If by playing great you mean completing 54.8% of his passes with 17 touchdowns, 13 interceptions and 8 fumbles, than yes, Sanchez reached his zenith of greatness in 2010. And it makes perfect sense to evaluate a player who has yet to play a down in the NFL as "sucking" worse than a player who has proven to have little to no awareness, turnover prone, and all in all god awful.
I want Smith to start eventually, but I don't think we should get rid of Sanchez. Let's not throw him in there, that's not a good environment for him. Ease him into it.
I generally agree with you, but with the caveat that I believe it should be an open competition in earnest. Sanchez wins out in camp, Sanchez starts. Smith wins out, Smith starts. Garrard wins out, Garrard starts. Simple as that.
This thread has taken a hilarious turn. Since Mark Sanchez has entered the league no quarterback has had more turnovers. Enough said. I'll grant that there was some magic, against the texans in '10 (may have been '09 don't fully remember) comes to mind and I will always remember that as well as the two AFCCG's. But he's mentally shot. He showed last year he couldn't handle the Tebow chatter to go out and EARN his job. He's proven to not be tough enough. I'm tired of watching the sulking and while Geno may not be a can't miss prospect, the Jets need a fresh start at QB. The fact that they did so by getting the top QB in the draft without using a 1st round pick is incredible. I'll love Mark for what he did in '09 and '10 but I do not want to see him take another snap for the New York Jets.
I honestly think Geno is going to be the starter by opening day. Trent Dilfer was on ESPN talking about his Elite 11 camp and how Geno, was invited to be a camp counselor. Within a week he knew the whole 90 play, playbook cover to cover. This says a lot IMO and shows just a glimpse of what he can do.
Do you really want the media circus of Sanchez and Smith being in camp together. Imagine the daily stories waiting for Smith to replace Sanchez. It would simply not work. It works much better with Garrard being the veteran running the show waiting for Smith to get ready. Besides if Garrard is healthy there is no chance Sanchez could ever beat him out for the job. Plus Smith is much better and more experienced QB to learn from. A guy who plays smart and does not turn the ball over. The kind of player who would be a good role model for the kid to learn from. All Smith can learn from Sanchez is bad habits.
True, very good point. I hadn't really taken the media aspect into consideration, but this makes sense. So would you propose then an open competition between Garrard and Smith, both clearly knowing their future roles regardless of the outcome?
The problem I have with this argument is there are no measurables to prove it's true, in fact all the measurables pretty much say that the Sanchez of 09 and 10 were the same Sanchez of 11 and 12. yes he had some movement up and down but never beyond normal statistical variations between seasons, when he had a good defense and good running game to hide his flaws behind they weren't as glaring, but remember the 09 team had exactly the same record as the team the year before and the team survived despite Mark's flaws. However, when the defensive talent began to decline Mark wasn't enough to overcome that, but his baseline performance level had remained the same...and I'm not talking TD's total yards, I'm talking completion %, Yards per attempt, INT %, TD%, etc. when you look at those baseline numbers it's been pretty much a flatline, though he did have one year where his TD numbers surged, but that didn't corrospond to any surges in any other baseline stat, which should have occured if it was due to improvement by the QB. Instead it appears to have been a statistical abberation.
I would say let Smith sit and learn behind Garrard. Garrard is a pro QB who plays the game the right way. Few turnovers and mistakes and does not beat his team. He is tough and can lower his head for a first down. He looks like an ideal role model for the kid to sit and learn from. Who knows maybe we could win with a guy like Garrard like Tennessee did with Hasselback when they drafted Locker. If our D is top 10, Garrard is healthy, and does not give away games we can be in most games and have a good season. It should be an interesting year with low expectations.
I like this idea. I do not want to throw Geno into the fire if he is not ready. So I'd be all for this, always liked Garrard. Only thing I'd say, not to beat the Idzik - Seattle connection to death, BUT, if Smith came into camp and the preseason and really lit it up to the point where he truly was the best man for the job, ala Russell Wilson last year, would you want him to play?
Let Geno ride the pine for a year, Garrard and Nacho battle at camp. Sanchez will get one more kick at the can.
Good post. If nothing else, Garrard is a COMPETENT pro QB. And that's something we haven't had here in four years. I like the addition of Ivory, and assuming Holmes is healthy I think we'll all discover that our skill players aren't nearly as bad as they looked with Mr. Turnover running the show. We can muddle through 2013 with what we have now, and go for it with Smith and a few additions in 2014. I have no worries about Rex building a decent enough defense to keep us in games.
Once you name Smith the starter its hard to go back. I think you have to be absolutely 100% sure he is ready. The thing about Seahawks besides making a very courageous decision starting Wilson is they knew and expected him to struggle early. But they had a good enough team to overcome those struggles and not ask to much of him early. I am not sure the Jets have the same luxury. Wilson is just special. On the limited amount I have seen him play I think he is the best young QB to come around in a long time. He extends plays, is decisive, calm, has pocket presence, puts so much pressure on the defense with his feet, but he does not expose his body to injury like other running QBs and in the playoffs he just took the game over.
