Sanchez lacks major leadership qualities. I put blame on coaching, grooming this young qb and some of the phony "leaders" they left him with starting in 2011 ie (Burress, Holmes and Mason #1,2&3 receiver) Schotty micro managed him and the wide receivers clearly had a lack of respect for both Sanchez and Schotty. I also put the blame squarely on Sanchez. Quarterbacks with a nut sack would have taken command of their huddle and run their offense accordingly. ie Manning brothers, Roethlisburger, Brady, Brees, Rodgers OC's prepare quarterbacks for the game, create a strategy and help during game time see areas to exploit on the defense that maybe the quarterback doesn't see. Sanchez is like a child that became so dependent on coaching, he's like a robot. At some point, Sanchez had to grab his nuts, take accountability and manage the offense. You either have it or you don't. Sanchez has proved, he lacks ability as a leader to manage an offense. And to make it worse he has no concept of the importance of protecting the football. He has become a major liability. I feel we are more apt to give up points when he is on the field. that's sad.
The other thing that is really important in doing a post-mortem on Mark Sanchez stay at the Jets is whether he could have been developed at all in a reasonable time frame. He didn't play much his first 3 years at USC (redshirt thrown in) and was kept on the bench by John Booty his sophomore season. Pete Carroll obviously didn't think Sanchez was his best option at an age when most future starting NFL QB's are playing every down. Then he had a great ride his junior year and fled to the pros immediately. It was very unusual for a guy with one season under his belt as a starter and eligibility remaining to leave a good team like that. Really in retrospect it looks like he was worried that going back to USC wouldn't improve his draft position and might see a big fall. He had no reason to believe he would go top 10 when he came out but he was probably a late 1st/early 2nd round guy given all the hype. Then the Jets bought into all the hype (how many times have we seen this) and traded up for him and the die was cast. It was just a bad all-around move by a franchise that seems to specialize in big splashy moves gone bad lately.
Just to add he went from 2010 receivers Edwards, Holmes (on a contract year), Cotchery to 2011 receivers Burress, Holmes (new contract and captain title), Mason He was not strong enough to manage those personalities, at all.
Really, really, really good evaluation of the situation. Couldn't have said it better myself. Changes will have to be made, we can only hope it's this offseason.
Very good post. Add into the fact they wanted to switch to a more passing oriented offense after the 2010-2011 season and they took away so many pieces, it never made sense. It was based on hope
Sanchez has played terribly, but I just don't think it's possible to play with confidence when you drop back time and time and time again and your receivers can't get separation because they are, by and large, terrible. To ask Mark Sanchez to be mentally stronger, to pick up the slack, to carry the team... to me, it's just not realistic. Will he ever regain his confidence? Hard to say. He may not. If he DOES... I still believe he has what it takes to be a good pro. Will probably be somewhere else, though. He is not elite, but the organization obviously could have won the big one with him. He is obviously skilled enough, clutch enough. They failed him. He's damaged goods.
I think that's the hardest part in all of this, he wasn't the reason we lost to the Steelers in that AFC Title Game. The D was atrocious, yes he fumbled but it should never have been ruled a fumble and the playcalling that led to it was a mistake as well. His 2nd half was great and he nearly led the comeback in that game. A few plays go our way and we win that game. We certainly had a shot to beat the Packers that night.
The first mistake they made was not having a veteran QB in place during Marks rookie season. He should have sat and watched for a year or two. Not keeping the flight boys together (Holmes, Edwards, Cothcery) Sanchez had chemistry with all those guys. So you as an organization needed to do what it takes to keep his favorite weapons intact.
