Here's a cool story about what happened during the bye week. I didn't see this already posted, but I'm really tired and could have missed it Rich Cimini He made history with a 3-0 start, triggered a national controversy by devouring a hot dog during a game and shamed himself with the worst one-day performance of his athletic life - all in a span of two months, all in full view of a scrutinizing public. Mark Sanchez has given a quarterback-obsessed city plenty to talk about over his first eight NFL starts, but it was something that happened away from the spotlight that could turn out to be the most significant moment of his rookie season. It was Oct. 19, the day after he threw five interceptions in an overtime loss to the Bills. Self-doubt had crept into his psyche, like a virus invading a once-secure hard drive. Sanchez needed to eradicate those vibes immediately. He thought to himself, "I know I'm here for a reason. I wasn't born to play like that." He needed a mental lift. In walked Rex Ryan, who had prepared a special DVD for Sanchez. It was entitled, "What We Want." "This," the Jets' coach told his rookie, "is the way we want our quarterbacks to play." Sanchez looked at the video screen. On came old highlights of Joe Montana. Gulp. "I'm like, 'Jeez, who's next, Troy Aikman? Dan Marino?'" Sanchez recalled. "I'm like, 'I really have to start playing.' Then - boom - he starts showing my clips." Highlights from his spectacular final season at USC flashed on the screen, followed by cut-ups from his impressive start with the Jets. "Just looking at the throws, I was like, 'Man, I was awesome. That's me doing it,'" said Sanchez, his voice rising with excitement. "It was a little boost, a little something I could really use. That's exactly what I needed and Rex knew it." The DVD may have been a blockbuster move by Ryan. Since the video pep talk, Sanchez has settled down, reaching the midpoint of the season on an upswing - two straight games without a turnover. As demoralizing as it was to hit the bye week off a loss to the Dolphins, the Jets take solace in knowing their young franchise quarterback still is whole, mentally and physically. "I think the guy's had a pretty darn good year," Ryan said. "Obviously, he's only going to get better. So, you know, I'm excited about that." It already has been like three seasons in one. Sanchez was one of the hottest stories in the league, becoming the first rookie quarterback since the merger (1970) to start and win his team's first three games. That he did it without much help from the running game was encouraging. Along came the rookie mistakes stage, a total of eight interceptions in losses to the Saints and Bills. "Two stinkers," Sanchez called them. His combined passer rating in those two games was 17.3. (It was 93.0 in the other games.) He was regressing, making poor decisions. But instead of slipping into a full-blown slump, he showed resilience, bouncing back at a point when the season could've gotten away from him. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/f...1-07_mark_sanchez_dvd_ryan.html#ixzz0WMdgqSPg Also note: Both Sanchez and Clemens have 8 regular season starts. Their stats are remarkably similar. Code: Players Comp Att Pct. Yds TD INT W-L Rate Mark Sanchez* ('09) 114 213 53.5 1,443 8 10 4-4 67.9 Kellen Clemens ('07) 120 228 52.6 1,427 5 8 3-5 64.7 I just thought that was very interesting
Interesting to see Sanchez's stats lined up against Clemens'. Of course, Clemens had time on the bench to learn. Then again, Sanchez has a far superior o-line.
Stats are misleading. Sanchez was on a team that was playoff bound and he held them back, while Clemens was on a team that was dead in the water. I am not saying Clemens is better at all, but if you know the situations you give the edge to Clemens.
"its becoming obvious that Ryan knows nothing about runnign a football team." - Typical fan comment after last week. I think the only obvious thing about this team so far is we are suffering ups and downs of a Rookie QB. Add to the a game given away by our special teams and the season is looking ugly after a hot start. This was a good move by the coach. We've had our defensive MVP and a pro bolw returner go down for the season and have still looked good. Pouha is no Jenkins, but its not nearly the disaster many predicted. Going back into week one many had us going 8-8 at best this season, myself included. We are currently on pace for that while starting a rookie and missing some of our best players. People need to wait a bit before jumping completely off the band wagon.
Nonsense. Sanchez has had two rookie games, Clemens never played as a rookie. Outside of the Buffalo and NO games Sanchez has a rating in the 90s, something Clemens could only dream of.
Exactly- Clemens had a steady core of receivers, Sanchez was leading Cotch to the top 5 receivers in the league until his injury. If anything those stats show just how far ahead Mark is-
those stats are bullshit. since when in the sport of football do the numbers tell the whole story? Kellen Clemens wishes he was Mark Sanchez.
Stats are nice, but when you actually watch the 2 players on the field, it's pretty clear that Sanchez is superior to Clemens.
Clemens will never be a proficient starting QB in this league. I cannot believe people actually feel he is a better option. When you watch him play, he just doesn't look comfortable. He doesn't appear to know the offense. If he had any chance of ever taking it to the next level, that chance flew out the window when the Pats knocked him out of the game in the the first quarter. That was it. It's plain as day to see he lost everything at that point. Guys a pussy.
He's not holding us back. He has played well in 6 of 8 games. The 2 he played poorly in he was REALLY bad and cost us both games BUT that is to be expected w/ a rookie QB. A year ago w/ a future HOFer we were only 1 game better against a MUCH, MUCH, MUCH easier schedule. He's doing fine, he's getting better and in the long run we'll be better off for his rookie experience.
So, your going on record say that you think Clemens is better than Sanchez after 8 starts based on stats and situation? Mmmkkkay. I'll take footwork, accuracy, and pocket awareness over those pure stats. I think if one watches much of the games the two played its obvious who has the higher upside.
Those statistics are a perfect example of how a summary of results can be completely misleading. With just a little effort the real situation can actually come out. I'll use QB rating, but any decent measure of QB play gives the same result. Here are Clemens' ratings for the 7 games he started: 60.6, 78.1, 58.8, 45.6, 91.7, 59.6, 77.9 (he also got playing time in two other games, and his ratings were 58.3 and 20.5). It is obvious that Clemens had only one good start (against Miami, a game in which the Jets outrushed the Dolphins 163 to 37), a couple of mediocre ones, and 4 bad ones (plus bad performance in the two games he came in to replace Pennington). Here are Sanchez's numbers for the 8 games he has started: 84.3, 101.1, 81.4, 27.0, 87.5, 8.3, 107.0, 100.3. He has had two horrible starts, 3 okay ones, and 3 excellent ones. I think anyone would agree that the latter performance is much better than the former, especially for a rookie quarterback.
good move by rex. i'm impressed, between that and the adjustments he made on d for the miami running game the second time around. i doubt he sits murrell in place of gholston next time around too. i'm liking both our rookie qb and rookie coach at this point.
Clemens looked like a deer in the headlights every time he stood behind center, I don't care what his stats looked like. Sanchez has only looked truly bewildered once...on the sideline, during the Bills game.
Very Impressive I must say, if the OC didn't throw him into the fire in the Buffalo game we would be talking about Sanchez being OROTY But we definitely have a QB here guys, the guy can air it out make so many great throws, he's exceeded my expectations that's for sure, as long as we continue to have a stellar O-line (well more like improve on it) were going to have a great QB for years and years to come For now on every game we should have a sense of Urgency, Sanchez got off us off to a great 3-0 start, we stumbled to 4-4 but the playoffs can still be reached, Sanchez needs to continue to have games without a-lot of TOs and continue to gell with his receivers, honestly we can steal that wild-card spot from the Texans/Ravens, Patriots pretty much have that division locked up, they are too good to throw away games at this point of the season
