Ken O'Brien Ken O'Brien was like a point guard who could run an offense but could not create. If the play broke down he had no ability to make something happen, as a result he go hit again and again.
Right on the money. Plus he had a beautiful spiral and he could throw the deep ball perfectly. I saw him a few years back coaching High School here in LA and he could throw just as nicely then. He was a great Jet player.
Ken O'Brien was a much more accurate passer than Sanchez. He could read D's much better. Most of his negative stats like interceptions went up after he had injuries and the quality of the players around him went down. As a fan of his I acknowledge the beatings he got made him gunshy of hte pass rush at the end of his career, and he is a cautionary tale, as you can see in more recent examples such as David Carr, that a Qb can lose his edge if he gets hit too often. But Mark Sanchez is no Kenny O'Brien.
Kenny won a lot of games but the hits really took their toll as the season went on. Basically after week 10 every season he was a broken QB. If the season was only 10 games he would have won the division several times. But the last 5 or so games of the season he was always a mess. O’Brien was a big part of the late season collapses the Jets were so famous for in the 80s.
AGAIN, most of the sacks were giveaway varieties, he rarely took the huge hits we saw Sanchez take last year and despite more talent around him Ken had ZERO playoff wins while mark has 4. I lopved Ken as a kid but Mark is going to have a MUCH better career by the time he is done.
The only year he was banged up late was 1986 so we can't blame other late season collapses on injuries. I will give him a pass for '86 but he wasn't some beaten down QB. He always wanted to make the big play, held onto the ball too long and rarely took big hits.
This is why I would take Sanchez over O'Brien. He has the ability to keep a play going and avoid the rush, even run for a first down once in a while. Also, he's played his best in the biggest games, unlike O'Brien who rolled up a lot of stats in the warm weather and could barely function by crunch time. Remember also that O'Brien played four years of college in a pro-style offense at Cal-Davis, then sat for a full year behind Richard Todd in 1983 and more than half of 1984 under Pat Ryan. So he had a lot more schooling and preparation before he ever saw the field than Sanchez. Sanchez played 16 games total in college, then right into the fire as a rookie. Even dismissing the disparity in college experience, by comparison Sanchez is entering what would be 1986 for O'Brien. Still very early.
Beat Miami in 1991 in a do-or-die game which was like a playoff game. Should have won Cleveland 1986.
man the jets offense was brutal in the closing parts of that game and OT. brutal. everyone bitches about gastineau but the offense deserved alot of the blame. also remember r. carter dropping an INT that could have sealed it.
Agreed. Also agreed. That game went double OT and we never got into FG range in the quarter plus of extra football with multiple chances. That's a few first downs and we couldn't get them--after we got most of our points early with Pat Ryan, by the way. Ryan started the game, I believe hit Walker with an early TD after leading us to the win over KC in the Wild Card round. Miami 1991 I will give you, probably O'Brien's best clutch performance. It was also a FG drive, basically a few passes out of a career, but clutch nonetheless and we also drove the field in OT for the game winning FG. We won't talk about the 6-3 home loss a week earlier to an awful New England team which put us in position to need a miracle to go 8-8, though. :grin:
we'd definitely beat Denver too...we matched up well with the broncos that year. played them in october and feasted on Elway, completely shut down mark jackson and vance johnson.
And how many games were those guys on the field together healthy? When they were O'Brien had great success. He lead the league in passer rating and was a pro bowler. But Mc Neil, Walker and Hector missed a boatload of time. When O'Brien was throwing to Lam Jones, Bobby Humphrey, JoJo Townsell, Chris Burkett, Glen Dennison, Rocky Klever, Billy Griggs and Mark Boyer the results suffered. And yes he held the ball too long and didn't have mobility. But he also did get killed back there. Having Ted Banker and Stan Waldemore types blocking was not effective. Here is a highlight reel of O'Brien. The thing that stands out to me compared to Sanchez is that O'Brien consistently made big plays. Sanchez hardly tries. Secondly, O'Brien was a far more accurate thrower. Sorry but i do not know how to imbed video.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Uq0F2whpl4
If you put a highlight reel together anyone can consistently make big plays. O'Brien wasn't consistent at all after his first couple of years. I did enjoy that video, though. Think it's been posted before but good stuff, vintage.
Key stat: Sanchez - 2 playoff appearance and 4 playoff wins O'Brien - 3 playoff appearances and 0 playoff wins.
"like" a playoff game but not a playoff game, right? Should have won in Cle but didn't b/c O'Brien stunk. If Ryan doesn't get hurt we win that game. Again, Kenny was my favorite player growing up but let's not make him out to be better than he was. We were a very banged up and different team in January, we would have had a difficult time winning in Mile High. Exactly Exactly
the Gastineau hit/penalty on Kosar wasnt as big of a deal as people made it out to be. the Jets choked either way. They had plenty of chances to stop the Browns and they couldnt. The hit itself was beyond idiotic but it didnt ultimately cost the Jets the game.
