The Jets had a pair of spirited, sometimes uber physical practices with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at their Florham Park training facility. And Geno Smith liked a lot of what he saw.
"Shoot, I thought we had a really good, competitive two days," the Jets quarterback said after Wednesday's second practice against Tampa Bay. "I thought there were a lot of great plays out there that were made, and I think there were also some plays we can learn from."
The learning curve should be trending upward soon, because with no practice Thursday, the next stop is the Jets' first preseason game, at home against the Bucs on Friday night. And Smith can't wait, offering up a word picture reminiscent of an accompaniment to John Facenda on an old NFL Films Music disc.
"Just to get out there and just play ball," he said of the thrill of the opportunity ahead. "Feel the real live game atmosphere, being in the huddle with my guys, having the clock run down, being in front of the fans back in MetLife. Just all the things of real football. Not two-hand touch or thud, but just to feel the game again."
Head coach Aaron Glenn left no question that Smith and the Jets' first units would see action in the summer opener: "Everybody's playing," he declared Tuesday.
Why after not seeing starters logging many if any preseason snaps the previous four seasons is this year different? Because AG says that's the way he wants it to be.
"You have two new systems that are going in and I think it's important for our guys to play," Glenn said. "Now there's science behind this also, as far as having joint practices and trying to get the guys, at least throughout the preseason, 25 to 30 reps, and I'm talking about all three games. I don't know how I'll divvy that up."
See the Jets players on the field during Wednesday's joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Geno is game to go. We doubt that has much to do with his first game of any kind as a pro, in his first tenure as a Jet. That came Aug. 9, 2013, his rookie season, at Detroit (long before Glenn got to the Lions as their DC in 2021). That first night, Smith got 14 plays in relief of Mark Sanchez and completed 6 of his first 7 pro passes for 47 yards. Not bad.
However, his first three drives resulted in punts and he left his fourth early with an injury that cost him his next preseason appearance before he was off and flying in that often remarkably promising first regular season in green and white.
Since then, Smith has ridden the NFL roller-coaster, leaving the Jets ultimately, after a few other stops, for the Seahawks, where he put together his three strongest pro seasons as the Seahawks starter.
Then came Las Vegas in '25 and now the Jets once more. Smith, like all Jets QBs from, oh, Chad Pennington forward, know "it's a process." and part of the process is refining his game with his new teammates wearing those familiar practice uniforms. WR Garrett Wilson explained what the two sometimes chat about once the ones are out and the twos are in, such late in Wednesday's practice.
"We're just trying to clean up things that we might've missed throughout practice," Wilson said. "We're still early in this thing. We feel we're in a good spot, but there' always something to be cleaned up.
"Geno's just super cerebral, so it does a lot for me knowing what he's thinking. It can help me speed up my route or slow it down, whatever it may be. But at the end of the day, my job is to be there for the quarterback and make plays when they come my way."
Smith's task is to do the same for his skill players, the offense and the team. But first things first. He turned philosophical in discussing this game that has brought him back to North Jersey to hone his skills with Wilson and others for the start of a new Jets season.
"I think whenever you go to practice, football in general, there's going to be ups and downs — that's just kind of how the game goes," he said. "There are ebbs and flows, and the main thing is you've got to be steady throughout. Good things happen or not-so-good things happen, but you've got to stay calm."
That's what he and the Jets did against Tampa this week, with Smith saying he and the offense started slow but finished strong Tuesday, then started faster and made plays all practice long Wednesday. As for Friday night:
"I think overall we've just got to keep getting better and just stay focused."
