Petty confident, but Smith makes sense as backup
THERE is no fear in Bryce Petty. He wants Todd Bowles to give him the damn ball, dismisses the fact he has yet to throw a pass in an NFL game makes him a risk to be the backup to Ryan Fitzpatrick.
“I mean, how did Tom [Brady] get his start?” Petty said to The Post. “How did Drew [Brees]? ... All these guys that are elite quarterbacks now had to start out at some point. And you just get thrown in there. You prepare for it, that way when it does come you’re ready for it, and it’s not as much of a shock.”
Would it be unfair to you to get thrown in?
“No,” he said. “That’s how you learn. Get in there and rock and roll. I’m excited about whatever opportunity there is, whether it’s here or whether it’s somewhere else. Everything that I’m doing now is to prepare myself for whenever that time comes.”
What would he tell Jets fans why they should trust you if you were the No. 2? “I don’t think I have to do that,” Petty said. “I think every time I go out there, it’s my play that’s gonna do that, it’ s not words. And I think that’s something that has kind of been since the beginning of time. A lot of guys want it, a lot of guys talk about it, but until you play and produce, the fans aren’t gonna like you. You gotta produce. So I’m just gonna continue to do that as best I can and execute. We’ll see how it goes.”
This is the way it goes Saturday night against the Giants: Fitzpatrick for at least a half, Smith second, Petty third.
The test for Smith is to block out the boo birds who will bark at him at the first hint of trouble and would love to see him jettisoned out of town.
“I can’t control people’s feelings, man,” Smith told The Post. “I’m not worried about someone else’s feelings.” Do the boo birds bother you? “Nope.” Asked if he expects to be the backup on opening day, Smith said: “I’m here.”
And you think this team can win with you. “Yes.” Why? “You got to prove it on the field,” Smith said. “That’s the only reason. You got to prove it on the field.
“I believe I can prove it on the field.”
Do you feel that you have the trust of your coaches and teammates? “Yes.” And that’s important to you? “Very important.” So for Jets fans that want to see you jettisoned out of town, what would you say?
“I don’t really worry about that, I’m just focused on getting better.”
But how much better can a quarterback get as a backup?
“I’m gonna be the best that I can be at anything at any point in time,” Smith said. “Every single time I’m gonna try to be the best that I can be, backup, starter, whatever. Same mentality.”
The conclusion here: The Jets should keep four quarterbacks. Should something happen to Fitzpatrick, Smith is the only backup with experience. This is a win-now team that can’t risk throwing Petty to the wolves. Smith was thrown to the wolves as a rookie starter and we are where we are with him four seasons later.
Some team will come calling for a quarterback at some point in the season. The Jets then would be able to trade Smith, a free agent next season, if they so desired for more than they would procure now, and continue to develop Petty at the same time.
Asked how much he is going to play this week, Petty said: “No idea. No idea.”
Asked if he had been getting any more reps in practice, Petty said: “About the same. Nothing more, nothing less.”
He’s closed the gap. But preseason games are preseason games. Here is how Petty would feel if the season started and he was not No. 2:
“Yeah, I mean I think that if you ask Geno that, if you ask [rookie Christian Hackenberg], if you ask Fitz, we’re all the same. We’re competitive, so we all want to be in there. But that’s part of it, there’s only one of us. It’s not like you can rotate us. It’s only one person, so we’re all gonna play like that, practice like that, and then when it comes, you’re ready for it.”
If this were a popularity contest, Petty would win in a landslide. But it isn’t.