BY NICK ST. DENIS
Geno Smith's draft stock might have dropped a bit due to his then-percieved lackadaisical demeanor. The New York Jets can only consider themselves so lucky.
Smith, who the Jets scooped up in the second round in April, has started every game of his rookie season and has helped Gang Green to a 5-4 start. He's done so showing very little emotion, just going about his business through win and loss, through touchdown and turnover.
Smith isn't disinterested. He's just a mellow guy.
"He is the calmest guy," Jets quarterbacks coach David Lee said this week, via ESPN New York. "I mean, he goes out in pregame warmups, he's calm. We come in, beat New England, he's just as calm as can be. I just wanted to slap him, and say, 'Hey, we won.'
"He's really calm, and that's a great trait to have as a quarterback with the pressure that's on all these games."
The tranquility Smith shows before, during and after games is a far cry from what we're used to seeing from former Jets starting quarterback Mark Sanchez, who wore his heart on his sleeve.
Over the past four seasons, when the Jets scored a touchdown, Sanchez was the most excited player on the field. When they turned it over -- almost always because of his own doing -- he was visibly distraught, and it showed throughout the remainder of games.
What's ironic about the comparison between the two franchise-quarterback hopefuls is the fact that Sanchez was virtually never challenged for his job, even as recently as this summer, but he always lived and died with every play.
Meanwhile, Smith is the clear-cut future of the team at the position, yet neither coach Rex Ryan nor general manager John Idzik has been willing to publicly to commit to Smith past the coming week. But that doesn't mean they don't admire Smith's attitude.
"You're getting to know the Geno that we know and that we live with on a daily basis," Idzik said Monday, via NewYorkJets.com. "He's a very even-keeled guy. He doesn't take the highs too high and the lows too low, which I think is very critical for that position. He's handled that extremely well."
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