Geno Smith Proves Joe Namath Wrong, Tears ACL In Win
Geno Smith just can’t catch a break in the NFL.
A year and a half after being injured in a locker room brawl, the fifth-year man took the field Sunday over benched $12-million-dollar QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. And while he didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard, he was efficient and doing well against the Baltimore Ravens. That is until mid-way through the second quarter. Smith, who held onto the ball too long, took a sack and tweaked his knee never to return.
That’s when things got ugly with legendary Jets quarterback Joe Namath.
As reported by ESPN, Joe Namath took to Twitter to slam Geno for not returning to the game.
If you’ve got a right knee injury keeping you out of the game why are you standing on the sideline the entire 2nd half? How bad can it be?
— Joe Namath (@RealJoeNamath) October 23, 2016
Geno, who told reporters after that he was “begging” to go back in, fired back later on Twitter while keeping it civil.
Somebody tell Joe that the doctors have the final say on whether you can or cannot get back into the game…… and also that I love him!
— Geno (@GenoSmith7) October 23, 2016
Well, the joke’s on Namath. As reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport via Twitter, Geno tore his ACL on the play. His season is now done.
Sources: Based on initial MRI, belief is that #Jets QB Geno Smith tore his ACL. Incredible. Players in the locker room are learning about it
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 24, 2016
Source confirms that Geno Smith has torn ACL (As @Rapsheet said) https://t.co/jKXUnm8yth
— Manish Mehta (@MMehtaNYDN) October 24, 2016
Not to make light of the war of words, but Namath’s back and forth reminds everyone how quickly things can change in the NFL. What appeared to be a harmless play has effectively ended Geno’s career with the Jets, who will be a free agent next year.
After finally getting his chance, #Jets QB Geno Smith thought his knee was fine. MRI told the story. Brutal ACL tear. Now a new reality.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 24, 2016
Several tweets from various NY sports writers confirm the obvious: We’ll never truly know if Geno was going to be a good enough quarterback to lead the team or not. Some of it was his own doing – i.e. IK Enemkpali – while others, like this sack from the Ravens, was just bad luck.
Smith will finish #Jets career 501 of 866 (57.9%) for 5,692 yards with 28 TDs & 36 INTs. Never got to see true potential in New York.
— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) October 24, 2016
For now, the Jets will turn to Ryan Fitzpatrick to lead the team one week after losing his starting job to Smith following their disastrous performance against the Cardinals. He had some choice words following his performance in the second half, effectively throwing the entire organization under the bus for the benching (but never once mentioning the 11 interceptions), as reported by the New York Daily News.
“The biggest thing in this game, in order to last, is to have belief in yourself, because when the owner stops believing in you and the general manager stops believing in you and the coaches stop believing in you, sometimes all you have is yourself,” he said. “That’s kind of something I’ve had to deal with before, something I’m dealing with now.”
Very interested to see how quickly Bryce Petty is deemed ready, mentally and physically. Fitz did himself no favors with postgame whining
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) October 24, 2016
It was a comment meant to inspire, but it more or less came across as whining, especially considering the organization doesn’t exactly plan on keeping him around after the season ends either.
But next week, he’ll be all they have — until Bryce Petty is healthy enough to play.
[Featured Image by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images and Rich Schultz/Getty Images]
