Geno Smith outplaying Mark Sanchez

[Hammock Parties]

Suck it, haters. Suck the choco-penii of destiny, feel it's power. It could have been ours.

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/stor...-training-camp

CORTLAND, N.Y. -- Rookie Geno Smith has outplayed Mark Sanchez through the first week of training camp, pulling even or perhaps ahead in the New York Jets' quarterback competition.

"He can do more" than Sanchez, one veteran said Wednesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

It was Sanchez's turn to lead the starting unit and he struggled, throwing an interception for the second straight practice. Smith has yet to throw an interception in team drills over the first five practices.

It's premature to anoint a starter -- after all, they haven't begun live tackling -- but the early development is noteworthy because people close to the team expected Sanchez, based on his experience, to look sharper than Smith at the outset. That hasn't been the case.

"Everybody gets enamored with the guy who throws a 96 mph fastball," coach Rex Ryan said of Smith. To be politically correct, Ryan quickly added, "But Mark certainly has a good enough arm to play in this league."

It didn't sound like a ringing endorsement. Sanchez declined to say whether he believes he's leading the competition.

"I don't know, ask the coaches," he said. "I feel good, though. I feel confident. I feel like I'm playing really well."

Smith has sparkled with his accuracy, but he tends to hold the ball too long when facing pressure, according to Ryan. That, he said, "concerns me a little bit." The organization knows what it has in Sanchez, who was benched late last season.

Privately, the hope is that Smith can master the offense and seize the starting job. Even if he doesn't win it, Smith will be involved in the offense. Even though Tim Tebow is gone, Ryan said he remains committed to running the ball from the quarterback position.

He's intrigued by Smith's running ability, which would give the Jets a run-pass option at the quarterback position. Ryan acknowledged the plan, admitting last year's strategy under former coordinator Tony Sparano was ill-conceived. They never trusted Tebow to throw the ball. Whenever they used him, it usually was a read-option running play between the tackles.

"I think if that's the only thing you do with that position, why don't you just leave a running back in, a guy that's trained to do it?" Ryan said, second-guessing last season's approach. "If you're going to have a quarterback do it, like a (Colin) Kaepernick or somebody like that, it becomes more of a weapon because you know it's not just Tebow coming and he's going to run the ball. That's kind of where we were last year."

Ryan laughed when asked if he plans to use the Wildcat (or read-option) more than last year. Tebow finished with 32 rushes, averaging only 3.2 yards per carry.

"We probably will because, you guys say it, we never used it," he said. "So I would say, yeah, I think that will be part of what we do."

In the Wildcat, the ball is snapped to a nonquarterback. In those situations, the Jets can utilize wide receiver Jeremy Kerley or a running back, probably Bilal Powell. When Smith is on the field, either as the starter or a change-of-pace quarterback, they can employ the read-option.

The presence of new quarterbacks coach David Lee, one of the Wildcat innovators, is another reason the team is planning to use it. Sanchez said he could run the read-option, but there's little chance of that happening. His running ability will forever be linked to the "Butt Fumble," when he ran into a lineman's rear end last season.

Smith's athleticism could be a factor in the quarterback decision. Sanchez acknowledged that Smith is "very talented when it comes to that stuff. But I can't worry about it." Sanchez joked about the quarterback competition, mentioning that he sees more front-office types on the field for practice, scribbling notes during routine drills.

He said it reminds him of his rookie year in 2009, when he won the job against Kellen Clemens.

"For you (reporters), it's your job, but it's funny to see everybody else charting stuff," he said. "Everything is under scrutiny. There's a ton of pressure. That's the way you like it; that's the way you play this position."

[keg in kc]

He's been working on the right side for months, since early May. It's not like he just started doing reps last week.

[Setsuna]

You don't draft 1.1 for upside. Good lord zilla. Seriously?

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by Brainiac

**** off. It's year 44 for me. I don't know of anyone on Chiefsplanet who has been a Chiefs fan longer than me. I became a fan in 1969 when I was 11 years old. I imagine Gblowfish and Rain Man are pretty close, but I don't think anyone on this site has me beat.

I've seen more than my share of shitty times, and that helps me appreciate the good times. Obviously 1969 was a great time. The Marty years were good times. So were the Vermeil years. Everything else was total crap.

The hiring of Andy Reid just feels like the beginning of a good time, and I'm not going to give up on it before a single down has been played.

I was seven when they won the SB....I remember watching it with my mom and uncle in B/W and I was the remote....I still get nostalgic driving by the old practice facility on 63rd in swope park...first game was at municipal stadium..skateboarded the parking lots after TSC opened.. hard for me to remember not being a Chiefs fan...

