) did not practice but worked on a side field with trainers.
