Actually it does make sense to a certain extent. Most rookie QB's who start have actually played extensively the previous three seasons and in some cases, like Peyton and Eli, in the previous four seasons. Their rookie year is all about adjusting to the speed of the NFL and the fact that the defensive linemen they face are as fast as most of the linebackers in college. The safeties they face are as fast as the most of the corners in college. Every mistake they make turns into a mini-disaster because the game just moves faster than the one they were playing, so they make their adjustments. Slowly, painfully. They have plenty of game experience to help them do that because they started 36+ games in college and it's just a matter of making adjustments, as they had to do in college. Their second year is about mastering the system they're put in. They spent the first year surviving and making stupid mistakes that got drilled into them when their team lost games as a result. Now they're supposed to cut down the mistakes and master the system. They spent 3+ years in a system in college and they got that one down eventually (and freshman QB's in college have it rough too most of the time) and adjusted to the difference between high school and college. They have experience in adjusting. Their third season the team expects them to know the speed of the game and to have mastered the system. The team expects them to shoulder the load and become the dynamo around which the offense, and the team, revolves. This is a poor decision by the team most of the time, as evidenced by numerous QB's over the years, including Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, John Elway, Drew Bledsoe, etc. Most QB's who started as rookies are not ready to carry the load year three when it is suddenly thrust on them by a team desperate to see the investment pay off. When you have a guy who only had a season and a few games as the starter in college it is a particularly bad decision. Year one Mark Sanchez was surviving, like most rookie QB's do, but he didn't have three years of college as his baseline. He had one year. In particular he had problems with the fact that safeties are much faster in the NFL and linebackers cover much better. A lot of the throws that were picked off were throws to his left, a place that you can get away with throwing at in college but that turns into a lot of picks in the pros because the deep safety shades that way since the up safety is on the strong side of the field most of the time. Year two he was supposed to master the system, but what system? The overly complex Air Coryell-WCO hybrid that Schotty wants to run? Ground and Pound, which is what got the Jets their deep run in the playoffs? Some mix of that? We saw Sanchez turn into a risk-avoiding check down machine in the first half of last season. It was the perfect response to having his OC demand that he throw the ball and having his head coach demand that he not turn it over. The result was pretty with a bunch of wins and few int's but it was also a flawed approach because the Jets scoring potential went way down with Sanchez (like Chad before him) avoiding risks and taking the safe throw too often. Then the Jets opened things up and made Sanchez throw the ball down the field, again in a hybrid AC/WCO/G&P system, and he began to go off the tracks in the middle of the season as most young QB's do when they don't know what everybody wants out of them, only that different people are asking for different things. Once again Sanchez was hampered by not having had a lot of experience actually playing at USC. He didn't have three plus years of adapting to the game plan from week to week and learning the system by actually playing it, he had just a season and a few games. So year three comes up and the Jets are going to throw a lot and put the game on Mark Sanchez shoulders (surprise, surprise, even the Steelers fell into this trap with Roethlisberger in 2006 when they went 8-8). This despite the fact that they have not developed a clear pattern on offense for him. This despite the fact that the off-season was basically a sports camp for a month in August. This despite the fact that they were returning just one WR that Sanchez had some experience throwing to. This despite the fact that they were installing a 30 year old career backup as the starter at RT. Everything that has happened this year has been predictable based on the lack of effort that went into setting it up on the Jet's part. The only pleasant surprise in all of this is that Mark Sanchez actually made progress this season. He's been on one end or the other of 30 TD's. 30! That's an insane number for a third year QB with as little help as Sanchez got this season. It's an insane number for ANY third year QB. It's a great number for any QB not named Brees. Brady or Rodgers right now. His turnovers are up slightly from last year but they are right in line with what you'd expect out of a good third year QB. Nothing Sanchez did this year suggests he's a turnover machine. He looks just like most other great QB's did in their third season in that regard and a lot better than some. For this the fan base has decided to crucify Sanchez on the altar of the Jet's shared sins in the last off-season. God help us if the Raiders are the team that he takes to the Super Bowl in a year or two as a result.
^Excellent post about Mark's development. I only hope his exposure to Schotty's "system" helps his understanding of the game down the line, even if it's not exactly putting him in a position to succeed right now. From the point of view of Rex and the FO, starting Sanchez in year 1 was a highly debatable decision that turned out better than the most dewy-eyed optimists could have expected. It took balls and a good dose of arrogance not to bring in a JAG to hand the ball off and keep picks down, while the nice little kid they drafted caught up on basic QB skills and what to do if all his receivers weren't wide open on every play. Yet he's been to the AFC championship twice. Also, for those who were paying attention, it was the equivalent of putting up a flashing neon sign saying "don't listen to Rex". It meant his blather about winning now was motivation and marketing, not an objective analysis; it suggested the FO's primary goals were rebranding, changing the locker room culture, and preparing the future, with winning now being a secondary objective. If you're playing a 1-year college starter at QB, if you've cut your best safety when you have no backup, if you bring in head-case WRs for extended tryouts, you're not win-now. They still went as far as any Jets team in the last 40 years.
I disagree completely. If Sanchez didn't start in year 1, he'd have much less experience, and wouldn't have improved over the years like he has. That first year experience was helpful, not harmful.
come onnnnnnnn. let's not try to find any and every excuse as to why sanchez isn't where we'd like him to be at this point. it's not like we threw him to the wolves to fend for himself. he was on a team with a great run game and a great defense. it's hard to find a better situation to place a rookie qb. not too many qbs have played in as many games over the past 3 seasons as mark sanchez has. that's a lot of experience. when will it be time to let go of his short college career? yeah, it was a reason for him to make the transition his rookie year. maybe even in his second. but his third? do we use it next year as well? i have to believe that 2 years in the nfl is more beneficial than 3 years in college.
