New York Jets: Time for Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg

If the starter is out, it’s time for the New York Jets to play both Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg.

Sunday afternoon, the New York Jets took it on the chin to say the least. They were outplayed on offense, defense and special teams. Otherwise they put together a splendid outing against the Denver Broncos. 23-0 is barely indicative of how the game went. It could have been 43-0 the way the Jets played. The game was absolutely that bad.

The worst of what came out of the game was the Josh McCown situation. Not only did he hurt his hip early in the game, he broke his left hand in the second half. According to Rich Cimini of ESPN, he will be getting a second opinion and that will determine his fate for the season. This season has meant so much to McCown that he was overcome with emotion during his post game press conference.

It’s not hard to understand why McCown was so taken aback on Sunday. He is in the midst of the season of his life. He has set personal highs across the stats board. McCown has been the perfect leader for this offense. At 38 years old this is likely his very last chance to be an important starter in this league. As well as he has played, he is not about to parlay it into some sort of mega contract. The injury, the team has announced, has ended his season.

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Bryce Petty made his debut against the Broncos and admittedly he wasn’t sharp. 2-9 for 14 yards was not the debut he or anyone else was hoping for. But it is difficult to expect much more from a guy that hasn’t played in months and doesn’t get many reps in practice either. He may be a pro but not getting any practice time affects them too.

As mentioned earlier, we have learned the fate of McCown’s season. He has to shut it down due to the broken hand. It is time will be time for Todd Bowles to bite the bullet and play both of the young quarterbacks.

That’s right, both of them. That’s Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg. Without McCown, it’s THEIR turn.

We know that Todd Bowles has explained how he really has no interest in playing either of these two. He reiterated that fact during the week leading up to the Broncos game. During the game, I observed that it almost seemed like Bowles didn’t want Petty to succeed based on the plays being called. The multiple Bilal Powell draw plays seemed to indicate as much.

McCown is finished, however, so that all needs to change. Both of these men deserve the chance to play. They have patiently waited their turn without so much as a peep. Petty knows what he did in the preseason, yet he does the right thing when McCown is given the job. Despite all of the negativity, Hackenberg waits in the wings. Let’s see what these two players have learned. Bowles needs to leave room for the possibility that he is wrong about one or both of them. The offseason holds no guarantees. If one of these two has ANY potential that needs to be fleshed out now.

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Even if Bowles and the entire regime is convinced that these two players are worthless, they still should play in the final portion of the season. McCown is out, these two have earned the right to put something on tape. Even if the Jets find the both of them utterly useless that doesn’t mean they give up the right to continue their careers elsewhere. Other teams might disagree. Give them a chance to put out some tape for other scouts to view. It’s only fair, as they have been loyal soldiers.

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