Apparently, there is a version of Geno Smith that doesn’t throw interceptions, and is good enough to lead the New York Jets on a game-winning drive, putting the team once again above .500, a situation very few people thought they’d be in at this point of the season.

Smith let the Jets on a 1:54 long drive that advanced them 56 yards so Nick Folk could kick the winning field goal, handing the Atlanta Falcons, the most disappointing team of the season, their third consecutive loss, 28-30.

As the Falcons seasons keep going from Super Bowl contenders into one of the worst teams in the NFC for a multitude of reasons, Geno Smith finally had the big game Jets fans rarely see from their quarterbacks. He completed 16 of his 20 passes for 199 yards, throwing three touchdown passes, finishing with a passer rating of 147.7. He is only the third quarterback in Jets franchise history to throw 3 TDs and have an 80 percent completion rate in a game, the others being Chad Pennington and Ken O’Brien.

The Jets didn’t play brilliant football, they simply can’t. But they have a good enough defense, and they faced an opponent that lacks just about enough confidence to put them over, with Nick Folk kicking three field goals, including the clutch last one, and receivers Jeff Cumberland, Jeremy Kerley and Kellen Winslow caught the touchdown passes.

There aren’t going to be any big numbers from the Jets this season when it comes to individual performances. They don’t have the talent pool for that. And still their running crew gained 118 yards on 22 carries, compared to another awful performance from the Falcons, running for only 64 yards on the same amount of attempts.

But if Smith isn’t going to have explosive games, the least he can do is pull off these kind of calm, composed and most importantly winning drives, completing all four passes attempt on it for 37 yards and scrambling himself for a first down on second and 1 for 8 yards.

Always calm, since I was a kid. To be in that situation, to take my team down and get a field goal or touchdown. It’s great to come away with a victory.

The Jets got to Matt Ryan only twice, but they made him fumble the ball on one of those plays, resulting in another field goal for the Jets, putting them six points above the Falcons at that point. Atlanta did come charging back with two touchdown passes to get the lead again, after already falling into a 13-point hole, but things just don’t seem to be going their way this season.

No one thinks the Jets are a good, or playoff team, but they’re in the picture for now, even though they still have to play the Patriots again, hopefully this time looking a little bit less embarrassing. With a defense that just might be the best in the NFL against the run (allowing 76.2 yards per game), as long as Geno Smith avoids multiple interception games and the Jets keep it mostly conservative on offense, there’s a shot that this season ends with the same kind of optimistic feeling they have right now spreading through the organization.

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