Jets QB Bryce Petty says playing in game 'not much different' than practice

Bryce Petty stood by his locker with a notebook tucked under his left arm after a practice this week. He smiled and cracked a playful joke about a teammate. He carried himself like a man at ease.

For weeks now, the Jets' fan base has been clamoring for Petty — a second-year quarterback out of Baylor — to get his shot as the starting quarterback. With each interception Ryan Fitzpatrick throws — so far, a league-high 13 — the cries for action become louder.

But the man in the center of all that isn't worried about when his shot may or may not come. He's just happy to have a locker.

"Oh, shoot, for me it's kind of irrelevant," Petty said of the prospect of potentially running the Jets' offense. "My whole deal is it's whatever the team needs, control what you can control and not get too high, not let it get too low.

"But it's hard to say that it's not exciting to be at this point," Petty continued, "considering I was kind of [on] the bubble there of making the team, or not. So I don't take it for granted."

Petty will make his first start for the Jets on Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams, the team announced Sunday morning. Fitzpatrick will be his back-up.

Just a few months ago, the prospect of Petty starting this season seemed impossible.

He suffered a shoulder injury during the final preseason game, and seemingly was in danger of being cut. But the Jets elected to keep four quarterbacks, including Petty. The shoulder healed, after more than a month of missed practices. And now, Petty is on the verge of perhaps running the offense.

A year ago, Petty wouldn't have been ready for this opportunity. He didn't leave the preseason of 2015, his rookie year, with a ton of confidence.

"Last year, I had so many things going through my mind," Petty said. "It was kind of a whirlwind. This year, things slowed down."

It showed in a solid preseason. But a lot of that work was undone because of Petty's shoulder injury in the finale. Petty didn't return to regular-season practice until mid-October. Petty has worked hard to make up for that lost time. But is he all the way caught up?

"Once you lose it, it's hard to catch it up in a short period of time," offensive coordinator Chan Gailey said. "That's probably a gray-area question. It's close, but I don't know if it's 100 percent, but it's close."

Petty's development been accelerated since Geno Smith tore his ACL last month. This will now be the third straight game that Petty has prepared as the backup, which means increased reps at practice. And with Fitzpatrick banged up this week, he and Petty split the reps — the most practice Petty has gotten as a pro.

"It's not just looking a game plan on a desk in anymore, you actually get to see it which is big," Petty said. "So every time I get out there I'm getting better and more comfortable and more confident with things, so let it ride."

Petty even got to take that onto the field last week in Miami. He played four snaps when Fitzpatrick was injured, completing both his passes.

"There's an expression you probably can't say, but yeah you kind of burst your bubble, there," Petty said. "I went out there in Miami and I was like, 'Oh, this is not a whole lot different [than in practice]."

Andy Vasquez writes for The Record in Bergen County, N.J.