Geno Smith outshines Matty Ice as Jets shock Falcons

New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith (7) runs the ball in the first half against the Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome.(Photo Daniel Shirey USA TODAY Sports)

Story HighlightsAtlanta's rally falls short as Nick Folk's 43 yard FG on game's final play lifts New York 30 28Rookie QB Geno Smith was 16 of 20 for 199 yards and three TDs in moving Jets to 3 2Falcons (1 4) are now mired in their longest losing streak since 2007

ATLANTA There was a reason Rex Ryan held his fire with the rookie quarterback Geno Smith after his horrendous play against the Tennessee Titans last week when Smith committed four turnovers in a 38 13 loss.

The New York Jets head coach knew that if he had harshly criticized his quarterback who turns 23 on Thursday the kid's confidence might have been smothered perhaps for the rest of the season.

BOX SCORE Jets 30 Falcons 28

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Instead Smith was told by Ryan among others to keep slinging to keep some juice to his game to not go into a shell and to play loose. Smith called it playing without a conscience and look what happened.

On the Georgia Dome turf where the Atlanta Falcons Matt Ryan is usually the master of the comeback Smith redeemed himself for last week's poor play. He took the Jets from their 20 yard line with 1 minute 54 seconds to play to the Falcons' 25 yard line and Nick Folk kicked a 43 yard field goal as time expired as the Jets stunned the Falcons 30 28.

Smith completed 16 of 20 passes for 199 yards and three touchdowns and zero interceptions. He was sacked four times for 29 yards in losses but he had a firm grip on the ball whenever he went down. When he ran for a first down on the final drive he hustled straight out of bounds and did not try the rookie thing of squirming for more yards and risking a fumble.

I needed to adjust my mentality coming into this game Smith said. I made it my duty to not put us in harm's way to not have stupid penalties turnovers anything that can jeopardize this team.

Smith who had apologized to each member of the defense for his play last week was so impressive right guard Willie Colon wanted to anoint the first year player from West Virginia as a first round pick. Smith was a second round pick in 2013 but does it matter following this He gave a glimpse that he has the tools to be a successful NFL quarterback and that's all that matters.

Colon said there was no Disney moment at the start of the drive where the quarterback declares for future generations that it is do or die and get on my back and I will win it for us. There was nothing like that but there was a Brady moment or Manning moment when Smith came to the line like a veteran quarterback in the clutch and changed a play that paid off on the last drive.

The Jets faced third and 3 at the Atlanta 31 yard line when Smith saw the Falcons selling out at the line to perhaps get a play for a loss to prevent an easy field goal. Smith changed the play and handed to running back Bilal Powell who went off left tackle for a 6 yard gain to the Atlanta 25.

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As soon as we got to the line they had basically everyone at the line trying to keep us out of field goal range. It was just best for us to go opposite of what they had called Smith said.

A quarterback who had been screamed at and belittled might have just done the cautious thing and run the play that was called and risked a five yard loss or no gain and made things harder for the kicker. Smith was confident that he knew what he was doing and audibled.

Marty (Mornhinweg) (quarterbacks) coach (David) Lee Rex everyone has complete confidence in me. That's great to have guys like that on your side with the way that I've played the last couple of weeks. They told me to go out there and let it up and play with no conscious.

The Falcons looked finish with 2 07 to play when a fourth down pass was batted down inside the Jets 5. But the Jets were called for defensive holding and Atlanta had a first down at the 4. Two plays later Ryan threw a three yard touchdown pass to tight end Levine Toilolo and the Falcons led 28 27.

But Smith didn't blink. He drove the Jets to the winning points.

Ryan completed 36 of 45 passes for 319 yards. Tight end Tony Gonzalez hauled in 10 receptions for 97 yards and became just the second player in NFL history to catch a pass in 200 consecutive games trailing only Jerry Rice (274). Julio Jones had eight catches for 99 yards.

The Falcons who trailed 17 7 at halftime left the field to boos at the break. They had a fourth down at the Jets 1 on the last play of the half and shunned the field goal and tried to run it in but Jacquizz Rodgers was smothered for no gain. Those lost points would come back to haunt the Falcons thanks to Smith's performance.

He's a rookie Atlanta safety William Moore said and we make him look like a 10 year veteran.

It's always a dream of mine since I was a kind to be situations like that to take my team down and get a last second field goal or touchdown Smith said. Not second guessing myself not going out there and overthinking things just going out there and playing. If you make a decision live with it just know it's the right decision.

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