Geno Smith sucker punch is first test for Jets head coach Todd Bowles

One punch changed a season for Geno Smith, Ikemefuna Enemkpali and the New York Jets. One sucker punch, the Jets said.

“I was really shocked to hear about it, because Ike was a quiet guy, a hard-working guy who hardly said much,” said Michael Vick, a Jets quarterback last season who is a free agent now training in Davie, Fla., hoping for his next NFL shot.

“It is a really unfortunate situation for both of them,” Vick told SB Nation. “I will talk to Geno at some point.”

Well, the Jets need a quarterback. Will Vick get a call?

“I don’t know about that one,” Vick said. He laughed, but it was clear that he was not amused.

For the Jets, little is amusing about losing their starting quarterback after an Enemkpali punch on Tuesday morning in the locker room broke Smith’s jaw. Surgery is required, and Smith is expected to miss as many as 10 weeks, maybe more.

A Jets player confirmed, requesting anonymity, that Enemkpali was upset with Smith over his failure to repay a $600 plane ticket for a charity event that Smith failed to attend. Enemkpali wanted reimbursement and that helped fuel the altercation.

Jets coach Todd Bowles called it “something very childish that sixth graders could have talked about.”

The dollars in question do not match the huge costs for the Jets.

Smith -- a third-year quarterback and a player the Jets spent a 2013 second-round pick on -- lost his chance for valuable growth from this season’s start. The Jets lost a huge chance to possibly turn the corner on their investment in him at the season’s start.

Enemkpali was immediately cut.

Ryan Fitzpatrick, now with his sixth NFL team, was named the starter and will have to rush back from his offseason injuries and surgery to play fast and now. Rookie Bryce Petty was just shoved onto a faster learning curve, and the Jets must sign a veteran backup quarterback for depth.

And the franchise, no matter how they slice it, is once again in upheaval and turmoil. These things were supposed to subside when former general manager John Idzik and coach Rex Ryan were replaced by new general manager Mike Maccagnan and Bowles.

Enemkpali was arrested in 2011 while at Louisiana Tech and charged with battery on an undercover police officer. The charge was reduced to simple battery and he received probation before the Jets drafted him in the sixth round last year.

He described the incident as “just being young” and “a hot-headed decision,” adding, “I didn’t think about everything ... if I knew what I know now I would have gotten myself out of that situation” and “I lost my cool.”

This was more public from the start, first inside the Jets locker room and then outside of it for the world to digest. Enemkpali, through his agent, has issued an apology to Smith, the Jets and others.

Bowles said you always have “a bunch of side issues with a team.” And though he made it clear that Enemkpali paid the ultimate price by being booted, he said that “it takes two to tango.”

That suggests the Jets believe that Smith might have been able to diffuse the situation. It says the Jets expect their starting quarterback to be able to manage situations with teammates more effectively.

Even Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis said, “I hold both of them responsible.”

Smith has his doubters in the Jets locker room over his play and leadership, but how can you fault him for being punched in the face? The Jets were already questioning if he can play like a high-caliber quarterback. Now they’re questioning if he has the makeup, the moxie to truly lead an entire locker room for seasons to come.

I say if you are going to ask some of those questions about Smith, you have to ask them about Bowles.

Maybe the Jets eventually move to a place where they conclude Enemkpali was a loose cannon and it was simply a matter of time before circumstance met temper ending with an explosion.

But this chaos is a reflection of Bowles. It is his team. He is a rookie head coach. He sets the standard and the temperament. He has told the players the conduct he wants, the conduct he expects. Clearly, Enemkpali did not see it as a demand. Maybe others in that locker room don’t either.

It is a teaching moment for Bowles -- to get further control, to be clearer and more stringent in his demands for all of his players.

Enemkpali may, indeed, be an extreme temperamental soul. But Bowles must grasp that this is his team, his problem and his reflection.