These are indeed stressful times for a handful of hopefuls battling to avoid getting called into the coaches office and told to bring their playbook with them.
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“Geno (Smith)”, head coach Todd Bowles declared Wednesday when pressed about which of the Jets’ four quarterbacks in camp will follow Fitzpatrick against Big Blue. Bowles, always prepared and measured with his comments, has had OTAs, training camp, and two preseason games to get a feel for what his roster will look like in September.
“I don’t think you ever get too concerned or too excited with the preseason just with what’s going on”, he said. “But it’s still tough”. There’s a few spots I’m looking at and a few people I’m looking at. But for the most part I have got a good idea. He’s also a former scout. “You know, he played a lot last week and the week before”. Bowles said Forte should play “if he doesn’t have any setbacks”. Fitzpatrick and his receivers know what to expect from each other. It kind of taught you how to look at certain players and what to look for and what to look at.
There had been some uncertainty about the pecking order of the backups after Bryce Petty had a good performance and Smith struggled against Washington.
Bowles says Sunday that he has a plan for the quarterback rotation for the Jets’ third preseason game against the Giants on Saturday night, but would not reveal it.
The third preseason game generally is the one in which most of the starters play significant minutes before sitting out altogether or playing sparingly in the finale.
If there’s an odd man out, it would be Smith or Petty, a fourth-round pick in 2015 who has no regular-season experience.
“Although Hackenberg hasn”t played in either preseason game, Patullo said he”s studying intently and right on target for where he should be.
We game planned this one a little bit more, just in terms of having some plays that we put in that we want to go out and execute, Fitzpatrick said.
Are we going to have to wait an entire season to see New York Jets second-round pick Christian Hackenberg?
Hackenberg’s draft position, as a second rounder, makes him a near lock for making the roster.
Yes, the sad fact remains that, after two different general managers selected a total of three quarterbacks in the top four rounds of the past four National Football League drafts, Gang Green still doesn’t have a backup signal-caller worth the clipboard he’ll hopefully be carrying for 16 games (plus playoffs).
Jalin Marshall, Charone Peake, and Robby Anderson have opened eyes at wide receiver.
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The Jets’ offensive attack is centered around Matt Forte, Brandon Marshall, and Eric Decker.
