The Morning After, Why the Jets Must Continue to Start Bryce Petty
- Nov 14, 2016
- 3 min read
The New York Jets are 3-7 and last in the AFC east after a hideous 9-6 loss to the LA Rams. Their season has been nothing but underwhelming after going 10-6 last year. Ryan Fitzpatrick on a new contract was supposed to be the franchise saving quarterback after setting the Jets franchise record in touchdown passes last year but he's played like.. well how do I put this, Ryan Fitzpatrick. Even after playing bad enough to get benched for Geno Smith, Fitzpatrick still found a way back into the lineup after Smith tore his ACL in that very game. The defense hasn't helped bail out this sputtering Jet offense at all. Darelle Revis is far from the shutdown corner football fans remember from 2007-2012 (I heard the price for a house on Revis Isand is pretty low), and the rest of the secondary has been downright terrible, although they still have a fearsome pass rush.
The lone bright spot to what has been a lost season is Todd Bowles finally going with his 2nd year quarterback Bryce Petty yesterday. Petty was far from great, but the same thing could easily be said about this Jets team's season. Frankly, Petty should start for the rest of the season. The Jets won't be making the playoffs anytime soon, and I don't think they'll be winning many more games either. This creates a wonderful opportunity to evaluate what they have in Petty while setting up for a high draft pick.
Petty has had a pretty meme worthy career thus far. It was reported that Petty coming out of Baylor couldn't so much as identity any defensive fronts so he decided to turn to Madden to help him identify NFL level defenses after getting drafted. If that's not meme worthy, I don't know what is. For all the flack Petty gets though, he definitely has the talent and athleticism to be a great quarterback in the NFL. He has the arm talent to fit throws in tight windows, as well as a cannon of an arm. Playing in Baylor's simplistic Air Raid offense certainly stunted his football IQ growth though as he wasn't drafted until the 4th round by the Jets, and who knows if he is capable of identifying defensive fronts and coverages yet.
Having had a year to sit and learn Chan Gailey's offense as well as build on the basics, and with the way that Fitzpatrick has been playing all year it's safe to say it should now be Petty's time. The Jets certainly need to evaluate where they'll be going in terms of a quarterback since Fitzpatrick and Smith's contracts are up after this year, and between you and me I wouldn't let either of those guys play for my football team for free. If the Petty experiment works out the Jets could certainly decide that he's worth developing for a couple more years turning to the draft to help alleviate their defensive deficiencies in the early rounds. He could of course flame out and play just as bad as Fitzpatrick forcing the Jets to draft a quarterback early or turn to rookie Christian Hackenberg. But both of those outcomes are still better than letting Fitzpatrick start for the rest of the year.
As a Patriots fan, I can't help but imagine all the hilarity that would ensue with Petty as the Jet's starter for the rest of the year. I'm sure it won't be as bad as the Mark Sanchez era, but for the Jet's sake and for his own sake let's just hope that he played enough Madden to identify which offensive lineman he's supposed to stand behind.
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