G-E-N-O

The Return to NY

Having been born in the Bronx, NY, then growing up in northern New Jersey (ironically in the town of Florham Park, but before it became the home of Jets), and having a father who worked for Prudential and whose job involved entertaining clients at the Meadowlands stadium, I had the distinctive experience of being able to root for BOTH the Jets and Giants in the early to mid 1980s, which was a great time for both franchises.

By being able to be a Giants fan also, I’ve managed to be able to root for the “J-E-T-S, Jets! Jets! Jets!” and follow their trajectory, yet not suffer the way their “true” fans do. Call me a fair-weather fan, I can take it.

And now as an overall supporter of QBs, I can’t help root for Geno Smith in his return to the Jets. How can you not root for him, actually? Especially when you read this story from

about Smith’s return to NY, and how he has talked about the franchise and its people previously:

“Before the Jets played the Seahawks in 2024 — a game Seattle won — Smith said of the Jets: “I’ve always had tremendous love and respect for that organization. Obviously, the team that drafted me gave me a chance out of the gate. A lot of great people there — some people that I was there with, a lot of those people are now gone. So as far as the whole revenge thing, that’s not on my mind. Like I said, man, there’s a lot of great people in that city that I still talk to and I still love and (who) still support me…”

Geno In the Red Zone

From the article, the most powerful “Red Zone” angles are the ones where the story gives you vivid before/after contrast (young Geno vs. mature Geno) and where there’s a clean takeaway for QBs beyond football as well. Here are some:

Resilience
This is the spine of the whole piece: jaw injury/booing/ACL → years in the wilderness → Pro Bowls → now another reset coming. And it’s a long-arc comeback story, not just a one-season bounce-back. Just like most areas of life will require.

Humility
His quote about sitting for the first time since childhood, reflecting, and becoming more selfless is powerful. It’s also a highly transferable lesson to life after football.

Building Relationships 
A reunion only works if relationships weren’t burned beyond repair. Geno’s “love and respect” for people there, even after a rough exit, is a powerful professional principle: protect relationships even when chapters end badly.

Focus 
The “next game” mindset amidst navigating “outside narratives” (revenge, reunion, old mistakes) is very QB-specific and very life-relevant: don’t live in someone else’s storyline; focus on the work.

What other QB Connections Red Zone Essential Strengths and Skills do you notice?

A True Believer

Coach Pete Carroll, who coached Smith in Seattle from 2019 to 2023, and then traded for him again with the Raiders, is still very much a believer:

"He's a phenomenal quarterback, he really is," Carroll said.

See for Yourself

Some highlights from Geno’s early days with the Jets.

So, I will for sure be rooting for G-E-N-O. Hope you can do the same.

P.S. Update on Sevens

We have begun the process of forming an initial batch of Sevens groups, and are setting up calls with the proposed leaders of those groups, to gather their initial ideas and form the initial rosters.

More to come, but the process has begun!

Thanks!

Vin