September 15, 2010 As His Second Season Unfolds, Jets’ Sanchez Has Far to Go By GREG BISHOP FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — One game into his second season, Mark Sanchez has not inspired confidence. His coach, Rex Ryan, said Sanchez played stiffly and conservatively in the Jets’ 10-9 lossto the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night. The greatest quarterback in Jets history, Joe Namath, criticized Sanchez and the offense on his Twitter feed. On Wednesday, receiver Braylon Edwards said that the team was aware of the criticism that “our offense is average, our defense is great,” and as a result, the offense had been pressing, including Sanchez. “He feels pressure because this is a big year for him,” Edwards said. “We’re releasing the reins. We’re going to let him run the show. He’s feeling that. He wants to be Broadway Joe right now. But it takes steps.” Even Namath threw 27 interceptions in his second season. In N.F.L. history, three quarterbacks have won a Super Bowl in their second season. One, Tom Brady, will face the Jets on Sunday when New England comes to town. The others are Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger. The short list highlights the evolution of the quarterback position. Quarterbacks drafted in the first round once apprenticed for a couple of years; now they are immediately thrust into starting roles. Sanchez has been handed enormous responsibility: the keys to the most-hyped team this season and arguably among the most talented in pro football. All that raises the question: How much should the Jets expect from Sanchez? In one compelling scene on “Hard Knocks,” HBO’s documentary of the Jets’ training camp, Marty Schottenheimer, the father of the Jets’ offensive coordinator, Brian, said that if a second-year quarterback maintained his first-year level, it would signify progress. The Jets’ quarterbacks coach, Matt Cavanaugh, agreed, in part, in an interview before the season started. What helps Sanchez, Cavanaugh said, was the relatively low bar he set last season — 20 interceptions, a 53.8 completion percentage. The Jets expect more this season and certainly more than he delivered Monday night, when he went 10 of 21 passing for 74 yards and a 56.4 passer rating. “The thing we’ve got to remind ourselves is it doesn’t mean because he had a full off-season that he’s now a seasoned veteran,” Cavanaugh said. “He’s got a lot to learn. In fact, we tell him all the time, Don’t ever think you’ve got this game figured out. He’s made drastic improvement, but he’s got a long way to go. And he knows that.” Last season, coaches reminded Sanchez to protect the football, make good decisions, follow the color-coded system. All last week, Ryan reminded Sanchez that the Ravens feasted on turnovers. Sanchez did not have a turnover against Baltimore. If Sanchez seemed gun-shy on Monday night, if he played stilted and awkwardly, his coach accepted the blame. Perhaps he placed too much emphasis on ball security, Ryan said. “I never wanted to cripple him,” Ryan said. “And I felt like he was getting rid of the ball maybe a little too fast, that maybe we had some other opportunities.” But there remains another possibility: that Brian Schottenheimer does not fully trust Sanchez with this offense. Not yet, anyway. Sanchez and other offensive players denied that theory Wednesday. Fullback Tony Richardson argued that the offense’s poor performance was misleading because the Jets played such abysmal football on third down, converting only one chance in 11. That led to fewer plays, fewer passes, fewer opportunities and fewer throws downfield. Not that Sanchez minded. He said the way the game unfolded dictated the pace and risk level of the offense. “We’ll have games where we throw for over 300 yards,” Sanchez said. “I know it. I’m confident in it. We’ll have games where we rush for 250, and that’s fine.” Sanchez did not appear overly concerned with the offense’s lackluster debut. Where last season he may have pouted, or sulked, Sanchez instead enacted his 24-hour rule, where he spent no longer than one day analyzing the loss. Teammates called that progress. They will need more, soon, to save this season. Since 1990, only 26 teams, or roughly 16 percent of the teams that started a season 0-2, made the playoffs. The last time Sanchez played the Patriots, at New England in late November, he tossed four interceptions. Soon after, he hosted most of the team for Thanksgiving dinner. At that dinner, according to Schottenheimer, Sanchez stood and said: “I know this is probably the last place you want to be, but I appreciate it. I’m going to keep working hard, and I’m going to help this team win the Super Bowl.” Schottenheimer said: “That took a lot of courage. I believe him.” Still, the question lingered, as it will throughout his sophomore campaign. Do the Jets expect too much from Sanchez too soon? http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/16/sports/football/16jets.html?_r=1&ref=football&pagewanted=print
The article has merit. we have a 2d yr qb who was not a a good starting qb for much of last season. that is to be expected, its not a knock. Have some faith in the kid and the CS to bring him along. Its just part of the process. He is going to be a good QB.
