The notion of Geno Smith as the long-term answer at quarterback for the New York Jets gets a little more ludicrous by the day.
24 hours after he was benched at halftime in a shutout loss to the San Diego Chargers, it was reported that Smith missed team meetings - yes that is meetings, plural - the Saturday leading up to the game.
Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reported late Sunday that "Smith missed team meetings on Saturday, according to a source familiar with the situation, angering team members."
A Jets staffer attempted to explain away the missed meetings as an "honest mistake," and that Smith "got the times confused," showing up 5-10 minutes after each session ended.
Whether or not the missed meetings affected Smith and the team's play is debatable. But in a blowout loss where the whole Jets squad looked lost and unprepared for much of the afternoon, it's hard to say that it didn't have some kind of effect on either preparation or overall team chemistry.
Smith was contrite after the loss, saying that he understood there were issues on the field that he needs to correct.
"It was definitely a pathetic showing on my part," Smith, who went 4-for-12 for 27 yards with an interception and 7.6 QB rating, said of his play against the Chargers. "I didn't help out at any point of the game.... So what I'm going to do is look myself in the mirror."
What may be more important for Smith to fix though, are the issues he is having as the de facto team leader.
Poor play is one thing and can be fixed.
Missing meetings and cursing at fans after losses are another problem altogether.
This all comes at a very inopportune time, as Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos are set to come to town this Sunday, followed by Tom Brady and the New England Patriots the next.
It is all too possible for the Jets to be 1-6 by the end of week 7.
But Coach Rex Ryan, after turning to Mike Vick for the second half against San Diego, has announced he will stick with Smith next week, for better or for much, much worse.
