Keidel: Jets' Historic QB Failures Loom Large Over Petty's Potential
By Jason Keidel
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When the Jets made their first breech of the red zone on Sunday -- it really happened -- our televisions flashed a fascinating stat.
The Jets had nudged inside an opponent's 20-yard-line on 34 drives up to that point. They had scored a touchdown on 13 of them.
If you want to know how the Jets lose games when foes don't score a single touchdown -- like in Sunday's 9-6 eyesore against the Rams -- consider that.
If you want to know why the Jets are 3-7, consider that. Or consider that the Jets have thrown more interceptions than any other NFL club.
If you want to know why the Jets had more punts (eight) than points, if you want to know why the Jets haven't won or even played in a Super Bowl in 47 years, consider the musical chairs they've played at quarterback for 40 of them.
The latest entrant in this game show is Bryce Petty. The former Baylor star wasn't great and wasn't bad. Petty (19-for-32, 163 yards, TD, INT) played like the archetypal Jets QB. He largely landed in that bleak realm of mediocrity. He gave you no reason to think he will embarrass the team, nor any reason to think he's a franchise player. But since Petty, not Ryan Fitzpatrick, will be here next year, he should be allowed to show us what he is.
One NFL cliche is that the most popular player on any team is the backup quarterback. Let's add the caveat, unless he plays for the Jets.
Fitzpatrick, the presumed starter this season because he was very good last season, was the backup on Sunday. And he's hardly the most popular player on the team, as he leads the NFL in interceptions.
Perhaps no two players represent this inverted world the Jets have entered more than Fitzpatrick and Petty -- the twin emblems of their past and future. Fitzpatrick was supposed to not only lead the team to the playoffs this year, he was supposed to double as a bridge and mentor to Petty.
Instead, we have fans counting the days until the aging, bearded Fitzpatrick leaves the team, while watching the fresh-faced Petty with cynical eyes.
If fans can take some solace in anything, it's Boomer Esiason's assertion that the game didn't look too big or fast for Petty. While we all assume that the rigors of pro football are entirely physical -- the size, speed, and strength of the NFL player -- Esiason believes the biggest hurdles are emotional.
After his first four quarters of real action, we can't possibly assess Petty's potential. But at least he's a variable, a young player's whose ceiling we have yet to measure.
Sure, we're reaching. When you're this bad, when teams were scoring 30, 35, and 40 points on Sunday, while Gang Green couldn't even convert an extra point, it's hard to find light in this dim season. If you're to believe Esiason's radio partner, Craig Carton, a lifelong Jets fan, you have no franchise players, not a single jersey you'll be proud to wear for a few years.
When your season is over after 10 games (it probably was over sooner), you're left with moral victories, unproven players, and the marginal hope that you'll simply get better before the season ends. The next six games may not matter in the standings, but it could determine the standing of their head coach and QB.
After five games last year, the Jets were 4-1. This year they were 1-4, practically out of the race before halftime. Last year, the Jets were riding the wave of a rookie coach and new QB who seemed to bring a certain mojo to a moribund franchise.
Here we are, 12 months later, uncertain if either will be back next year. Surely Fitzpatrick is gone. Have the Jets been so bad that Todd Bowles now has to look over his shoulder?
Bowles's future, Gang Green's future, is now in Petty's hands.
Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel
