We're required to remind you that these strong takes are SATIRE. Sorry, not sorry. All spelling errors are intentional, we think. -Ed.
I'm not a doctor, but maybe one of you armchair physicins out there can remind me of the part of the song that says "the jawbones connected to the- arm bone."
Go ahead. I'll wait.
In case I missed that anatomy class Im pretty sure you can throw a football to Brandon Marshall just fine if your mouth feels kind of funny. Kanye West recorded a platinum album with his jaw wired shut, and your going to tell me that somehow having a intact jaw is a prerequsite for a job whose description is basicaly shut up and get to work?
Nice try.
By the way, I played alot of football both Madden and High School and not once- never did I miss a practice with a injury. "Suited and booted, coach." Thats what Id say when he'd ask me before a game if I would be ready to play if they needed me to go "Next Man Up" for them. While some of my other teammates were getting taped up, I was getting hyped up- that was allways my philosophy.
Its almost become trendy to have a injury in today's NFL. Just look around the league and at any given second you see a injury report that could very well be a guesed list for a Kardashian wedding. Its got to the point where youve got a bunch of guys claiming to have injuries that I never even heard existed. Heck, I mean "Lis-Franc" sounds more like a wedding I would never be invited to then a owie-boo-boo.
Heres a hint: if you cant explain to me what a injury is in under 2 seconds then you can probably play on it.
Instead of taking this opportunty to impress his new coach and all the fans with his toughness, Geno instead elected to hit the emergency room over the film room even though a broke jaw is like a concusson they will naturaly both heal themselves in a few days sometimes. And guess what? He already cost his team a game last night in the Jets ugly 3-23 loss las night against the Lions.
Heres the thing about cracking the jawbone: its like removing a appendix. Hockey players have been known to sometimes break there own jaws before a big game as a preventative measure just so its one less thing to worry about because if your jaws already broken, you cant break it again.If Smith was on the Winnipeg Jets and tried to pull a stunt like this he'd literaly be on thin ice folks.
In fact, breaking a jaw would probably be a medical advantage for a QB. Just look at nature- a snake breaks its jaw on purpose everytime in eats a meal. Might actualy be a welcome development for a guy whose struggled to get his head far enough around a offense to digest it.
People forget that Jason Witten played with a broken jaw his rookie season as a Tight End. You catch with your hips not with your jaw- But I guess if your a QB whose primary contributions to your team are smacking your gum super loud during the meetings you decide you want to show up for, well then I can see how a broke jaw might put a cramp in your style.
Ive lost my fair share of fights and I can tell you when you have a broken jaw the first thing you do is to pretend like you dont have a broken jaw. You walk it off and say something like, "he broke my inhaler," or "it was a sucker punch" and then you hit up taco bell. It usualy takes me about one and a half cheesy gordita crunces before I admit to being serously injured and check into the ER. I guess I've just got a little bit more pride in myself.. Smith on the other hand got to the hospital supsicously quickly after the incident, like he had this all planned out ahead of time and preprogrammed into his GPS.
You hate to knock a guy for getting punched in the face but lets call it what it is- If Geno Smith was a better leader he would of never put himself in the position of having a brother who had a friend that died in a car accident. The cold hard truth is that Eli Manning would of never missed Bear Pascoe's summer football camp if Papa John was tragically killed by any number of his enemies. Not a chance in hell. Thats the difference between the two New York QBs. And lets just say JPP had used his good hand to punch Eli in the face, you can bet Eli would tape his mouth up and find a way to get out there on week 1.
Heck, I would of punched Geno in his jaw too if he didnt show up with my money plus a little something extra for my troubles on day 1 of training camp. But the only thing Geno has showed any "interest" in is cashing his paycheck and throwing his teammates under the bus by provoking them into assaulting him.
It all starts from the top down with leadership and so far, it looks to me like Todd Bowels is letting the Jets crash & burn in New York so badly that Pete Carrol is starting to wonder if he works for the Bush adminstration.
Now Im not saying that a Katrina or Fukushima needs to happen to New York, but if thats what it takes to truly rebuild this lockeroom well then you have to admit it would all be worth it. But hey maybe I guess Im just old fashion.
So yes, allthough it might not be "PC" I blame Genos abilty for all of this- if you cant play with pain you cant move the chains. Give me one doctor out there to explain to me that having a face injury makes you less accurate on 3rd and long and I will withdrawl my entire argument. But until then- Genos leadership style appears to be "bleed by example"- and with a completion percentage just north of 35% I dont blame him for favoring a more "hands off" approach.