Palladino: Geno, Not Harvin, Will Define Idzik's Trade
By Ernie Palladino
» More Ernie Palladino Columns
The media rightfully has taken a surgeon's pains in diagnosing the reasons John Idzik's trade for Percy Harvin will not turn around the Jets' season at this point.
They've pointed to the speedster's injury history and his locker room disruptiveness that caused the Seahawks to become so disenchanted with the receiver-returner that they settled for a single conditional draft pick. This is a guy they deemed worthy of first-, third- and seventh-round picks in a March 2013 trade with Minnesota, and then let go a season later for a mini-fridge.
If you don't think Vikings general manager Rick Spielman is gloating over his fleecing of the Seahawks, think again. He made out like a bandit considering injuries kept Harvin sidelined for all but one regular-season game last year. He did return a touchdown in Seattle's Super Bowl victory, but that alone was hardly enough to justify the ton of money and the picks Seattle gave up for him.
Think now about the glee the Seattle front office feels about unloading him on the Jets. Reports put their compensation at a sixth-rounder that could turn into no better than a fourth-rounder, but bidding him a permanent, well-deserved adieu after he turned that locker room upside down is reward enough. Harvin reportedly body-slammed fellow pass-catcher Golden Tate after one disagreement before the Super Bowl, argued with Doug Baldwin in the preseason, and pulled himself out of a game this year.
Taking all that fun stuff into account, Harvin still doesn't add up to someone who can't help the Jets climb out of the abyss. There is always more to a failed season than the presence of an off-the-wall malcontent.
The real reason Idzik's tardy grasp at the life preserver will fail lies not in Harvin's personality or physical frailty, but in the deliverer of the football. As long as Geno Smith remains behind center, the Jets have no chance at going on the winning streak that will shoot them toward .500 and a relevant December.
Smith proved that himself in Thursday's two-point loss to New England. In moving the ball ably between the 20s, Smith proved he in fact does have enough weapons to run an effective offense. The names might not carry the glitz of, say, Peyton Manning's crew in Denver, but Jeff Cumberland, Eric Decker, Jeremy Kerley, and Jace Amaro showed that if Smith gets them the ball within reach, they have a puncher's chance of catching it, moving the chains, and maybe even putting points on the board.
But in that same game, Smith proved the issue that has undermined his entire body of work so far -- that he accomplishes none of those goals far too often. In New England, he minimized the chronic interception and accuracy ailments that have bulldozed the offense. The fact that he didn't throw a single pick last Thursday basically allowed him to have whatever success he did.
If he can produce similar performances over the remainder of the schedule, Harvin would become a valued weapon. His downfield speed would be such that Smith wouldn't have to worry about operating in tight confines inside the 20, where only two of four trips there produced a touchdown last week. They could score from deep, and the Jets would actually have a chance to climb out of the hole.
But he can't.
He won't.
Instead, the Jets could easily be doomed to a .500 non-playoff season at best, and possibly an outright loser, by the Week 11 bye. The interceptions are bound to start up again against the Bills, Chiefs and Steelers. It isn't in Smith to throw several clean games in a row; not at this point in his career.
So, too, is it not in Smith to jump significantly in the accuracy department. Not when it really counts, anyway. More than likely, we'll see more of the two-point conversion pass that missed an open Amaro than the nice 10-yard toss he made to Cumberland to create the failed game-tying situation with just over 2:30 remaining.
It's what Smith does. Unless he has truly turned himself around, he'll miss Harvin, too, and the mouthy wide receiver will yap so hard that Rex Ryan will look back at Santonio Holmes' last year here as the good old days.
Harvin undoubtedly brings with him a truckload of baggage. But whether this trade comes to define Idzik as a genius or a buffoon rests more on Smith's head and arm than Harvin's gifts and troubles.
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories
