An unfortunate byproduct of a comeback bid such as the Jets suffered Sunday in their 31-24 loss at Detroit is that the loss strips the sheen off of many outstanding individual and team efforts.
Take QB Geno Smith. He had put together one of the best road passing games -- heck, one of the best passing games home or away -- in franchise history. Yet Smith took no joy in any of that as he met reporters afterward.
"We didn't finish. I wish we would've finished but we didn't," Smith said of the Jets' final drive toward a tying touchdown that had gotten as close as the Detroit 28 with 51 seconds to play. "Yeah, just it was on me. Bad play by me."
The "bad play" was the Jets offense's last play, which ended when Smith, facing a six-man blitz by the Lions, took a jarring hit and strip by S Chuck Clark storming untouched through the B gap. When LB Jack Campbell corralled the loose ball near midfield, the Jets' fate was sealed.
But Smith's game was not overlooked in the Ford Field visitors' locker room.
"I thought Geno did an outstanding job, I really do," HC Aaron Glenn said. "I can't just tell you the numbers off the top of my head, but I know they were pretty good."
They were very good. Franchise-quality in fact.
Smith's passing line jumps out: 31 of 37 for 321 yards, 3 touchdowns, no interceptions and a 129.8 passer rating. His 83.8% passing accuracy for starters was outstanding.
Smith began the game with 7 consecutive completions, all of no more than 7 yards. Soon came 8 in a row with some big downfield throws, the highlight rookie TE Kenyon Sadiq's 24-yard diving TD grab in the second quarter. In the second half he upped the ante with a 32-yarder to Garrett Wilson, Sadiq's 43-yard-deep ball, and Wilson's new highlight-video 23-yard butt touchdown, which beat the hand-fighting defense of CB D.J. Reed and gave Wilson his 100th yard and the TD after replay review.
Smith finished with 14 straight completions before an incompletion and the fateful final sack. The last Jet with a longer streak in a game was Josh McCown with 15 in a row vs. Atlanta in 2016. The last with 15 straight on the road was Chad Pennington at Buffalo in 2007.
Those stretched were the foundation of Smith's game, which produced the fourth-best accuracy by a Jets starting QB, the second-best in a road game behind only Joe Namath's 13-of-15 (86.7%) passing at Miami in 1967. And the top five game accuracies in franchise history for all QBs with at least 20 completions is interesting:
| Jets QB | Year, Game | Opponent | Atts / Comps | % Accuracy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geno Smith | 2026 Gm 3 | @ DET | 37 / 31 | 83.8 |
| Chad Pennington | 2002 Gm 6 | vs MIN | 29 / 24 | 82.8 |
| Mike White | 2021 Gm 7 | vs CIN | 45 / 37 | 82.2 |
| Geno Smith | 2014 Gm 1 | vs OAK | 28 / 23 | 82.1 |
| Chad Pennington | 2007 Gm 4 | @ BUF | 39 / 32 | 82.1 |
As for NFL-wide distinctions, this wasn't close to the highest completion percentage or rating. But a few more metrics and filters show another aspect of Smith's game. NextGenStats reveals that he was pressured on 23.8% of his first-half dropbacks, then on 54.5% of his dropbacks in the second half. Yet despite the 17 pressures, 7 QB hits and 5 sacks, Geno completed 11 of 12 passes under pressure for 147 yards.
Those give him the eighth-best accuracy in NFL history for accuracy in a game in which the QB was sacked 5-plus times, the best accuracy in a game with 30-plus completions and 5 or more sacks, and second-best rating in a road game with 30-plus completions and 5+ sacks
The last league number we'll present here is that despite Smith suffering the strip sack, he checks in at fifth all-time on the list of QBs with 75% accuracy and no INTs through a season's first 3 games at 75.5%. No. 1 on that list: Drew Brees, who logged 80.6% accuracy in the first 3 games of New Orleans' 2018 season. Brees was in the Ford Field booth Sunday alongside Adam Amin calling the game for FOX.
No amount of numbers and rankings will take the sting out of this game for Smith, the Jets and their fans. Yet Smith was able to get the Jets close to a tying score against the Lions' prolific offense and fired-up pass rush. On the offense's last plays, the Jets had Jordan Meredith in for Dylan Parham at LG, Malik McClain in his first NFL game at WR, Braelon Allen in for injured Breece Hall at RB, and without missing injured receivers in WRs Adonai Mitchell and rookie Omar Cooper and TE Mason Taylor.
But Glenn praised his TEs and Smith for finding them as well as Wilson and helping to produce one of those, as LB Demario Davis put it, "victories that are not on the scoreboard," something to nurture and build on for the coming tough games beginning with the Bears at Chicago next week.
"He had total confidence in the offensive line to protect him and allow him to deliver it, to go 31-of-37, get the ball to the tight ends and to Garrett. I thought he did an excellent job when it comes to that.
"Are there things to improve on? Absolutely. And he'd be the first to tell you that. But overall, I was really pleased with the way he operated."
