SAN DIEGO — The first chants of “We want Vick’’ from disenchanted Jets’ fans were audible above the delirious Chargers’ fans inside Qualcomm Stadium with about six minutes remaining in the first half of Sunday’s 31-0 Chargers’ annihilation of the Jets.
On the Jets’ opening offensive possession of the second half, those fans got what they wanted: Rex Ryan decided he’d seen enough of Geno Smith in the first half so he inserted backup quarterback Michael Vick.
Smith was 4-of-12 for 27 yards with an interception and a 7.6 rating in the first half. He looked overmatched and showed little command of the game. But he was hardly the only Jets player who looked overmatched and lost in what looked and felt like the Jets’ most lopsided, non-competitive loss under Ryan’s watch.
“It was definitely a pathetic showing on my part,’’ Smith said. “I don’t think I helped any part of the game.’’
Smith’s reaction to being benched?
“How are you supposed to feel?’’ he said. “Of course I’m going to be upset … I never want to be pulled from the game.’’
To Smith’s credit, he said he “didn’t need an explanation [from Ryan when he was pulled] and I didn’t ask for one.’’
Here’s the thing, though, Jets fans: If you want to leak on Smith that’s fine, but if you think he’s the root of the problem on this 1-4 team currently spiraling to who-knows-where?, you have not been watching very carefully.
“We could have had Joe Namath and it wouldn’t have been any different,’’ Ryan said.
This is, in no way, a defense of Smith, who’s only constant since he was given the keys to owner Woody Johnson’s kingdom has been his maddening inconsistency.
It’s difficult not to believe that this is simply who Smith is — much the way the Jets took four years to realize Mark Sanchez was exactly who he was going to be all along with all the recurring turnovers and broken-record “I’ve got to do better’’ promises.
But to watch what unfolded Sunday in San Diego and think that the lack of a franchise starting quarterback is the Jets’ only problem is naïve.
It you had the stomach to stick with the game and watch the second half, you saw that Vick is not the answer, either, completing 8-of-19 for 47 yards and a 49.7 rating.
To the fans who bellowed Vick’s name during last week’s loss to the Lions at MetLife Stadium and the “first-time, long-time’’ radio ranters who flood the New York airwaves, Vick is a myth.
He is no longer the same guy who was flinging it all over the place when he first came into the league with the Falcons. That guy left the building years ago.
If it’s possible, Vick looked even worse and more defenseless in the second half than Smith did in the first.
“In any situation I expect a lot out of myself,’’ Vick said. “I just wanted to go out there and provide some type of spark.’’
Asked to evaluate his performance, Vick said, “We didn’t score any points … that’s the evaluation right there. We didn’t get into the red zone until the fourth quarter and that’s totally unacceptable.’’
So now that we know Vick is not the answer, now what?
Ryan didn’t hesitate when asked about his plan at quarterback for next Sunday against Peyton Manning and the Broncos at MetLife Stadium.
“Yeah, I thought about it; I’m going with Geno Smith,’’ Ryan said. “[This loss] wasn’t on him. He wasn’t the guy out there blocking or blowing assignments. Geno will be our quarterback next week and that’s just the way it is.’’
Asked why he made the switch, Ryan said: “Because you’re down 21-0, you haven’t converted a first down, you haven’t done anything, [so] if not then, then when? Let’s try to give a spark. I’ve done it before — sit a guy down. It wasn’t [Smith’s] day. It’s just like a starting pitcher. Sometimes it’s not his day [so] get him out.’’
Sunday’s loss made it clear that the Jets are the worst team in the AFC East and the gap is widening.
And for that damning fact, shame on Jets general manager John Idzik, who sat quietly (what else?) in the press box and watched the B-league team (particularly in the horrid secondary) he assembled embarrassed by the Chargers.
Ryan, surely putting up a good front, insisted all week leading up to this game how “close’’ the Jets are.
“Closer than a lot of people think,’’ he said.
Closer to what?
The only thing the Jets are closer to is Idzik buying a couple more years’ worth of Woody Johnson’s money after he fires Ryan at the end of the season and hires his own head coach.
