Z-E-R-O Jets Jets Jets!

THE SPORTING landscape in New York generally consists of one team in a sport that actually knows what it's doing, and another that constantly craves attention, makes all sorts of flashy signings which are utterly nonsensical, and lives off its few great moments. It's always 1986 when you go to Citi Field for a Mets game. The Jets, meanwhile, have been living off Broadway Joe 1969 nostalgia for decades, and have scarcely put a competent product on the field since while their crosstown foes, the Giants, have won 4 Super Bowls and shown themselves to be one of the model franchises in the NFL.

Part of why the Jets love harkening back to Joe Namath's heyday is that they haven't had a QB since then who was any good. Their latest excuse for a starting QB, Geno Smith, put up a truly dreadful line during yesterday's 43:23 loss to the Buffalo Bills, as he completed 2 of 8 passes for 5 yards while throwing 3 interceptions. This earned him a QB Rating of 0.0 for the game. In essence, the Jets were playing without a QB yesterday, and would've been better off just direct snapping it to the fullback than attempting to throw a forward pass. On a day where Big Ben threw for 522 and threatened the all-time NFL passing record, Geno's zip-zip may be the most noteworthy of QB achievements.

With this performance, Smith joins this rather dubious list of the worst QB performances in NFL history. It's something of an amazing list, if you look at it. There are actually some Hall of Famers on that list, and some otherwise good players who had a really bad day at the office. And almost certainly some of those games were played in wretched weather where passing the football didn't work so well. What's really remarkable is the number of times a team actually won with a 0.0 QB (more often that you would think). Seriously, how bad does your team have to play to lose to a team whose QB was essentially for display purposes only? My favourite on that list is the Dec. 9, 1973 game where both starting QBs turned in a 0.0 – and clearly buoyed by their 32-10 win of the Falcons that day, the Cardinals started Gary Keithly under center the following week and he promptly put up another 0.0 rating. And I remember watching the Ryan Leaf game. Oy. That was basically the beginning of the end of his rather sad career, and very unbecoming of a Washington State QB. (As was proven again earlier this season, W.S.U. can throw throw the hell out of the football but can do nothing else right.)

Now, Geno Smith is a young player, and one would like to think there is some upside here. If you squint hard enough, you might be able to see it. But it's hard to tell when you're surrounded with as sorry a supporting cast as the Jets have assembled this season. The worst thing to do to a young QB is surround him with awful talent and somehow expect him to rise above the mess. (And the defense gave up 85- and 60-yard completions to the rather pedestrian Bills passing game, so it's not like they're any great shakes, either.) At 1-7, the Jets can thank only the woful Jaguars and the fighting Oakland Davises for keeping them out of the NFL's cellar. Blustery head coach Rex Ryan and his staff seem certain to get fired after this debacle, but probably the only thing worse than getting fired by the Jets is getting hired by the Jets, and they can use that high draft pick next spring to draft another franchise QB, or maybe just draft a potted plant instead, since a potted plant can put up a 0.0 and wouldn't be as big of a hit against the salary cap.