Everyone needs to chill a bit on Sanchez, the gameplan on O going into the Balt game was simple, don't turn the ball over. Whether or not that was the right gameplan is debateable, I happen to think it was and it would have worked to perfection if not for the amount of costly penalties but Sanchez did what Rex wanted him to do. People need to seriously get off the ledge about this offense, everyone knew going in that game was going to be a low scoring battle between two of the best Ds in the league. Now all of a sudden when the Jets O got shut down we are in panic mode. No mention of panic about the Balt offense that scored one more point with the benefit of a horrible rule and an inordinate amount of penalties. Sure Balt moved the ball some with help from the Jets giving them 6 first downs on penalties but all that moving the ball amounted to nothing on the scoreboard. We are not going to face a D like Baltimores the rest of the year. All of a sudden basically the same O that was good enough to get to the AFCG is a major cause for concern. No D the rest of the year will be able to slow down our running game the way the Ravens were. I really can't believe the people jumping off ship so fast after a tough loss to a legit SB contender.
I agree there's no reason to lose our minds yet but ... A conservative offensive game plan was obviously the right decision. I'm sure that plan didn't include ignoring wide open receivers down field on passing plays and checking down to the running back. The best description I read on here this week was that the offense was dysfunctional. There is absolutely reason for concern, regardless of the game plan. That's not to say it can't be fixed.
Obviously the jury is still out on Sanchez but hate it or not the story does have merit, as another poster said. I do think Sanchez looked scared and got rid of the ball too quickly on some plays,just checking down as opposed to looking to his 2nd or 3rd options downfield. IMO Rex should tell the kid to play his game and be smart with the football but don't be afraid to take a few chances and trust that our WR's would make a play.
I agree. You can't disagree with anything he's said. Some people on this board wouldn't know good journalism if it slapped them in the face. Because this article doesn't kiss the Jets ass, it's automatically discredited...
No I don't think the gameplan called for Sanchez to ignore his WRs altogether but I'm not surprised he did. When your HC is chirping in your ear all week, which (Rex admittedly did) about not turning the ball over, I'm not surprised that Sanchez wasn't willing to take any shots. Sure there is always cause for concern but I don't think there is cause for jumping off the ledge like 90% of Jets fans and 100% of media are doing after one loss. My biggest concern after that game is how horribly undisciplined we were. With no production from the O we are winning that game if not for the inexcusable amount of dumb penalties and one horrible rule. We are not going to have the greatest show on turf but the O should be slightly improved form last year, which with our D and minus the penalties should be enough to win a majority of games the rest of the way. Watch the rest of the season, there is going to be offenses a lot better than ours completely shut down by that Baltimore D.
I do think the O was dysfunctional, and would have been with any game plan. That is exactly what scares me. It is not impossible to fix, but... Fumbling is a complex phenomenon. There's a mental part to it. Greene fumbled too much before the end of the year last year, but then seemed to cut them down. I recall him having one late that was not turned over, though. Still I thought he had gotten past his earlier problem. So, game one, he puts it on the ground twice in five carries. Yikes. Meanwhile old LT carries for more than 6 a carry. I doubt the CS wants LT to be carrying it 20 or more times a game, so let's hope Greene doesn't fumble anymore. He is under a microscope. Sanchez's checkdowns. Your thread back on Tuesday you were talking about this. Considering all the speculatoin about what was behind that, we still don't really know what was going on there, and whether it can be easily fixed. I am concerned, however, and this fits with some of Ryan's comments, that it sure was not the case that the CS told MS to ignore open receivers down field. If we see that in the Pats game, man, that is REALLY going to get me concerned.
