Mark Sanchez and the Jets started off the year 3-0, with Sanchez looking like a polished, skilled quarterback. Because of the “poise” he displayed, he was crowned the “Sanchize” by the New York media. Of course that didn’t last much past September considering Sanchez had his first “let me remind you I’m a rookie” game in week four. Against the Saints, Sanchez had four turnovers including a fumble and interception returned for touchdowns. Mark had another clunker a month ago in a 16-13 loss to the Bills at the Meadowlands. Sanchez completed 15 passes in that one, unfortunately five went to the wrong team. He had an identical rate against the Patriots on Sunday, completing 12 passes — four to the defense. As if that wasn’t enough, Sanchez also fumbled. I’m not even exaggerating when I say that every time I looked up Sanchez was throwing a pick.
It doesn’t take an expert analyst to know that Sanchez needs to start throwing the ball away when nothing’s there instead of trying to force plays. He’s going through some serious growing pains and actually holding back a team that has a strong ground game, good offensive line, and solid defense. If there’s one thing Sanchez certainly isn’t short on it’s arm strength; the guy has a rocket and even chucked one around 70 yards on the final play of the game. Anyway, Sanchez now has 10 TDs against 16 interceptions on the season, not to mention three fumbles lost. While Pete Carroll’s words prior to Mark’s announcement appear to be prescient, it’s still Carroll who needed Sanchez much more than Sanchez needed USC. The Jets are the ones who have to deal with his development now.
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This entry was posted on Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 and is filed under Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
In my opinion, Sanchez will turn out to be a fine NFL QB. He has all of the physical tools and a pretty good football mind. Most of all, he appears to have the self confidence which will allow him to not be beaten by the New York media.
That being said, he will need time to adjust to the speed of the pro game and to the fact that defenses will put a lot more pressure on him than those he faced as a USC QB behind a great offensive line.