MAKING A CASE
Petty playing his way into QB conversation
On the first play of the fourth quarter in Saturday night’s 16-6 Jets loss to the Lions, Bryce Petty had a moment.
The third-year quarterback stepped to the line, saw six Lions defenders in the box and walked back into the shotgun, moved some players around and called an audible. The result was a 23-yard pass to Myles White down the Detroit sideline. It was a moment that let you know maybe Petty should not be the quarterback left behind in this Jets competition.
Petty has been running third in this three-man quarterback race all summer. He has had limited reps in practice (about 100 less than Christian Hackenberg) and has never really felt like a real contender for the job. Early on in camp, it looked justified. Petty clearly was having trouble with new coordinator John Morton’s offense. But lately, Petty looks like he’s getting it. Saturday night he outplayed Hackenberg.
We can’t get too carried away because Petty faced the third-team Lions defense and Hackenberg played against the starters, but Petty made plays where Hackenberg didn’t. Petty led two field-goal drives, completing 15of-24 passes for 160 yards and one interception that came on a desperation throw in the final seconds of the game. Hackenberg went 2-of-6 for 14 yards.
It will be interesting to see how coach Todd Bowles divides the reps this week. Josh McCown is now clearly the odds-on favorite to start Week 1 against the Bills and likely will play most of Saturday night’s preseason game against the Giants. But have the Jets made a mistake by writing off Petty as the No. 2? Should he leapfrog Hackenberg on the depth chart? These are questions that at least deserve consideration by the Jets this week.
After the loss to the Lions, Bowles did not sound like he was overly impressed by what Petty had done.
“Well, he moved the ball, but again, we didn’t score any points,” Bowles said of Petty. “So, when you don’t score any points, then you can’t win ballgames. But he had some good throws and some good plays here and there.”
Petty has been the good soldier through this whole spring and summer. While he must know Bowles has only paid lip service to this being a three-way competition, Petty has not complained when his reps are few and far between.
On Saturday, he was critical of himself for not reaching the end zone but saw some positives.
“I thought we executed plays better than last week, which is something that I wanted to do coming into this week was execute better,” Petty said. “We just have to finish drives. When you’ve put in all that work, eight to 10 plays and get down there, let’s finish it. So, that starts with me executing and making sure that we’re in the best place possible and you know, ball placement on my part. So, definitely things to work on, but happy with the execution of that group and of those guys coming back from last week.”
Petty was viewed as a project when the Jets took him in the fourth round of the 2015 draft out of Baylor and its simplistic offense. Petty started four games last year and did not play overly well. But there is a certain moxie about the way Petty plays that makes you think there might be something there. It could just be an illusion or it might be reality. Saturday night there were glimpses of him figuring things out.
“This is the first time I’ve ever ran a West Coast system, and I love it,” Petty said. “I absolutely love it. So, I’m excited to come to work every day and learn something and you know, that quarterback room with coach [Jeremy] Bates, I’m learning something new every day. So, that part is exciting and it’s good to see production on the field.”