Petty concentrates on putting best foot

BRYCE Petty watched the film from his first start in more than a year, and the 26-year-old Jets quarterback emerged focused on the areas in which he needs to improve. In a loss to the Saints on Sunday, Petty struggled primarily with his accuracy. He completed less than 50% of his passes and missed a slew of open targets, particularly on intermediate routes. Petty believes his inconsistency was the result of poor footwork. He views the requisite corrections as “all easy fixes” while he prepares for his second straight start this weekend at home against the Chargers.

“It’s a point of emphasis this week for me because I can make those throws,” Petty said of his footwork. “Theres not a throw I can’t make.”

To his credit, Petty appeared decisive with his throws Sunday — even if many of them sailed high or bounced short. He felt he made large strides in how he performed mentally as compared to last season.

The noise at the Superdome added a dimension to the challenge for Petty. The loss eliminated the Jets from playoff contention.

“We’ve made so many strides,” Petty said. “I knew exactly where I wanted to go with the ball and I’m seeing the field, seeing the coverage, and that’s very positive. It was loud, it was really loud, which was good because you conquered that mountain and now we’re onto others.”

Petty’s biggest strength is throwing the deep ball, but for whatever reason, offensive coordinator John Morton opted to limit the number of shots downfield Sunday. Petty only truly went deep three times, and he completed two of those attempts — a 38-yard dime to Eli McGuire in the third quarter and a 24-yard back-shoulder connection with Chad Hansen in the fourth. The other deep shot was a desperation heave on the final play of the game that was