Steve Serby
The first one was a recurring nightmare, a Deja Boo moment Jets Nation has come to expect from Mark Sanchez, a panic-stricken pick-six on a screen pass while backpedaling away from an angry Lions predator on his first series.
The second nightmare was far worse.
Geno Smith, starting his fourth series early in the third quarter, scrambled out of the pocket to his left, trying to be Colin Kaepernick maybe. He made a sharp cut, slipped on the turf and rolled his right ankle. When he got up, he got up limping, and because he felt pain, he signaled to the sideline and hobbled off. In came Greg McElroy.
AP
FALSE START: After stoking the hopes of Jets fans with his work in practice, quarterback Geno Smith's NFL debut was interrupted by a twisted ankle.
AP
Geno Smith
"I was in complete disbelief. ... I was just hoping that it wasn't anything significant," Smith said, "which it isn't."
It is significant enough to give Sanchez a sudden leg up in the quarterback competition.
Closing on midnight after Lions 26, Jets 17 at Ford Field in Detroit, Geno Smith limped gingerly on his sore ankle out of the visiting locker room to a podium in an adjacent interview room.
"I fully expect to heal up pretty quickly," Smith said.
How quickly he heals up is anyone's guess. He was heartened by the X-rays.
"No breaks, no fractures or anything," Smith said.
But it would be folly to expose the future of the franchise to harm's way just for the sake of winning a quarterback competition.
Smith wanted it known he had informed the trainers he intends to return to practice tomorrow, that if this had been a regular-season game, he would have sucked it up and played.
"I'm the type of guy, I'm not going to walk off that field unless they pull me off it," he said.
Nothing had been decided to that point. Sanchez (10-for-13, 125 yards, one TD, one INT) hadn't lost the job, then Smith didn't win it.
Before he went down, Smith (6-for-7, 47 yards) had failed to deliver that wow moment that could have changed the narrative of this quarterback competition and given long-suffering Jets fans a chance to dream.
"I think I played exceptionally well," Smith said.
Smith entered early in the second quarter after Sanchez had engineered a touchdown for both sides — one to Lions first-round pick Ziggy Ansah, one to tight end Jeff Cumberland.
Smith's read option didn't work, he didn't take any shots down the field, and he didn't get anywhere near the Lions end zone.
"I think he did all right," Sanchez said.
Once upon a time, Sanchez was the Chosen One. That was before the buttfumble, before the butt video, before the two AFC Championship games, before the color codes, before the hot dog on the sideline, before Jets West, before Eva Longoria, before the bare chest in GQ magazine, before the sliding lesson from Joe Girardi, before the conflict with Santonio Holmes, before the 52 turnovers in two seasons — 52 reasons why John Idzik is the general manager and Mike Tannenbaum is not, 52 reasons why Smith was drafted in the second round.
Fifty-two reasons why it is now Smith who is viewed as the symbol of hope for a franchise crying out for a new franchise quarterback.
"Geno handled himself real well," Kellen Winslow said, "real calm, like I knew he would be."
The kid promised he had no butterflies.
"I just feel like he was poised," D'Brickashaw Ferguson said.
Mark Sanchez vs. Geno Smith is the fear of the known vs. the fear of the unknown.
Jets fans fear the known more than they fear the unknown.
Give Sanchez credit for showing resilience by directing a seven-play, 80-yard drive on which he was 6-for-6 for 83 yards and a 26-yard TD strike to Cumberland. He was decisive and accurate and very much in command every step of the way after his Beavis and Butthead start.
"You can't let 'em see you sweat," Sanchez said. "Crappy plays like that are going to happen."
Maybe Sanchez can build on it. Maybe Marty Mornhinweg will make him better. But how much better? The pick-six is a sobering reminder of what a maddening quarterback he can be. How many Jets fans assaulted their TVs after Sanchez made it Lions 7, Jets 0? Shouldn't there be a zero-tolerance policy on that kind of ineptitude?
"Just not the way you want to start," Sanchez said.
Just not the way Jets fans want to start the season. It looks like Deja Boo all over again.
steve.serby@nypost.com
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