When the Jets drafted Geno Smith in the second round this past April, it was a dream come true for Stephen Hill literally.
The second-year wide receiver was home watching the draft, saw the Jets select Smith and then dozed off. When he woke up a few minutes later, he couldn’t remember if the Smith selection had actually happened.
“I thought I was dreaming, for a minute. I saw it, and then I went asleep,” Hill recalled. “I woke up, and I was like, ‘We drafted a quarterback… right?’ My fiancé was like, ‘Yeah.’
“‘We drafted Geno? For real?,'” he said afterward.”I thought it was a dream. It was a good one.”
For Hill, the reality of a young receiver partnering up with a young quarterback is better than he could have imagined. Hill made three catches for 108 yards, including a beautifully thrown 54-yard TD pass from Smith, in the Jets’ 27-20 win over the Bills on Sunday. That performance has not only fired up Hill, it’s given the organization hope Smith can be the Jets’ franchise quarterback.
“Oh yeah definitely. Especially when he first came in, I was… definitely looking ahead. Especially because JK’s (Jeremy Kerley) still here,” Hill said. “Yeah, we got a young quarterback. Hopefully he can get that chance to start, which he got now. Now, we’re just looking forward to him keeping it up. He’s doing a good job.
“He wants to be the franchise quarterback, so we’re definitely behind him with that. We got more years with him, so this is good.”
When told of Hill’s scenario, Smith preferred not to dream, but live in the now.
“You don’t want to look too far ahead,” Smith said. “We’re young guys, we’re unproven players, but we’d rather come out and practice and prove it in practice.”
The optimism surrounding Smith comes from his ability to throw the deep ball — especially in Sunday’s win.
That vertical passing game is what Rex Ryan imagined when, at the conclusion of last season, he said he wanted the offense to mirror the Jets’ aggressive defensive style. The coach claimed Wednesday that Marty Mornhinweg’s downfield approach was exactly what he was looking for.
“Absolutely,” Ryan said. “Hey, we’re going to attack you with the run, but if you stick ’em all down there, that’s going to allow us to have some one-on-one opportunities on the outside and we’re absolutely going to take shots down the field.”