Not a "Rookie" Mistake

In the last exhibition game that they played, which was against the cross-town rival New York Giants, the New York Jets were still struggling with their quarterback lineup.  Not exactly inspiring the greatest confidence in the world, their quarterback for the past few years, Mark Sanchez, had a good enough preseason for coach Rex Ryan to announce him as the starter for this upcoming regular season.  Rookie Geno Smith, who many had touted as being the better quarterback, didn't do so well and was regulated to backup.  Sanchez played the first part of the Giants game while Smith came in later for the second half.  The Jets found themselves up 14-13 when they got the ball deep in their own territory, by their own goal line.  Smith went back to pass and, scrambling in the backfield, inadvertently stepped out of the back of his own end zone, causing a safety and giving the Giants a 15-14 lead.  Coach Ryan was evidently so miffed at this that he took Smith out of the game on the next series and put in his starter Sanchez...who subsequently suffered a shoulder injury in this essentially meaningless game.  Ryan came under a lot of criticism for his decision to play Sanchez, but to me saying and doing boneheaded things is what this dude is all about.  What bothered me about it all is what a (probably well-paid) football analyst on TV said about Geno Smith's safety: he called it a "rookie mistake".

I don't know how to play rugby, folks.  I'm sure the rules are such that if I were out on the field during a game, I would be lost as to what I should be doing.  But even with my profound ignorance about this sport, I already know, without having ever played it for even a minute, that I probably don't want to step out of bounds around my own goal while holding the ball.  Geno Smith was the class of the high school football world as a quarterback, which enabled him to attend a major college like West Virginia, where he succeeded so well that he was drafted as a top prospect into the National Football League.  After all these years of him practically living football, I think that he already knew that you don't step out of your own end zone holding the football!  He just made a mistake...don't we all from time to time.  But it had nothing to do with being a "rookie": they have end zones even in neighborhood sandlot games that little kids play!

It's true that as one progresses within a sport to a more advanced level, the tempo picks up and the strategies are more complicated, putting additional mental stress on the player.  But when a player who happens to be a freshman in college or a first-year rookie in the pros makes an error, it is often a simple lapse of judgement or perception and has nothing to do with lack of experience.  For announcers and analysts to throw out the "rookie/freshman mistake" line in these instances just makes me want to groan (and change the channel)...