Those stats are somewhat of an aberration. He is only passing more this year because we have to since our run game isn't getting the job done. The Sanchez we've seen the last 3 weeks is just as bad as the Sanchez last year. The passes are way off target, decision making is absolutely awful, and the ball security isn't any better. Just watch how many potential balls are dropped by defenders. Hes been extremely lucky not to have another 3-5 more INTs. How many potential INTs do our defenders drop every game? Hardly any. You see usually about 3+ every game with him. Its funny how people will look for everything in the book to make excuses for this guy not getting the job done. He has almost played 2 full seasons now and is a bottom 10 QB still. We need to see more improvement, bottom line.
Add 9 drops to this past game and we win. Drops are rare in the NFL for a reason, add 9 to any QBs total for a game and it'd be a game changer. Same thing vs GB. Yeah he's been off, but he's been on during drives too. That TD pass to Holmes could not have been thrown better, that's a tough pass to make on a windy, rainy day.
Those stats are an aberration? Do you even know what that word means? CLEARLY his best games are better and his worst games aren't as bad. It's a fact that he has a positive TD/INT ratio and it's a fact that he already has more TD's and passing yards. It's a fact that he's had multiple come from behind game winning drives at the end of regulation. Every QB has dropped INT's, just like they have dropped passes. Sanchez has had his fair share of both. Yes, he's played poorly the last 2 games. The entire offense has, including the o-line. But again, his worst games this year are better than his worst games last year. Look at the "aberration" I posted. That doesn't take away from the fact that he's far better than he was last year. If you can't see that then I can't help you.
I still find it hilarious that people think when players are playing bad the person behind them is going to play way better and not make mistakes. That's not how life works.
I think the biggest single issue with Sanchez is his consistent lack of accuracy. He has completed 53.3 percent of his passes this season - good for 29nth in the league among starting quarterbacks. The only starters with a lower Completion percentage??? - Derek Anderson and Jimmy Clausen. OUCH. And the drops just don't account for enough of it. Listen, if you turn all 4 drops the Jets had this past Sunday into 4 catches, Sanchez would have gone from 17/44 to 21/44 . . . that is STILL UNDER 50 percent. In today's game, any completion percentage at 50 percent or less is downright pathetic. Also, he started the season with 8 touchdown passes and no interceptions. Well, now he has 16 TDs and 12 interceptions. So, he has 8 TDs and 12 Ints since the start of the Denver game. That's a pretty large sample of games. He is now 28th in total quarterback rating among starting quarterbacks (His rating is now 74.2). The only starters with a lower QB rating??? Brett Favre, Derek Anderson, and Jimmy Clausen. OUCH I think we can spin this any way we want but the guy has regressed considerably since earlier in the year and that is extremely dissapointing.
Drops aren't as rare as you think. They happen all the time to all teams. What 9 are you even talking of? Keller had 1-2, Holmes had 2, LT had one, and Cothery had that big drop in 4th quarter. Cant remember if Braylon had one or not.
I completely understand about how the OL is worse and that affects MS. But a little perceived factor is that overall passing numbers are up throughout the league this year. The metric I have been referring to is the concededly flawed QB rating number. Last year MS was at 63. This year he's at 74.2. Improvement? Of course. Relative rank against the rest of he league? The same = 28th. Perhaps there is an element of unfairness in comparing Mark to the rest of the league if that's a different target from year to year, but I dunno, they all play in the same league. But some Qb's are doing much better this year than last year. Look at Ryan Fitzpatrick. Last year his rating was 69.7. This year it's 85. Josh Freeman was 59.8. This year he's 87.9. Qb's like Flacco, Ryan, Garrard, Schaub, are all having much better seasons. Look at Cassell - wow. Not to mention Tom Brady. Heh. Of course there are others who are having worse seasons, such as Favre, McNabb, both Mannings. But perhaps the main point is how some Qb's from last year are off this year's boards, replaced by others doing better, like Stafford for Hill, Bulger for Bradford, Russell for Campbell (whose not doing much better individually, but you get the point). On one individual stat, though, MS is somewhat down despite what you refer to, and that is yards per attempt. I guess there is a philosophical issue here, but I don't think it is unfair to compare MS to the rest of the league, and by that measure, he's not showing improvement.
/thread right here. We all want Sanchez to do well but the accuracy needs to improve and hasn't now in 2 years. He is having problems even hitting short screen passes. Its definitely dissapointing to say the least...
