Lichtenstein: Clueless Jets Making A Mockery Of QB 'Competition'
By Steve Lichtenstein
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Jets quarterback Josh McCown engineered a touchdown drive on the Jets' opening possession of their first preseason game two weeks ago.
I'm guessing that must not have been part of the game plan. Code name: Tank-athon.
How else can you explain why McCown, the Jets' $6 million free agent acquisition, hasn't taken a single snap since, including during Saturday's 32-31 Snoopy Bowl loss to the Giants?
Even worse, McCown has seen his reps in team drills during practices diminish in favor of Gang Green's younger guns--Christian Hackenberg and Bryce Petty. After one recent workout, the media had some fun reporting that McCown's activities were limited to running gassers, as if he were being punished.
Bowles told the media after Saturday's game that he will make his regular season starting quarterback decision sometime Monday or Tuesday.
In the unlikely event it's Hackenberg, 0-16 is very much in play.
The team would splinter, with a competitive defense stewing that the organization isn't playing its best guy at its most important position. Jets fans should take a sabbatical and pursue alternative weekend diversions.
They might opt to do so anyway, since I am very much aware of McCown's awful ranking among NFL quarterbacks. At his best, the Jets aren't likely to break out of the AFC cellar this season.
But that isn't the point.
This was supposed to be an open competition for the job. Instead, coach Todd Bowles, possibly following orders from above, set it up to be about as open as a Russian presidential election.
Bowles started Hackenberg for a second consecutive week on Saturday despite no evidence that the reach from the second round of the 2016 draft had earned that right.
Against a very talented Giants defense and operating with an overwhelmed offensive line (Pro Football Focus darling right tackle Brandon Shell was manhandled by Giants end Jason Pierre-Paul in the first half) and a pathetic receiving corps, Hackenberg had no chance to succeed.
By halftime, the Giants defense outscored their own offense, 16-13. The Jets, meanwhile, got one lousy field goal.
Hey, you can't keep Hackenberg off the scoreboard 35 possessions in a row.
In his two quarters against the Giants' first string, Hackenberg went 8-for-15 for 60 yards with two interceptions that were both returned for touchdowns. This after a 2-for-6, 14-yard debacle in the first half in Detroit the prior week.
Hackenberg hasn't even been good since his freshman season at Penn State in 2013. He basically needed to be Tebow-ed when he turned pro, re-training everything from his footwork to his throwing form.
And he's still nowhere near ready to lead an NFL team. Anyone following this club closely could have come to that conclusion before Bowles handed him the keys to the preseason.
I would argue Hackenberg should be behind Petty, who tossed three touchdown passes against the Giants backups before his late fourth-quarter knee injury gave Hackenberg the opportunity to get within a missed two-point conversion of a full comeback. Adam Schefter of ESPN reported that Sunday's MRI of Petty's knee revealed a less-severe Grade 1 MCL sprain and that he was hopeful of playing on Thursday in the preseason finale against the Eagles.
The first half of the third exhibition is supposed to be the most like a dry run for the games that will count. Few, if any, starters play in the last one.
So now that Hackenberg has proven his unsuitability for the prime-time gig, the 38-year-old McCown, if he's so selected, will go into Week 1 with just that one series under his belt.
Bowles downgraded its significance in his postgame remarks.
"(McCown) has played in a lot of preseason games," Bowles said.
Not with this new team, playing under a new system installed by its new offensive coordinator. With limited reps to date in team drills (he reportedly played one snap with the starters last week).
Who conducts their football business like this?
I get that the Jets are in a rebuilding mode, and there is a case to be made that the organization needs to see what Hackenberg is. There's no better time than the preseason to do it.
But not at the full expense of the offense, particularly one like the West Coast system that is predicated on timing.
In an interview with ESPN, McCown said, "We have a plan ... and I understood going into it what the plan was."
So did General Custer.
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