CLEVELAND — Geno Smith threw an ill-advised interception against the Browns on Monday night. In his fight to win the Giants’ backup quarterback job, and if he gets another chance once Eli Manning is removed from the Snoopy Bowl on Saturday, his former Jets teammates will be waiting for him.
“I don’t really put too much emphasis on the hoorah. … I’m a football player, I gotta go out there and I gotta execute,” Smith said. “That’ll be my main focus. I won’t have any other feelings.”
When the Jets watch the tape of Giants-Browns, they will notice a quarterback wearing a No. 3 Giants jersey, making the kind of error he used to make too often in a No. 7 Jets jersey.
Like when he threw the ball third-and-goal at the 4 to Cleveland’s Briean Boddy-Calhoun at the 3.
Coach Ben McAdoo likes to call it “protecting The Duke,” and that was the second time in two preseason games Smith (11-for-17, 79 yards, 1 INT) did not protect it.
“Good plays, and one bad play,” Smith said.
The bad play?
“A little bit of miscommunication before the play,” Smith said. “It’s kinda one of those things where you just gotta do better, not try and force it in that position.”
Smith, looking for Roger Lewis, tried changing the route.
“It was just trying to get an audible off, and unfortunately, everybody didn’t get the signal … it was just a bad play,” he said.
He had engineered a drive from the Giants’ 30.
“That’s kinda what preseason’s for, is to get out those kinks and to get things on film so you can go watch and learn from ’em,” Smith said.
Rookie Wayne Gallman fumbled on an aborted play when Smith got it back at the Cleveland 10 following a Cody Kessler fumble and Josh Johnson (2-for-4, 6 yards) mopped up.
“It’s backbreaking, not in the sense with the competition, but just for the team,” Smith said. “You want to go out there and win the game, no matter what the situation is or what the scenario. It’s just something we gotta clean up. We’ll get better at it. I’ll make sure that the signal’s clear, and everyone understands what their job is on that play.”
Bring on the Jets?
“Saturday’s [going to] be fun, get another opportunity to go out there and play football and learn and get better.”
McAdoo’s assessment?
“He took a timeout in the fourth quarter that I didn’t like,” the coach said. “He threw an interception on the goal line which I didn’t like. Those things stood out to me. Other than that, he played pretty good.”