Bill Parcells: Wouldn't have benched Geno Smith for missing meeting
Hall of Fame head coach Bill Parcells said he wouldn’t have benched New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith for missing a team meeting the day before a game. The Jets lost to the San Diego Chargers 31-0.
Smith said that he got mixed up on the times because of the team’s West Coast Trip.
"I don’t think that was a big deal," Parcells said on ESPN New York 98.7 FM. "It was probably an inadvertent mistake, and that can happen every once in a while. And they have fines in place for players that miss meetings. Now, I wouldn’t have liked it, but I don’t think it’s that big a deal."
Smith was benched anyway after he went 4-for-12 for 27 yards with an interception in the first half and was replaced by backup Michael Vick. Vick was 8-for-19 for 47 yards in relief of Smith.
Parcells, who won 172 games and two Super Bowl Championships, doesn’t think that Vick is going to help the team at this point.
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"I certainly don't think (Vick's) the answer to their problems," Parcells said. "I think Mike was a pretty good player for a while, but if you look at his history, it has been just OK, certainly nothing spectacular."
Smith will start when New York plays the Denver Broncos on Sunday. He has completed 58 percent of his passes for 949 yards with four touchdowns and six interceptions this season for the Jets. New York has lost four games in a row.
- Scooby Axson
