Forgotten Geno caught in Big Blue QB Webb
What about Geno? The Giants’ unintentional 1-7 tank-job this season has rookie quarterback Davis Webb suddenly in the spotlight, with the expectation coach Ben McAdoo will activate Webb for his first regular season action at some point in 2017 to evaluate Webb before next spring’s QB-loaded draft arrives.
But it’s easy to forget there is another man in the Giants’ quarterback room eager for an opportunity. His name is Geno Smith, and a small part of him hears all the calls for Webb and naturally wonders, ‘What about me?’
“Yeah,” Smith admitted to the Daily News this week. “But,” he added with a smile, “you’ve gotta understand the way things work. I’ve been through those processes before. And all I can do is con- tinue to work. But yeah, I wanna be out there no matter what. Any player wants that.”
Don’t misconstrue Smith’s honesty. He’s not saying Webb doesn’t deserve a shot, and Manning deserves to sit. He’s just admitting the reality that he is trying to make as positive an impression as possible this season, not just on the Giants, but on any NFL team that might see Smith a part of their future.
And any opportunity Smith has to put football on film is another chance for him to open a GM’s or scout’s eyes that the former Jet still has a lot more left to give when his one-year prove-it contract with the Giants runs out at season’s end.
That’s why Smith’s cameo in Sunday’s 51-17 loss to the Rams had to be a disappointment in that he made his regular season debut but didn’t have much of a chance to excel.
McAdoo admitted after the blowout that he had intended to put Smith in with nine minutes remaining, but the Giant defense couldn’t get the Rams offense off the field.
Smith finally entered with 2:53 remaining, only to see his offense go three-and-out. Smith even had to enter for a second series with 22 seconds remaining only to kneel for minus-one yard in victory formation just to end the Giants’ misery.
Smith’s teammates say nothing but good things about his work ethic and value, though, important endorsements considering Smith’s off-field incidents and reputation from four rocky seasons with the Jets.
“I think he got a bad rap down there with the Jets,” top Giants Olineman Justin Pugh told The News of Smith. “Being a quarterback in the NFL is tough, and being a QB in New York is even tougher, so I can see how perception could be skewed at times. (But) he’s a pro. He doesn’t say much. He just puts his head down and goes to work.”
Smith and Webb, meanwhile, have a good relationship — and a unique one at that. It goes back to 2012, when Smith was entering his senior year at West Virginia and Webb was a rising senior at Prosper High School in Texas. “He was my counselor at Elite 11 (a QB camp in California),” Webb said. Smith jokes that he didn’t do much as a counselor because, “I was throwing, that was all I was doing. I was there with other guys I was gonna get drafted with, so I was in competition mode.” But he has learned a lot over the years about Webb’s diligence and abilities, especially now as his teammate. “He’s a coach’s son in every meaning of the word,” Smith said of Webb, whose father Matt now runs Frisco Centennial’s program north of downtown Dallas. “As quarterbacks, with all the studying we do, he’s always extremely prepared, he’s got his binder and he’s always curious and asking questions.” The Webb-Smith connection doesn’t end there. Webb says when he was a freshman at Texas Tech, playing in the Air Raid offense just as Smith was up at West Virginia, he constantly watched tape of Smith playing QB for the Mountaineers. And after all that, Smith and Webb also are connected by Jake Spavital, West Virginia’s current offensive coordinator and QBs coach, who coached Smith in 2011 and 2012 at West Virginia and also coached Webb in his one season at Cal to close his college career. Spavital told The News in the spring after the Giants signed Smith and drafted Webb that “they’re gonna be great teammates… There’s not gonna be very many egos.” Webb said he and Smith “have a good relationship” in part because they both came to the Giants at the same time this past spring and both were new to the team, organization and offense, so they were in a similar boat. “Geno’s a good leader, smart, he shows up here ready to work; it’s all three of us working together to help Eli be successful,” Webb said. “We have a really good working relationship and off the field, too. “We talk about everything under the sun,” Webb said of both Smith and Manning as mentors, “off the field, media stuff, how you handle yourself off the field, going to events, how you carry yourself as a quarterback. Whenever I do media I always bring up both (Eli) and (Geno) because they’ve both played in this league. “This is Geno’s fifth year, he played as a rookie, so that’s something that’s unique, along with Eli, something I haven’t had to do yet, or at all,” Webb continued. “So I always want to understand, ‘OK, you were a rookie, I’m a rookie, what were some of the things that you learned your rookie year that maybe can help me because I haven’t been able to play?’ Because they got first-hand experience. They’ve been very helpful.” Webb may get game experience sooner than he realizes. And that makes sense since the Giants have to plan for the future. But just remember that Smith is here, too, supportive of Webb but also out to prove he’s still got it.