[Lex Luthor]

Originally Posted by milkman

My father died in 1963.
The Chiefs filled some of the emptyness I felt with that loss after my uncle took my brothers and me to a game to give my mom some time alone .
I've been a fan since.
I share Deez's sentiment.

When I saw you had updated the thread, I thought "Damn, I forgot about Milkman".

I surrender the title of "Most years as a Chiefs fan" to you. 1963 is going to be hard to beat, since that was their first year in KC.

At least I know nobody has been a Royals fan longer than I have, although I suspect we are tied in that regard.

[Lex Luthor]

Originally Posted by stevieray

I was seven when they won the SB....I remember watching it with my mom and uncle in B/W and I was the remote....I still get nostalgic driving by the old practice facility on 63rd in swope park...first game was at municipal stadium..skateboarded the parking lots after TSC opened.. hard for me to remember not being a Chiefs fan...

We had a color TV when the Chiefs won Super Bowl IV. We must have been rich.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Clayton Bibsby

You don't draft 1.1 for upside. Good lord zilla. Seriously?

Luke Joeckl was more NFL ready. Everybody knew Eric Fisher was a bigger project, but had better upside. And of the two tackles, very few on the board disagreed that the pick should be Fisher.

The amount of stupidity in this thread is mind boggling. We're in the first weeks of training camp and we're already labeling a rookie a bust. Give me a break.

[Dinny Bossa Nova]

Here it is.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by Alex Smith HATER

The most embarrassing thing about it is that Winston only gave up 3 sacks last year. PFF had him as the #8 RT in the league.

The bar is set, Eric.

I'm going to start calling him Cartman if he keeps getting cheesy poofed.

Originally Posted by BossChief

This team would have been a lot better with Tavon Austin and keeping Winston.


Did the Chiefs even offer Albert a contract?

Also, Albert was solid as a rock all practice.

Two things:

The "Albert is overrated"-crowd may now the suck the biggest of choco-schlongs. We knew exactly what we had in him, and Winston was more than serviceable for our precious, new, little pussy Quarterback. Whether Fisher becomes all-world doesn't even matter; it was stupid ****ing pick made by stupid ****ing people. Debate Over.

Two; god-forbid we use that highly-prized 1.1(which can only be sanctified by Fatties in this warped, parallel-universe KC lives in)on a proven game-changer like Austin. Why, it would just be TOO BOLD to have a guy that can both return kicks and receive as well!
If not Geno, then I wanted Austin or Brown. Either would have been just...****ing...fine.

But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO; we are the stupid, goddamned, fatty-lovin, true fanned, pussy-assed, Lil' Chiefy Chiefs, who wouldn't know our dicks from a stick. Infuriating. How can one franchise BE so ****ing dumb?
Mind-boggling.

[WhiteWhale]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Marty and Carl returned the Chiefs to relevance. Those were indeed good times.

Grandpa, however, was an epic disaster and the single worst thing that could have happened to the Chiefs. Herm, no bullshit, was better for the franchise than Grandpa. Doubt that? Then ask yourself who the best players on the team are now and when they were acquired.

Personally, I don't care about "feels." Take the sentiment out and analyze the reality of the situation.

Since Herm acquired all of those awesome players, we've had one winning season.

I'd rather have a good team than a collection of good players who are mentally weak and fold every single time things get tough. Ever since Herm was here this team has had a bad habit of quitting when things start going against them. It's the worst group of quitters I've ever seen.

Good for all of those individual players who have twice brought us a 2-14 record. At this point, our failure has nothing to do with DV. The guy's last year was 2005. That's enough time to fix an old 10-6 team.

[Saccopoo]

Originally Posted by Sweet Daddy Hate

Two things:

The "Albert is overrated"-crowd may now the suck the biggest of choco-schlongs. We knew exactly what we had in him, and Winston was more than serviceable for our precious, new, little pussy Quarterback. Whether Fisher becomes all-world doesn't even matter; it was stupid ****ing pick made by stupid ****ing people. Debate Over.

Two; god-forbid we use that highly-prized 1.1(which can only be sanctified by Fatties in this warped, parallel-universe KC lives in)on a proven game-changer like Austin. Why, it would just be TOO BOLD to have a guy that can both return kicks and receive as well!
If not Geno, then I wanted Austin or Brown. Either would have been just...****ing...fine.

But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO; we are the stupid, goddamned, fatty-lovin, true fanned, pussy-assed, Lil' Chiefy Chiefs, who wouldn't know our dicks from a stick. Infuriating. How can one franchise BE so ****ing dumb?
Mind-boggling.

