Sanchez is the only QB in the NFL that hasn't won a Super Bowl that has won 4 playoff games since he's entered the NFL. Only in NY would that get downplayed. Every fanbase wants to win but the issue isn't with the fanbase, its with the media. There are plenty of intelligent fans out there who understand that developing a team is a process. Developing a team isn't as simple as drafting a first round QB who starts with a madden rating of 76, then becomes 88 year 2 and 94 year 3 - then straight profit from there. Either a player has the ability to win or they don't. Sanchez has proven he has the ability to win. The problem with Sanchez is that he frequently negates the good he does (which is a lot - the success this offense has still runs through him most of the time) with mistakes. But Sanchez isn't the only guy on the roster who is making mistakes. When you have that many players making mistakes the coaches need to do their jobs and limit the mistakes. We aren't stuck with the Vernon Gholston of QBs. We're stuck with a guy who has all the potential in the world and hasn't figured out how to unleash it on a consistent enough basis. When you've invested what the Jets have invested in Sanchez AND he is the way he is the smart thing to do is to stick with him and to continue working on the problems and making improvements, even if they only come in babysteps. That is EXACTLY what the Giants did with Eli and its paying huge dividends now. He's not Aaron Rodgers or Drew Brees but he's a winner whose developed his game to a point where he's got two rings. If the Giants had aborted Eli then likely they'd have 0. The comparison isn't between Sanchez and Eli so much as it is the decision the teams have to make to stick with their guy no matter how bad things might seem in the short term.
i hate that sanchez gets called "clutch" and gets a huge pass for '09 and '10 when he almost cost them a chance to even be in the playoffs those years. yes, it is a FACT that he was fantastic in those playoff games. but it is also an undeniable FACT that he was one of, if not the worst QB in football those 2 regular seasons. he had a horrendous rookie year. 52% completions, 20 interceptions vs. only 12 touchdowns and a 66 rating. we had the #3 defense and #1 running game and still needed the colts to bench players the last week to sneak in. not to mention he was horrible the last 5 weeks and nearly cost us a spot.
Idk he seems more to me like Rex Grossman than a quality guy to build around. Poor completion %, dumb picks and fumbles, with some elite throws mixed in and a good team capable of making the playoffs with an average QB. Makes sense fans would want better
Look at the Chiefs and Matt Cassell? They're applauding him getting injured they're so fed up with his play. Crappy QB play will bring derision in any market. Sanchez simply doesn't have Eli's physical tools so the comparison is a bad one. Sanchez being compared to Rex Grossman is a much better comparison.
What would fans have compared Eli to at midseason of year 4? Seriously. The point is NOT that Sanchez = Eli. The point is that things change in the NFL. You don't just decide a guy is a bum and pull the plug. Vinny Testaverde came to the Jets after a LONG career of being average at best and gave the Jets fans one of the greatest seasons they had ever seen. He always had the potential, it took him that long to get there. How many times was James Harrison cut by the Ravens and Steelers before he turned into a dominating force? Guys with potential do eventually emerge. The question is whether the team that has them has the guts and the fortitude to see it through. The difference between Sanchez and Grossman is that Sanchez has won meaningful games. When in Grossman's career did his team ever beat Brady and Peyton in back to back weeks? In important games? Sanchez CAN and HAS gotten it done when it matters. The potential is there. In this instant gratification world we live in it might suck not getting to see Aaron Rodgers week in and week out but if the Jets fans ever seriously want to win a Super Bowl the best decision the Jets can make is to stick with it and keep working on it. Players aren't static. They work and they get better. Sanchez hasn't peaked. He's still only 25 years old. It makes sense to stick with the program and see it through to victory.
Right but your point is based on him getting better. Is he? Is he better now than he was in 2010? I don't think so. Teams pull the plug all the time on guys who stop progressing and continue to give the other team the ball.
Sure teams do but I believe he has gotten better. Statistically he's gotten better from season to season and I think when he does make good decisions you can tell the difference. The fact that he still make so many bad decisions is frustrating but I believe that can be coached and worked out. Sanchez has done enough good to warrant that.
The only way Mark Sanchez gets better moving forward and the only chance the Jets have to realistically make the playoffs is if he cuts down the stupid mistakes. Whether you support Sanchez or not you have to recognize that his play at QB for the Jets is an erratic progression of events in which his overall value to the team is slightly negative on balance. He needs to throw the ball away more often. He looks for plays that just aren't there and this inevitably leads to bad throws in the field of play and sacks and potential turnovers there as well. He needs to surrender to the fact that there are some plays he cannot make better and the thing to do then is not to make them worse. That last play in OT last night he had no chance at all. It wasn't just one rusher blowing by the RG like he wasn't there and putting him off-balance it was another one blowing by the RT and in on him in about 1.2 seconds. There were only two possible results on that play, both bad for the Jets but one that lost the game for them.: sack or strip-sack fumble. Sanchez had to recognize immediately that a busted play was happening and get to the ground with the football firmly in his grasp. Not save the day by making a miraculous play to get the ball out of there but just not make things worse. We all think that the QB is the most important position on the field, and we're right about that. But the QB is not the only player on the field. It's not all about them. Too often it looks like Sanchez thinks it's all about him. That's where most of the fumbles come in. Sanchez tries to make a play as if the Jets are going to lose if he doesn't and then on a percentage of those plays he makes things much worse than they were. The only way that it's all about the QB is if the QB is making it much worse than it ought to be.
