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Geno Smith, not Ryan Fitzpatrick, expected to be New York Jets' starting QB

If you were hoping to see Rex Ryan's Bills defense take on Chan Gailey and Ryan Fitzpatrick's Jets this season, Gailey himself dealt a devastating blow to that idea on Wednesday.

By Brian Galliford
Alex Goodlett/Getty Images

The New York Jets made some waves in Western New York earlier this offseason by adding the talents of two former Buffalo Bills notables to their offense: former Bills head coach Chan Gailey is now the Jets' offensive coordinator, and the team also flipped a late draft pick to Houston for the rights to quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Naturally, there was some thought that Gailey and Fitzpatrick - who worked together in Buffalo from 2010-12 - would be the Jets' chosen play-caller and quarterback combination for the 2015 season. But speaking with Jets beat reporters on Wednesday, Gailey instead noted that a quarterback competition was never a thought, while doing everything short of officially naming Geno Smith the team's starting quarterback.

It would not have been surprising, necessarily, that the Jets would back the younger, more athletically gifted quarterback in a competition. But the fact that the team washed its hands of a competition on May 20 is a bit of an eye-opener, especially given Gailey's familiarity with Fitzpatrick.

Gailey is widely credited for turning Fitzpatrick into a valued veteran quarterback commodity, and was the coach behind Fitzpatrick's strongest years in Buffalo, including a seven-game stretch at the start of the 2011 season that netted the Harvard product an Offensive Player of the Month award and a $60 million contract extension.

Fitzpatrick, however, appears to be playing second fiddle to Smith, and Gailey has his work cut out for him turning Smith into a viable NFL quarterback. Smith is 1-2 in three career starts against the Bills; let's run through all four of his appearances against Buffalo in his two professional seasons.

Week 3, 2013: Smith completed 16-of-29 passes for two touchdowns and two interceptions, adding a rushing score as well, in a 23-20 win in New Jersey. Take out his stat line throwing toward infamous Bills cornerback Justin Rogers (6-of-9, 254 yards, two touchdowns), and that stat line looks much more pedestrian (10-of-20, 77 yards, two interceptions).

Week 11, 2013: In a blowout, 37-14 loss at the hands of the Bills, Smith completed 8-of-23 passes for 103 yards, with no touchdowns, three interceptions, a lost fumble, and four sacks taken. He was benched in this game in favor of Matt Simms.

Week 8, 2014: For a second consecutive start against Buffalo, Smith is unceremoniously benched. This time, it only took eight throws (and two sacks taken) for the plug to be pulled; Smith completed 2-of-8 passes for five (5) yards with three interceptions in the first quarter of a 43-23 blowout Bills win.

Week 12, 2014: In mop-up duty during the second half of a third straight blowout Bills win (38-3) in Detroit, Smith - spelling Michael Vick - cobbles together a stat line of 10-of-12 passing for 89 yards, with two sacks taken, against Buffalo's reserve defenders.

Godspeed, Coach Gailey - especially with Rex Ryan looking for a bit of revenge against his former employers. Unless, of course, Smith can't hang on to that starting gig through the first Bills-Jets date of 2015, which occurs on the evening of November 12 on Thursday Night Football.

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