Hanging on for a second shot at glory
FRIDAY WAS THE first night of the rest of Geno Smith’s NFL life. And he spent much of it looking very much like Eli Manning’s next backup quarterback.
Until he gave you a flashback to his infamous Jets past with an interception that left MetLife Stadium groaning and cost the Giants three points late in the third quarter of a 20-12 Steelers victory in the first preseason game for Big Blue.
There would seem to be only one way Smith can lose this backup quarterback battle with journeyman Josh Johnson — if he throws it away.
“For being the first time playing since October in real active competition, I felt like I saw things quick,” Smith told The Post. “And obviously I feel like I can get a lot better.
“That interception can’t happen. A couple of those plays where I could have changed the protection and got us into the right protection ... and those are things that I’ll fix this upcoming week going into the next game.”
I asked him if he loves being a Giant.
“I like it, I like it ... I feel like I’ll learn to love it,” he told The Post with a big smile.
On the first night of the rest of Geno Smith’s life, do not forget that unlike Johnson, he was working the entire time behind the second- and third-team offensive lines.
There was 5:25 remaining in the second quarter when Smith entered the game in his blue No. 3 in relief of a pedestrian Johnson (5-10, 31 yards, three sacks).
Smith rifled a 15-yard completion over the middle to Darius Powe on his first play from scrimmage. Then he bootlegged right and found firstround draft pick Evan Engram for 11 yards and a first down.
The drive stalled when Smith was forced to call a timeout with 1:56 left. “The clock had got down on me, was trying to make some adjustments to the protection, got down to two seconds and had to call timeout,” Smith said.
On the next play, he was sacked for a 10-yard loss before rookie kicker Aldrick Rosas had his back with a 52yard field goal.
“They disguised it well ... they got me on that one,” Smith said of the sack.
Smith has natural arm talent that Johnson does not. If he can learn to protect the Duke for coach Ben McAdoo — a big if — he offers more upside, and at the very least would give the Giants a chance to win over the short-term if the unthinkable were to happen to the unsinkable Eli Manning.
On third-and-7 at the start of the second half, Smith hit tight end Jerell Adams over the middle for 21 yards, then rolled right and found Roger Lewis by the right sideline for 15 yards. He smartly threw the ball out of bounds on third-and-4 before Mike Nugent drilled a 45-yard field goal.
Smith tried a Go deep down the left sideline and got a 33-yard interference call against Brandon Dixon.
Then came the unsightly interception in the left flat by Arthur Moats that started Steelers quarterback Joshua Dobbs on the Giants’ 14.
“Just one of those things where Coach always talks about not making a bad play worse ... miscommunication ... but that’s solely on me, I never put that on anyone else,” Smith said.
He showed his mobility with a 6yard scramble out of bounds on a third-and-4 in the fourth quarter, but he too failed to get his team in the end zone, and finished 10-16, 116 yards and one INT. His ACL injury is clearly behind him. He wore no brace on his knee and survived that perilous first hit with ease.
“Obviously there’s gonna be general soreness, but overall felt great, felt stable, moved around good and I’m very pleased with that,” Smith said.
If anyone needed a change of scenery (28 TDs, 36 INTs and off-field calamity) it was Geno Smith. The less said about that jaw-breaking IK Enemkpali locker room punch, the better.
The Giants have given him this $775,000 chance to get back off the canvas.
“It was a special moment for me my first time putting this uniform on with these guys ... it was fun,” Smith said. He expects to love being a Giant. If he doesn’t throw his chance away, I expect he will be.