Worth the wait
BRYCE Petty waits his turn, suddenly a heartbeat from the presidency. Ryan Fitzpatrick is back against the Browns, but Geno Smith is gone, and so this is kind of a Throw-22 situation for Petty, who has waited a year-and-half for a chance most Jets fans want for him as much as he wants for himself.
Except it likely would come at the expense of a playoff run.
Petty, though, is made of the right stuff, which will endear himself to his team and to those fans.
“It is a balance, but at the same time, to me it’s always been teamfirst,” Petty said Wednesday. “It is a funny position when you think about it, but at the same time, shoot, I would much rather go to playoffs than it be the other way around. It’d be awesome to play, but in the case that I’m playing because we’re not in a playoff race, if I was happy about that or excited about that, what kind of teammate would I be?
“I really do hope that both things get to happen. It is a tough spot, but it’s always team-first, always has been, always will be. If Coach feels Fitz is the best person for that job, then I’m gonna be happy about that and help him in whatever way I can.”
Petty watches rookie quarterbacks around the league — Dak Prescott, Carson Wentz and Cody Kessler — open eyes and somehow is able to tame the raging competitive beast inside him and be more patient than a fan base desperately seeking its franchise quarterback.
“You cheer for those guys,” Petty said. “You like to see everybody be successful anyways.” It should give him hope. “I don’t, I guess, base my success off of theirs,” Petty said. “For me, it’s, ‘ Have I gotten better since Day 1?’
“And I can answer that with a resounding ‘Yes.’ And so, you build off of that. You kind of create your own success.”
Petty and Christian Hackenberg getting some first-team reps at Wednesday’s practice is no tease. Petty is more likely to relieve Fitzpatrick once the 2-5 Jets are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. And perhaps sooner. Petty will bring what he calls a warrior leadership and warrior mindset to the job, something he has seen from Fitzpatrick every day.
“You gotta be battle-tested in this game,” said Petty, who missed time with a shoulder bruise suffered in the preseason. “It does show a lot about who you are as a person, because you go through a lot of ups and downs. Within a season, within a game, within a series.
“And so, you kind of have to have that warrior mindset of that until that final whistle blows, you’re gonna fight, you’re gonna fight for your guys, you’re gonna fight for the coaches, city … the whole thing.”
A fourth-round project out of Baylor’s spread offense, Petty has taken a big leap.
“Yeah, big, big leap, big leap,” Petty said. “And that’s the best part, is I’m climbing. Realistically, I feel like from an NFL standpoint from what a quarterback needs to know, I kind of did start from ground level.
“I’ve come a long way, I’ve come a long way. So that’s exciting for me … leaps and bounds from last year.”
Fitzpatrick has been an invaluable resource for him.
“You hear hints and whispers and rumors of how guys act to younger guys coming in, because the nature of the beast is they’re coming to take your spot,” Petty said, “so not everybody is welcoming to that aspect. But Fitz told me that that’s how he was brought up. His guys helped him out a lot, and so it was kind of a pay-it-forward mentality. There’s not a word or a number to describe what he’s done for me in my learning process.”
Petty, a young man of faith, is a small-town Texan with absolutely no fear of New York.
“I want every time to go out there that people can tell I’m having fun, and I think that’s kind of what helps me battle the ups and the downs, is to know that, man, there’s a lot of people that would love to be where I’m at,” he said. “You’re gonna have your opinions about what you write about on the field, and even off the field, but I know who I am and I know why I play.” Even when he doesn’t play. “I think that anything in life that is worth getting, you work for, and especially in any leadership position, it’s that attitude of ‘I want to show you, not tell you,’ ” Petty said. “I’ve had to wait, I’ve had to watch. Not everybody just comes in here and plays, and so you gotta stick things out, and keep a level head, and keep your confidence, and you just come in with the same attitude every day to get better and be a good teammate and normally good things happen.”