New York Jets are wasting luxury they spent years yearning for

“If they even had a competent quarterback, imagine how good they’d be right now!”

How many New York Jets seasons immediately come to mind when you read that sentence?

Whether it’s the wasted elite defenses in 2022 and 2023, the 2019 squad that went 7-5 with Sam Darnold but was unwatchable without him healthy, or the 2011 team that was bedeviled by Mark Sanchez’s 23 turnovers, the Jets have had their share of seasons over their 15-year playoff drought in which a competent quarterback could have been enough to lift them from mediocrity to a likely playoff spot.

The key word there is “competent”, not “elite”, or even “good”. Think back to games like the Jets’ 2022 10-3 loss in New England or their 2023 15-10 loss to the Patriots at home. New York has endured many close losses where the quarterbacking was so poor, despite solid production from other parts of the team, that even a below-average starting quarterback performance would have likely been enough to earn a victory.

In fact, over the last 15 years, no NFL team lost in this fashion more frequently than the Jets.

From 2011-25, the Jets had a league-high 38 one-score losses in which they generated a team passer rating below 80.0. That’s about 2.5 games per year in which the Jets lost closely despite being held back by well-below-average passing efficiency; in other words, 2.5 opportunities per year for an average-or-better quarterback to take their stab at making the difference between a win and a loss.

Lo and behold, New York has finally found the consistently competent quarterback they’ve been looking for in Geno Smith. Thirteen years after the Jets drafted him, the prodigal son has returned, and he has provided the exact type of stable respectability that the franchise has often pegged as the low bar it requires from the QB to maximize the rest of the roster and anchor a playoff contender.

Yet… they’ve wasted it.

Geno Smith is delivering what the Jets have long coveted

Through seven games, Smith has delivered a 105.2 passer rating, ranking seventh-best in the NFL. Even more impressive is how high his floor has been; Smith has had stronger games and weaker games, but he’s never been a massive liability. He’s posted a passer rating above 85.0 in all seven of his starts.

In past years, this kind of production is precisely what the Jets and their fans pictured as the level of quarterbacking necessary to flip plenty of losses to wins. Look no further than the 2022 and 2023 seasons, when the Jets had one of the NFL’s best defenses and consistently lost low-scoring games as Zach Wilson botched open throw after open throw. Smith’s worst performance of 2026 so far would have been good enough to win many of Wilson’s losses.

Instead, the Jets are 2-5.

New York’s 2-5 record in spite of Smith’s seven-game streak of competent starts is quite the anomaly for the organization. Over their 15-year playoff drought, the Jets’ primary issue has been the frequency at which they’ve received these types of starts; when they’ve gotten, them, though, they’ve capitalized at a solid rate.

From 2011-25, the Jets enjoyed only 98 games (6.5 per season) in which they posted a team passer rating of 85.0 or better, the second-fewest in the NFL (one more than the Cleveland Browns). However, as long as the Jets cleared that 85.0 passer rating bar, they performed like a playoff team, going 60-38 in those games (.612, pace for 10.4 wins per 17 games).

Yet, here are the 2026 Jets with seven straight games of an 85.0+ passer rating, and they’re 2-5. Based on their consistency in these games over the previous 15 non-playoff seasons, they should be expected to have four wins right now.

What’s the takeaway? That’s up to you. Maybe you think it points to the coaching staff for wasting Smith’s competency. Maybe it speaks to the defense not being as strong as past units. Perhaps the passer rating metric is somewhat overrating Smith’s actual quality of play, which would be a fair argument, as it does not account for his high sack total.

Regardless, the fact of the matter is that the Jets are enjoying the most consistent stretch of quarterbacking they’ve seen over this 15-year playoff drought, and it still hasn’t changed their performance in the standings yet. No matter the explanation, that’s just plain-old sad.