Most New York Jets fans were hoping that a starting quarterback would have emerged by now. Both Geno Smith and Mark Sanchez have seen their struggles so far in training camp, leaving the race dead even so far. With the first preseason game soon to be underway, the Jets have released the first depth chart of the season and Smith and Sanchez are listed as co-starters.
New York fans must be loving this. Co-starters is exactly how most envisioned this season starting. Sanchez might be signed to the big-money contract, but Smith is putting up a fight. Fans were able to get the first real look at both quarterbacks during a team scrimmage last Saturday. Sanchez threw an interception and stumbled over his own feet multiple times, leaving fans showering him with boos.
Smith has not looked that much better than Sanchez. The latest reports out of Jets' camp are that Smith has struggled in red zone drills, throwing a pair of picks on Monday. This is not exactly the performance the Jets coaching staff wants to see and Smith knows it.
"Down in the red zone, I think I should probably do a better job of, well not probably, but I need to do a better job of taking care of the ball," Smith said. "That drill is made for us to kind of pretend that we're in the game and we're down in the red zone and we're passing the ball and you've always got to be mindful of not turning it over, and that's something that I did today that can be fixed; I'll improve on that."
Ryan is not concerned about the depth chart or even the poor play in the first team scrimmage. He is hoping that everything the team does is learning experience to hopefully get better for next time. Jets fans have let the team know they expect better, something Ryan was not too fond of on Saturday.
"Our fans have the right to do anything," Ryan said. "I'm not going to say I'm disappointed in our fans. ... But I think we need to move forward. The things from the past are in the past. So let's just focus on what we have in front of us. We're all going to make mistakes. We're all going to turn the ball over. We don't like to, but those are things that are going to happen."
The depth chart will certainly change as training camp continues. The quarterback situation at least will change and most fans are hoping that happens sooner rather than later.