Except we're the jets, so nothing good will ever happen to us. What was supposed to happen to coughlin and Eli, will happen to Rex and Mark. Because we're the jets, and god hates us.
People are going to still be clinging to this desperate comparison a decade after Sanchez retires. I'm sure of it. Manning's turnaround to just being solid (forget to the 2x SB MVP who is currently leading the NFL in DVOA/DYAR and is second in Total QBR and PFF's total QB grading) was almost an extreme outlier and not at all close to the norm. I know it'd be nice to think it's a likely path for our own QB and situation, but it's just not.... it's not even close to being so, tbh.
This is true. Usually when a QB is still making mental errors and bad throws in his 4th season it is a result of the fact that he is a mentally unsound QB with bad mechanics. Unfortunately in this case the flaws are probably as much with the franchise and it's unsound methods as with the QB. Which means that we'll have the double-suffering of having Sanchez flunk out here and then go pull a Rich Gannon somewhere else when he's finally gotten it into his head that some of the things that he does are counter-productive and when his team has actually made it a point to stockpile some talent around him. Never forget that not only did John Riggins get his start here but the Jets actually used him as a mainstay pounder for a season before becoming pre-occupied with other issues and letting him go.
Br4d - There is a bit of a flaw in your logic. I agree that in order for Sanchez to improve he needs to cut down on the mistakes. However, I have a counterintuitive explanation of why Sanchez struggles at times - he tries to do too much but not for the reason you think. The reason he tries to do too much is because he has to. Simply put, this FO has provided him with enough weapons on offense to succeed. For most of this season he has been without his starting #1 WR, #2 WR, TE and FB. The Jets had little margain for error on offense this year to begin with and not surrounding your franchise QB for the past few years with enough talent is the biggest error of all. Sanchez feels that pressure to make the play because he doesn't have have the player on offense that scares anyone. Yesterday, Eli was bailed out because Victor Cruz made a huge play. When was the last time a Jets WR did that? Off the top of my head it was Braylon a few years ago against the Colts. I agree he needs to cut down on the mental errors but my belief is that he is task loading to overcompensate for a lack of skill on offense, inability to get seperation, poor route running and untimely drops. The QBs who perform well in the NFL today have weapons galore - to expect franchise results from a QB without that same weapons is absurd. K73
Matt Ryan says high! Guess Aaron Rodgers' playoff record. It will sound familiar. Stafford would like to chime in with the best receiver in the game. Cutler would love to talk too with Matt Forte and that Bears defense. Rivers would like to chime in with his offense loaded with weapons. Tony Romo says hello. Winning in the playoffs is tough. When you can find a QB who can play well in those games, it gives you hope if you can get there. That's why people bring it up. Oh and Joe Flacco who had a better defense and offense than Sanchez his whole career would like to answer with his 5 wins, 3 of them coming where he throws: 9/23 for 135 yards, no TD no INT 11/22 for 161 yards, 1 TD, no INT 4/10 for 34 yards and 1 INT. You should remember better. Greene went down but also Strickland went down and Manning attacked Coleman. I mean we almost won that game except for the stupid two minute drive at the ned of the first half by Peyton. That throw that went inches over Coleman's hands. The whole Jets team came out flat in Pitt that year, not just the offense. Pitt had a 9 minute drive to start the game. The defense must have been tired right? Again I'm not saying Sanchez has a top 10 QB rating in the playoffs or anything (which he does) automatically translates into a great a QB. I'm just saying that he gets credit for playing well in the playoffs consistently because many QBs don't.
It doesn't matter cause he won't ever get back to the playoffs. You have to not suck in the regular season to get in. He doesn't have the rushing attack or defense to get him in anymore.
Well that's a different story. The person asked who struggles in the playoffs with top defense and offenses. Oh most QBs do, that's why Sanchez's play is regarded as great in the playoffs, because it's rarely done. And actually ,without that defense or offense we got to 8-8 last year and two plays away from the playoffs. This year, we can be in the same position to go 9-7 and make the playoffs. Too early to call the season. I'm glad Jets fan get pissed at the 8-8 record, but you can't forget the fact that the 8-8 record was still in the playoff race. We can make that same push this year
What the hell are you talking about? That wasn't some lucky desperate heave Cruz pulled out of his ass or away from multiple defenders; Eli, with pressure all up in his face and a big hit certain, dropped a dime perfect pass after making an excellent read. No one is likely going to bail Mark Sanchez out like that any time soon because Mark Sanchez can't make that play -- both physically and mentally, at least right now -- barring a blue moon striking. He wouldn't have likely been able to put Cruz in position to finish it.
