The way the Jets quarterbacks dished the ball around in their 17-0 win at Pittsburgh on Friday was reminiscent of how a certain smiley-logoed multinational e-tailer gets products to multiple customers in a day or less. Against the Steelers, they worked hard, had fun and made a little summer history.
"Offensively, I thought Geno started out really well, and that was by design, to get our guys to see how efficient we can be and how we can move the ball, and I think those guys did a really good job," head coach Aaron Glenn said of Smith's return to action in a green and white uniform, but only for one uber-efficient drive. "It was good to see him hit five different receivers."
Six, if you count G Dylan Parham, who fielded a deflected Smith pass for a 2-yard loss, the only minus in Smith's 7-for-7 drive that began with two grabs by WR Adonai Mitchell and concluded with a touchdown pass to Jelani Woods — the big-target TE's first TD catch in any game since 2022 with the Colts.
You could call Smith's outing an "OD-TD mic-drop" game. Geno came on for his season debut with the Jets, led the offense to its opening-drive score, perhaps said, "My work is done here tonight," then left the game. That's something that happens almost never in the NFL regular season and rarely in the preseason.
The Jets, in fact, have had 8 of these OD-TD mic-drop preseason games since 2000. Filtering the list further, 4 of those 8 drives ended with a TD pass. Here are the QBs and their passing lines in those 4 games:
| Jets QB | Yr, Gm, Opp | Passing Line | Rating | Final Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Sachez | 2009-PS4 vs PHI | 5-5-67-1-0 | 158,3 | Jets 38-27 |
| Josh McCown | 2017-PS1 vs TEN | 4-3-72-1-0 | 156.2 | Jets 7-3 |
| Sam Darnold | 2019-PS1 @ NYG | 5-4-68-1-0 | 158.3 | Giants 31-22 |
| Geno Smith | 2026-PS2 @ PIT | 7-7-56-1-0 | 144.9 | Jets 17-0 |
Interesting Note I: Smith followed in the footsteps of Vinny Testaverde in Pittsburgh. Testaverde had a similar drive in 2002, completing 6 of 8 passes leading to LaMont Jordan's TD run. The Jets won that game, 16-6, and it was their most recent summer game against the Steelers, until Friday.
Interesting Note II: Chad Pennington had a couple of these mic-drop drives, including one on an international stage in 2003. He went 4 of 4 as the Jets thrilled the Tokyo Dome crowd with an opening-drive TD, again scored by Jordan, in the 30-14 American Bowl loss to the Buccaneers in Japan.
Interesting Note III: The Jets' multiple distribution didn't end with Smith's deliveries. Rookie QB Cade Klubnik and young veterans Bailey Zappe and Brady Cook continued to rack up different receivers for the rest of the game. The Jets QBs had 24 completions. which were divvied up among 16 receivers.
Quincy Skinner Jr., the first-year WR out of Vanderbilt who joined the Jets on July 30, was the only receiver to catch passes from three QBs, all three of the backups and including his sprawling 31-yard TD grab from Cook with 1:53 to play on what initially looked to be only a clock-draining fourth-down longball . It was Skinner's game-high fourth catch but Cook's only completion.
