I don't buy that excuse, at least not entirely. Sure, receivers and OC's have an effect on a quarterback's statistical performance just as an offensive line does. But Geno's numbers were horrible, too bad to be attributed simply to his receivers and OC. In his rookie season, Geno threw 12 TD's, 21 INT's, and completed just 55.8% of his passes. His second season was better, but not by a lot: 13:13, 59.7%. He has to own those numbers. He's the one that pulls the trigger, not the receiver or the OC.
What's more likely is that his time on the sidelines helped him watch and learn, improve his game without actively playing. His learning curve was much flatter than other QB's, or at least that's how I see his progression.
We'll see how he performs this season. After a phenomenal first half of the season last year, he tailed off significantly in the 2nd half.
There's no doubt his time on the pine helped, but to discount the fact that he played for some abysmal staffs is silly. If the plays coming in don't work, the qbs performance will suffer. If the plays do work and the wrs suck, the qbs play will suffer.
That's not at all to say that Geno hasn't stepped up his game. But if you could erase his tenure with the Jets and if last years stats , or slightly worse, had been his first in the league out of college, everyone would have said, ' yeah, ok. The dude is as good as advertised'. Because if you watched what he did at WV and how he did it, a high 60% completion rate with NFL caliber coaching and players around him, wouldn't have been all that surprising.
Fact is he went to the Jets. The JETS. Save a few seasons of overachieving when Sanchez was there and a blip when Favre passed through, the best seasons they've had since the Kenny O'brian days have come from the likes of Chad Pennington and Vinny Testerverde. Their only success has come from defensive, running minded systems. And their last good coach was Bill Parcells. They are a place decent players go to die.
Geno in college never passed for worse than 64.8 percent.
His senior season? 42tds, 6 ints, 71% completion percentage.
His start with the Hawks is literally picking up where he left off. LITERALLY
Junior season? 31tds, 7 ints. 65.8 completion percentage.
So what makes more sense? that a guy that averaged 68% and 98 tds to 21 picks in college would become a guy who would throw for 70%, 4000 yards 30+ tds vs 11ints - logical continuation.
Or that the ridiculous talent he showed over 4 years at WV would translate to 55.8 percent, 12 tds and 21 ints as a rookie?
Your argument ignores what are now beyond obvious extenuating circumstance in the guys he had around him.
Geno smith before he got to the Jets and his career was derailed, was a 68% passer, had a td to int rate of almost 5 to 1, and threw for a ton of yards in an offense that was predicated on cerebral qb play.
Yes, he grew up a lot. But to anyone who took a little bit of time to look at his full body of work and ask the question as to WHY he never caught on, it wasn't hard to see that he had the ability to be closer to the guy we see now than the one he was in a few unforgettable seasons in NY.
And unfortunately for him, he went to two teams after the Jets who had perennial straters in Eli Manning and P Rivers. So its not like he 'failed' at becomng a strater. Those teams werent moving off who they had.
The reality is that most everyone wrote Geno off because we live in a world with a 2 second attention span, where in the media (counting the NFL media because the 'experts' are anythung but), the last thing you did is often whi you are labeled to be.
Geno was an incredible cb in college. He wasn't a a runner/ scrambler. He was a smart xs and os guy who was incredibly accurate, scored at a rediculous rate, and knew the game VERY well. Then, NY happened and the NY Jets Geno is all anyone cared to see, because there was drama on the way he helped to wreck his own reputation. That was the sound bite. That was it. There was no shot at redemption. No one cared. EXCEPT Geno..
That's why when his teammates on the Hawks and Chargers and even Giants were asked to opine on his recent success, they all say a similar thing. That the dude was a pro. Practiced like a starter, prepared like a starter, and could sling the rock. Few were surprised. Because Geno IS who he would have been if not for being drafter by thr Jets and then patiently waiting behind to likely HOF players in front of him.
He's like the girl (or guy) who was a nerd in school, who goes away for a few years and upon return, is the Belle of the ball. The beauty was there. You just had to look (and want) to see it.
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