Being the quarterback of the New York Jets is no easy task - just ask Geno Smith. To date this season, Smith has missed meetings, cursed out a fan, thrown seven interceptions and has led the team to five straight losses while managing to become the lowest-rated quarterback in the NFL.
But if you really did ask Smith - which a couple of intrepid reporters just so happened to do - you'd discover that Smith thinks being the quarterback in New York is difficult due in large part to the constant and consistent throngs of meddling media that follow, disparage and misunderstand the team.
"I think, obviously, with everything that goes on with the media, a lot of things are, I would say, miscommunicated, and then it just gets misprinted and then misunderstood," Smith said on a conference call with the Boston media Monday.
The Jets, at 1-5 and headed to Foxborough for a Thursday game, are pretty much finished after Week 6, though Rex Ryan tried to put on a brave face and say otherwise Monday.
"We might be counted out, we're not dead," Ryan said.
Smith claims that the losses have been the hardest pills to swallow this season because of the intense amount of effort the team puts into preparation and game-planning each week, but dealing with the media is a close second.
"Those things are tougher than I guess what can be said and what is portrayed out there in the media," he said.
Earlier on Monday, a PR official accidentally ended Smith's group interview prematurely before the print media had a chance to ask all of their questions. Two team officials spoke to Smith after realizing the error, but the quarterback refused to go back to fielding questions.
In light of the current state of the Jets team and the rapidly deteriorating season, these comments from Smith smack of self-preservation and thinly veiled blame-shifting. It continues to look like there may be a serious top to bottom roster shakeup coming for the Jets organization this off-season, possibly starting with Smith.