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Geno Smith delivers near-perfect performance as young quarterback helps Jets stun Falcons in Atlanta.
ATLANTA — When the Falcons take stock in what went wrong on Monday night, they’ll be able to pinpoint the villain who did them in without too much difficulty. He was young and flawed and surely the elixir to turn their season around.
He turned out to be their worst nightmare.
Prime time was the right time for Geno Smith, who looked every bit like a franchise quarterback in the making in the Jets’ 30-28 stunner over the Falcons. Smith, poked and prodded in a turnover-filled first month of his career, was brilliant in a three-touchdown masterpiece that helped Rex Ryan’s team stun just about everyone not wearing Green and White.
“He’s taken on every challenge thrown at him,” right guard Willie Colon said. “(From) the (quarterback) competition battle to everyone (criticizing) the turnovers… Every time they question him, he steps up. He’s a fighter in my eyes.”
Smith, who went 16-for-20 for 199 yards with a 147.7 quarter rating, did his best superhero impersonation by saving the day after the Jets’ typically stout defense squandered a 13-point fourth-quarter lead.
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“He just kept his poise,” cornerback Antonio Cromartie said. “That’s something that we noticed from the beginning. He made every right throw. That’s what we needed.”
After the Falcons’ frenetic fourth-quarter comeback gave them a 28-27 lead with 1:54 left, Smith went to work with rapid-fire precision on the Jets’ game winning drive. A 12-yard completion to Stephen Hill. A 13-yard pickup to Jeremy Kerley. A nine-yarder to Hill. Bang. Bang. Bang.
Three consecutive bullets that stunned the Falcons. Smith went 4-for-4 for 37 yards on the game-winning drive.
“Everyone has complete confidence in me,” Smith said. “That’s great to have guys like that on your side with the way I played the last four weeks. They told me to go out there and let it rip. Play with no conscience.”
Smith stayed calm amid the craziness at the Georgia Dome and had the confidence to call a critical audible from a pass play to a run by Bilal Powell that picked up six yards and set up Nick Folk’s game-winning 43-yard field goal as time expired.
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“That was a great audible,” Powell said. “That’s one of things you see that make you go, Wow. You take the rookie label off that guy. He made a great check.”
Eight days earlier, Smith apologized to teammates in the losing lockerroom after a four-turnover meltdown against the Titans. Seven of his 11 turnovers came in the Jets’ two road losses.
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