You seem to be missing the whole conceptualization of what Dorsey and Reid did in terms of putting this team together in a single off-season.

They saw the team having legitimate talent at key positions, but lacking in others. This was not a complete rebuild, ground up reconstruction project. This was a team that had six Pro-Bowlers in their prime that could win right now if certain elements where added.

Rather than go through a "build through the draft" concept, as new Jets GM John Idzik did this past off-season, Dorsey and Reid decided to get younger, but experienced veterans to plug in immediately to complement the existing pieces that the Chiefs had in place.

They saw we had a guy like Tavon Austin in Dexter McCluster. Sean Smith instead of Dee Milliner. Mike DeVito instead of Sheldon Richardson. Alex Smith instead of Geno Smith.

And remember that the Chiefs had only one first round pick but several holes to fill, unlike the Jets who had two top ten draft picks, which they used to pick up Milliner and Richardson. And I'm sure that no one could have predicted that Geno Smith would have fallen out of the first round completely.

Dorsey wanted this team to be competitive out of the gate. To remove that culture of losing as soon as possible. That's hard to do with rookies, so the decision was made to get experienced veterans in, but guys with upside. Smith was just starting to produce to his first round status the last two seasons. Sean Smith was completely misused in Miami and has a ton of potential.

Fisher was the most logical draft choice at that point due to his upside/potential based on his athletic ability, size and attitude and Albert's inflexibility as it relates to his contract and playing demands. Plugging him in at right tackle means he's going to get the experience without the immediate pressure of being the "blind side protector." And if you didn't think that it would take him a bit of time to adjust to the NFL after coming out of Central Michigan, I don't know what to tell you.

It was a valid draft pick by the Chiefs based on their off-season free agent moves and current roster. They will be much better this season.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by WhiteWhale

Since Herm acquired all of those awesome players, we've had one winning season.

I'd rather have a good team than a collection of good players who are mentally weak and fold every single time things get tough. Ever since Herm was here this team has had a bad habit of quitting when things start going against them. It's the worst group of quitters I've ever seen.

Good for all of those individual players who have twice brought us a 2-14 record. At this point, our failure has nothing to do with DV. The guy's last year was 2005. That's enough time to fix an old 10-6 team.

The idea that Herm is to blame because players have quit is utterly ridiculous.

The reason this team had to be demolished is because Vermeil and Carl Peterson left this team in an absolute disaster state. The reason this team has had one winning season since is because Pioli took a great situation and completely whiffed.

Herm may not have been a very good coach, but he left this team in a perfect position for any even average GM to succeed. He left the cupboard full with 8 very good players, a completely cleaned up payroll, and young talent with reasonable experience.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by Saccopoo

They saw we had a guy like Tavon Austin in Dexter McCluster.

[Coogs]

1965 for me was my 1st year as a Chiefs fan. I was 9 at the time. Favorite teams up to that point were the Colts, Bears, and Vikings. Reason being was that CBS out of Lincoln, Nebraska was the only channel we got on our TV that had a solid signal where we lived, and they broadcast the NFL games in that era. The AFL was on NBC, which was out of Hastings, Nebraska, and that signal was totally hit and miss where I grew up.

We moved from town to out in the country when I was 9, and we had an antenna mounted on top of our house that had a rotor on it, and picking up NBC became no problem.

Started becoming a Chiefs fan that year. Next season was the Super Bowl 1 season when I totally switched everything from Colts, Bears, and Vikes to all Chiefs.

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by Alex Smith HATER

Should we fire up the dexter bet for this year?

[Saccopoo]

Originally Posted by Alex Smith HATER

McCluster isn't as fast as Austin, but he's just as shifty and nimble.

There was a reason why he was coveted in the draft. The guy did some amazing things against SEC defenses.

Personally, I think that a lot of the offensive players, particularly a guy like McCluster, had to have his head on a swivel in terms of playing within a Daboll orchestrated offense led by Matt Cassel. That guy hung up his receivers all the time, even on the short screens and the like. Alex Smith doesn't do that, and an Andy Reid offense is based on the short to intermediary routes that are clean and meant to give the receiver the ability to gain significant YAC.

The Edwards West Coast system works and Andy Reid coaches it as well as anybody. I think it's going to pay dividends for guys like McCluster. Personally, I think that the Chiefs are as talented as any of Reid's Eagles teams and they've got a real shot within the next three years, especially in the AFC where it's anybody's game if they get hot or on a roll. The personnel on both sides of the ball fit the coaching styles very well.