The return of the anonymous New York Jets is upon us, and organized team activities have just barely gotten underway. Last season, the Jets had a major problem with players and team sources reportedly bashing one another without attaching their names to the quotes. According to CBSSports.com’s Mike Freeman, at least one of them is at it again.
A current member of the Jets roster who asked not to be identified reportedly said earlier this week that most of the team believes someone besides Mark Sanchez should be the starting quarterback.
“Everyone on the team likes Mark personally but there’s a general feeling among some of the players that maybe it’s time to give someone else a chance,” the player allegedly said.
Freeman added that the player said “80 to 90 percent” of his teammates felt that way.
This is not the first time Sanchez has had to deal with anonymous members of the organization bashing him, and he’s not the first player that the anonymous critics have targeted. However, Freeman’s report does come on the heels of Rex Ryan being openly critical of Sanchez for throwing three interceptions in 11 pass attempts during OTAs on Wednesday.
“This is OTAs and things, but yeah, that’s going to be the pressure that we’re putting on him,” Ryan said, via the NY Daily News. “He did a lot of great things. It’s not that you try to cover up the fact you had some bad plays — no, no, no you flat tell him. We can’t have these and all that type of stuff. He knows.”
Ryan said that he was glad his defense was making plays but called it “disappointing” and unacceptable” that Sanchez turned the ball over that many times.
And just think, it’s only May. If this continues, it’s hard to imagine Sanchez will be on the roster when the season begins. Poor performances in practice are a great way to lose the confidence of a coaching staff, and it sounds like Sanchez has already lost the confidence of his teammates. From the sound of it, the Jets are picking up right where they left off in 2012.
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