Jets putting faith in Petty

THIS IS Bryce Petty’s team, his opportunity and his season to finish. That much has been made clear at One Jets Drive.

Todd Bowles on Wednesday said he has no plans “right now” to play Christian Hackenberg this season. Barring injury, Petty will start the final three games of 2017. Hackenberg will be active this Sunday in New Orleans as the Jets’ backup quarterback. But there remains a very real and likely possibility the former second-round pick will complete his second full NFL campaign without taking a regular-season snap.

“Bryce is our starter, and Bryce is the next man up,” Bowles said. “We got people at every position that want to play. We’re not jumping people over people just to play.”

Josh McCown suffered a broken hand in Sunday’s loss and underwent season-ending surgery on Tuesday. Petty on Wednesday took snaps with the starting offense for the first time since training camp.

Petty, 26, had previously worked exclusively on scout team in practice, splitting reps evenly with Hackenberg while mimicking opposing offenses. This week, Petty is running John Morton’s system again, trying to rekindle and re-establish chemistry with the offensive line and receivers.

“It’s kind of like just riding a bike,” Petty said. “You kind of get in there and dust the bike off, but it still rolls.”

Petty admitted it was a different feeling from being the backup.

“From a game plan standpoint, a preparation standpoint, you’re in the meetings but you’re not out there with them,” Petty said. “So it’s just great to be able to talk through things, protections with the O line and routes with receivers.”

Petty replaced McCown in the third quarter Sunday and completed just one of his eight pass attempts the rest of the way. He was noticeably out of sync with his receivers. Early in the fourth quarter, he threw behind Robby Anderson on a slant route that could have resulted in a huge gain and possibly a TD. Petty blamed the misfires on “timing.”

“You don’t want to be too selfcritical, because you haven’t been out there with them,” Petty said. “But at the same time, you’re in a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league. Everybody knows that.”

Petty was an afterthought through the preseason. He was the only quarterback of the three not to start a preseason contest and garnered the fewest reps in virtually all the training camp practices. He voiced some frustration in mid-August, saying it was “tough” to have to watch from the sideline in the midst of a quarterback competition.

That difficult process, though, only makes this week more satisfying for Petty.

“You got to have faith in this life,” Petty said, “and that’s kind of what I hold on to.”

Ryan Fitzpatrick — who spent two seasons with Petty in 2015 and 2016 — texted his former teammate this week to wish him good luck.

“It’s just hats off to who he is as a person,” Petty said.

McCown, meanwhile, gave Petty simple advice.

“Just to be me,” Petty said. “It’s not about trying to replace Josh or trying to be Josh. It’s to be Bryce and find little successes.”

When asked about Bowles’ comments, Hackenberg churned out his usual cliches — staying positive, continuing to get better, working hard.

“I’m as ready as I’ve ever been,” he said, in a brief moment off script.

Hackenberg claimed he won’t be disappointed if he doesn’t play this season.

“I’m not a negative person,” Hackenberg said. “I think if you dwell on that, it’s only going create more confusion and stuff that you don’t need to fill your brain space with.”

Petty’s first start will come in a hostile environment at the Saints, who’ve had extra time to prepare coming off a Thursday night game.

“You can’t take the test until you’re out there,” Bowles said.