After the third preseason game in 2013, New York Jets coach Rex Ryan was left with one injured veteran quarterback, and one slumping rookie quarterback. This year is a lot simpler.
Ryan announced Friday that Geno Smith would be the team's Week 1 starter, making official what had long been obvious. Smith was solid Friday in a loss to the New York Giants, playing mistake-free football. Michael Vick also played well in limited action, but he never truly had a chance in the competition.
"(Geno) has done everything that we have asked," Ryan said. "And again this is no slight to Mike Vick. Because believe me like I said, I wanted to come out of this knowing that we have two really good quarterbacks and we think we can win games with. And in my heart I feel that we have two that we can win with."
Jets coaches have reportedly been disappointed by Vick accepting his fate as a backup, a notion that clearly upset Vick.
"That is not true. That is not true at all. Me and my coaches have great conversations. We have open dialogue and that was far from the case. So whoever wrote that story, it was on the side of being very fictitious and you have to come up with better stories than that," Vick said.
The Vick quotes are a small bump in a refreshingly quiet Jets preseason. Smith didn't do anything to lose the starting job, and Vick didn't particularly do anything to make the Jets re-think their faith in their second-year starter. Now it's just up to Geno to prove a lot of people wrong.
*The Around the League Podcast's Fantasy Football Preview is all you need before draft day. *
