Jets’ Smith missed team meeting night before loss

NEW YORK — Geno Smith had one miserable week for the New York Jets.

The struggling quarterback, who was fined by the NFL for cursing at a fan last weekend, missed a team meeting the night before Sunday’s 31-0 loss to the San Diego Chargers in which he was benched.

Both Smith and coach Rex Ryan said that the absence was an “honest mistake” after the second-year quarterback confused the times for the meeting in San Diego on Saturday night. Ryan said the Jets usually set their schedules according to Eastern time when they travel, including changing hotel clocks, to keep their body clocks consistent.

“Mainly, I just counted down instead of counting up and just got the times mixed up,” Smith said during a conference call Monday night. “So I guess you could say I was thinking I was on East Coast time when we were actually on West Coast time. That was just my mishap. It really had nothing to do with the time zones. I’m aware of that. For that moment, I got that mixed up.”

Smith acknowledged he was watching a movie — he wouldn’t say which one — at a theater when he realized about 30 minutes in that he might have made a mistake with the times. He had no cell service, so he walked out to call a teammate, who told him he had the times confused.

Smith then left the theater and arrived five to 10 minutes after the meeting ended and reviewed what was discussed with offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg and quarterbacks coach David Lee. Ryan said Smith, who was “panicking, hustling in,” was present for two additional later meetings in preparation for the game.

“I felt really bad about it. I ended up apologizing,” he said. “I kind of felt like I let a lot of people down. That’s definitely not in my character to not be on time for a meeting.”

It was the first time Smith had missed a meeting, according to Ryan, who indicated that the team has disciplinary measures in place for situations like this.

“He’ll be treated no different than any other player,” said Ryan, who declined to say what the discipline would be, but added that he didn’t consider benching the quarterback for the start of the game.

The New York Daily News first reported Smith’s absence early Monday. ESPN New York reported that Smith was with a few teammates at the movie theater, but neither Smith nor Ryan would identify them.

“I’m not here to talk about anybody else,” Smith said. “So, I think you’d have to ask them that.”

Smith answered questions, becoming agitated at times, all last week about his job security and calls by some fans and media for Michael Vick to replace him.