I hear you, too. Funny how many here defending MS were just as caught up in the perception he'd turned some huge corner with the early season successes. Now that he's struggling with mediocrity, many chastize the disappointed among us with "what do you expect from a second year Qb!" I totally get that point, and to some extent accept it, but it doesn't really take into account or explain exactly why it is no source of concern that he would have tailed off so badly.
I don't think there's any question that this years version of Mark Sanchez is better than last years version. And we've already played 4x as many top 7 defenses than we did the entire regular season last year. That's with a worse rushing attack and worse pass protection. You even showed that his QB rating is more than 10 points better than it was last year. I don't see how you can take his QB rating as compared to other NFL QB's is at the same spot as last year and say that equates to him not improving. OK, his ranking in terms of QB rating has not improved. That means nothing at all to me. Compare this years Sanchez to last years, which is exactly what I was doing and exactly what you disputed when you brought that up. It doesn't even make sense.
I will tell you why sanchez is not playing well, cause our running game has been atrocious. The Jets game plan: 1. Run on first down 2. Run on second down 3. Now its third and long and you are forcing Sanchez to have to make a play Last game against the dolphins this is exactly what happened. They would run on first and second downs and get about 1 to 2 yards on each run. Sanchez was constantly put in 3rd and 7 positions. The coaching staff put so much pressure on him to make a play. They should have allowed him to throw more on first and second down when they noticed that the running game was not working. This play calling is pathetic with this team. Their theory, "If something doesn't work, keep doing it"
Right, but it's even MORE predictable to run on 1st (which they did ALL THE TIME) and then pass on 2nd down...it's not setting up Sanchez for success. 1st down should be a 50/50 split in terms of passing and running.
I obviously understood and said so that MS's rating is higher than last year's. But I also I think made the valid point that as a group QB's are having better years. That's probably because of somewhat different rules enforcement. But let's focus on Mark's Qb rating without reference to the rest of the league. Fine. A big reason why it was down so far last year was his interceptions. 20 for the year with a relatively limited number of attempts. (20 in 364 attempts) This year he's had 12 in 441 attempts = MUCH better. But here's the thing. He had none in the first five games, and 12 in the most recent 8. That means his rate of interceptions in the most recent 8 games is higher than it was for the season last year. That shows a regression to me. A regression to a piont that is worse than his average for the year last year. I know his average for last year included some good stretches. So there is something to your point about not having valleys quite so low as his worst ones last year, like the five int game. But here's the thing - is it really so great he's been playing like his average of last year? Of course not. More to the point is, why has he tailed off so badly? And for the record I also recognize that he's throwing the ball more this year, so all other things equal he would have more interceptions. Still, twelve in 8 games is a problem.
Sanchez looks lost. He has been inaccurate. His footwork sucks and his decisionmaking has been terrible, but we're stuck with him. Brunell and Clemens can't take this team to a Super Bowl this year or in the future. None. Sanchez is our only shot. His ceiling far exceeds anything those guys have shown and he's grown significantly and has led us to some great wins this year. To abandon him in favor of one of those other schmucks would be disastrous.
But I thought we passed too much? FTR we ran the ball 18 times on first down and passed 11 times on first down. I would guess that most teams run more than they pass on first down. I would prefer that we do that too. So now that you were proven wrong, you change your argument. Fine, as a running team we run more on first down. Our o-line isn't winning the battle up front (in either run or pass blocking) and that is a huge reason why our offense is failing.
This is the 5th time in Sanchez's career where a bunch of people wanted him benched. It never happened, and people were proven wrong the last 4 times, I expect him to prove them wrong again. I wonder if 5 times will be enough to knock some sense into these people.. ..probably not.
I honestly think the biggest reason has been our offensive line play. I've been saying this all week. Of course Sanchez is not without fault, he hasn't been playing as well - and that was something I said in my original statement. He's still struggling with consistency. And the point you seemed to have disagreed with - at least the consistency is with higher peaks and valleys that aren't as bad. Young QB's generally struggle with consistency and that's exactly what we're seeing. If we see this same type of thing next season I'll start to worry. For now I've seen plenty enough peaks to take the valleys with a grain of salt in his second year.
Totally. Get him back to fundamentals, which is what Rex was stressing, and we're fine. Thing is facing Harrison and Polamalu it's hard to get back to fundamentals when you're trying to not shit your pants. But, here's to hoping.
