Breaking Down Geno Smith's Preseason Debut

Geno Smith debuted this past Friday against the Detroit Lions. He had some time with the first team, ultimately going 6 for 7 for 47 yards before exiting the game with a minor ankle injury. Smith was limited in what he was asked to do, attempting only four passes in his first two drives. Smith was not helped by an ineffective run game, which stifled the two drives considerably. Let's take a look at those first two drives:

First Drive

Second Drive

Edit: This last GIF is somewhat screwed up. I misstated my intention here in the second caption. When Smith, or any other quarterback, stares down a receiver, the cornerback will usually read that and make a play on the ball. A good cornerback would deflect this, a great one would intercept it. As this is some scrub, he settles for the tackle. In the caption, I stated that this particular cornerback read the play, which is plainly mistaken. I meant that, more generally, a cornerback should be easily reading it.

Positives:

• Showed an ability to go through his progressions.
• His footwork looks much improved, which was one of his biggest weaknesses.
• Was able to sense pressure and buy himself more time.
• Delivered the ball accurately, on time.
• Released the ball quickly.

Negatives:

• Threw one inaccurate pass to Bilal Powell.
• Didn't appear to see a defender stand up, which caused the tipped pass.
• Stared down a receiver once.

On the whole, I'm satisfied with Smith's first performance. He wasn't asked to do much, but he did it effectively, and most importantly, accurately (with the one exception to Powell).