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On Saturday night, Geno Smith and others missed a team meeting. It's reported that Walt Powell was one of the other offenders, but it isn't clear if there were others. Apparently, Smith arrived a few minutes after the meeting ended, in time for two other meetings. Here's the story:
Team spokesman said Geno got times confused and arrived 5-10 minutes after meeting ended. Covered info with Marty and QB coach Sat. Night
— Brian Costello (@BrianCoz) October 6, 2014
Team spokesman said this was first time Geno ever missed a meeting #nyj
— Brian Costello (@BrianCoz) October 6, 2014
Per source, the Jets stayed on East Coast time, so usual 8 pm meeting was at 5, leading to confusion. Not an excuse, but some context.
— Brian Costello (@BrianCoz) October 6, 2014
People in organization I have spoken to don't seem to think it was a big deal. They understand what happened. #nyj
— Brian Costello (@BrianCoz) October 6, 2014
Mangold on Geno missing meeting: "We all make mistakes." Says he doesn't expect it to happen again. #nyj
— Brian Costello (@BrianCoz) October 6, 2014
Geno: "I counted down, instead of up." on the time screwup. #nyj
— Brian Costello (@BrianCoz) October 6, 2014
Geno: "It was an honest mistake." Says again that he felt really bad about it. #nyj
— Brian Costello (@BrianCoz) October 6, 2014
Geno said he had no cell service in the movies. Realized he was missing the meeting during the movie and left. #nyj
— Brian Costello (@BrianCoz) October 6, 2014
If the organization was upset with Geno, would he have started Sunday and been named the starter again this week after playing terribly?
— Brian Costello (@BrianCoz) October 6, 2014
The short version is that the team's meeting was for East Coast time, Smith and the others saw the time on his phone was West Coast time, and got confused. Smith obviously shouldn't be making these mistakes, especially as the leader of the offense. When your teammates are going out of their way to stick up for you, you can't let them down like this. That said, I believe this was an honest mistake and that it won't happen again. It goes without saying that this isn't why the team got utterly destroyed yesterday by the San Diego Chargers.