Geno Smith suffers broken jaw after punch, out 6-10 weeks

New York Jets third-year quarterback Geno Smith was sucker-punched in the team locker room today, suffered a broken jaw and will be out for the next six to ten weeks. Ben Shpigel of the New York Times reported the shocking story.

Shpigel later reproted that Smith was punched by linebacker IK Enemkpali, who has since been released from the team. Naturally, Jets first-year head coach Todd Bowles was not pleased and offered a brief statement.

This means that unless Smith gets cleared to play sooner rather than later, the Jets are going to have to go with one of two people at quarterback as the season begins: veteran game manager Ryan Fitzpatrick or rookie and former Baylor Bear Bryce Petty.

Granted, Smith isn’t a tremendously devastating loss for the Jets, as he owns a career record of 11-18 and threw for 5,571 yards with 25 touchdowns and 34 interceptions across his first two seasons. He is also prone to fumbling the ball, which drew the ire of many Jets fans, and his production has been so inconsistent to the point where he was benched in favor of Michael Vick last season.

But the fact of the matter is that this was a season where Smith was in a position to do well in offensive coordinator Chan Gailey’s spread offense, and he will now be on the shelf for an extended period of time because of a silly locker room fight. If either Fitzpatrick or Petty plays well in his absence, there’s every possibility that Smith will be looking for a new team in the near future.

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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports

Jermaine Jones: People think Cristiano is arrogant, but he is a really nice guy
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