The Case For Mark Sanchez

I believe everyone is over-analyzing the Mark Sanchez situation. This is a guy who we traded up for three years ago to be that franchise quarterback we have craved for decades. The Jets under-achieved in all aspects of their game this season including the quarterback. However, besides any of the Top 5 quarterbacks in the league, if you replaced Sanchez with any of the other 26 starting quarterbacks out there, I’m not convinced we’d have any more than the 8 wins we had this season. Yes, Sanchez had some horrendous games and some terrible interceptions and fumbles for the blooper reel, but I’m not convinced he is the reason we lost games, nor do I think we should give up on this guy. Here is my reasoning:

1. Mark Sanchez has won 4 road playoff games, the most in NFL History.
2. Mark Sanchez has led his team to two straight AFC Championship Games in his rookie and sophomore year.
3. Mark Sanchez is one of only two quarterbacks in NFL history to reach the conference championship in their first two seasons in the league.
4. Mark Sanchez has had an offensive line that has got worse in each of his three years going back to losing Faneca and then Woody and replacing them with Slausen and Hunter. (There were also games when Mangold was hurt this year).
5. Mark Sanchez has had limited protection this year. He’s been sacked 34 times (2nd most in the league) not counting how many times he’s been pressured. This guy gets back up and continues to play hurt. He’s tough as nails.
6. Mark Sanchez, over the last 3 years, has led somewhere from 9 to 11 (depending on what you read) 4th quarter comebacks, currently the most in the NFL over that timespan.
7. Mark Sanchez has started 47 of 48 regular season games and started 6 of 6 playoff games in his three years.
8. Mark Sanchez has not had a losing season in his 3 NFL seasons.
9. Mark Sanchez joins Dan Marino, Joe Flacco, Ben Roethlisberger, and Matt Ryan as the only quarterbacks in the Super Bowl Era to win 30+ games in their 1st three years as a starter.
10. Mark Sanchez has had a different receiving corps each year: Cotchery, Plaxico, Braylon, Keller, Holmes, Kerley, Mason, etc…and has not been able to build chemistry with any of them except for Keller who was the only one there for all three of his years.
11. Mark Sanchez, with NO OTAs and a limited training camp this year, was not able to get on the same page with his new receivers. That showed during the year with numerous incorrect routes being run.
12. Mark Sanchez has an offensive coordinator, Brian Schottenheimer, who has yet to take off the QB’s handcuff’s and let him throw the ball down the field. Throw in that he has slow receivers that aren’t getting open either down the field.
13. Mark Sanchez gets plays from Schottenheimer to throw the ball 6 yards when you really need 8 yards for a 1st down.
14. Mark Sanchez has receivers that drop two to three balls each game (or catches them and then fumbles then killing a drive).
15. Mark Sanchez plays in what Rex Ryan calls a “Ground & Pound” system which doesn’t work when the NFL is currently a passing league.
16. Mark Sanchez has been successful with the play-action calls, however, the running game didn’t work this year due to poor blocking by the offensive line. If you can’t run, the opposition’s defense makes it hard to throw.
17. Mark Sanchez’s offensive line seems to kill every drive with a false start putting the team in 1st and 15. That’s not his fault.
18. Mark Sanchez lost L.T. for a piece of the year who was his safety net for the short pass when there were no receivers open. Shonn Greene is not a great ball catcher out of the backfield.
19. Mark Sanchez has had different starting running backs each year from Thomas Jones, to LT to Shonn Greene. Again, our running game got worse each year making the Jets have no choice but to throw more often due a poor rushing attack.
20. Mark Sanchez lost protection in his full-back with the Jets letting Tony Richardson go and promoting John Conner to the starting role. Connor, aka The Terminator, is not as good as a blocker as Richardson.
21. Mark Sanchez plays for a defensive minded coach who’s unit has been putting the Jets behind in games or losing games at the end (aka the Tebow drive).
22. Mark Sanchez hasn’t had the help of Mike Tannenbaum to help put a young team together via the draft. Who is a good young player, besides Kerley, that we have gotten on the offensive side of the ball in the last three years?
23. Mark Sanchez has tried to make things happen when they are behind due to poor, and underachieving defense. Mistakes happen when you are trying to force things to make things happen especially when you are behind and can’t run the ball as well as have limited time to throw the ball before getting killed.
24. Mark Sanchez has NO backup quarterback which doesn’t give him any competition as well as put pressure on him to perform or get benched.
25. Mark Sanchez recently became the 1st Jets QB to throw two touchdown passes and run for two in a single game.
26. Mark Sanchez plays in NY where everything is over-analyzed or scrutinized and plays on a team w/ high expectations. Sometimes, teams just have an off-year!
27. Mark Sanchez is still young and experiencing some growing pains right now. This team has brought along a quarterback while still trying to win now. He still has some more learning and growing to go but his numbers have improved in each of his three years.
28. Mark Sanchez has only played in 16 college games and 54 NFL Games (regular season and playoffs – I’m not including pre-season. He’s still young and is getting some great experience.
29. Mark Sanchez’s completion percentage has increased in each of his three years – 53.8% to 54.8% to 56.7%.
30. Mark Sanchez’s TD Passes have increased in each of his three years – 12 to 17 to 26.
31. Mark Sanchez’s INTs need to get better but not as bad as ELI’s 25 INT’s last year He’s gone from 20 to 13 to 18. This need to be an improvement.
32. Mark Sanchez’s Average Yds per Completion have gotten worse – 6.7 yds to 6.5 yds to 6.4 yds. This is a combination of being under pressure, receivers not being open, poor play calling, and the lack of a running game or deep threat.
33. Mark Sanchez’s completions have risen each year going from 196 to 278 to 308.
34. Mark Sanchez’s passing yards have risen each year going from 2,444 to 3,291 to 3,474.
35. Mark Sanchez’s QB Rating have improved each year going from 63.0 to 75.3 to 78.2.
36. Mark Sanchez’s rushing TD’s have improved going from 3 to 3 to 6.
37. Mark Sanchez’s sacks have increased from 26 to 27 to 39. This is mostly due to his poor offensive line and receivers not getting open. If he didn’t have great legs to run away from some sacks, this number would be worse.
38. Mark Sanchez’s fumbles have been a problem going from 3 to just 1 to 8 this year. I can’t blame him on all of them as he’s had little protection and was getting abused out there some games.
39. Mark Sanchez is only in his 3rd year. Most QBs didn’t become an elite quarterback until year #4. I remember in the start of Eli’s 4th year that people were ready to run him out of town. He wound up winning a Super Bowl that year.
40. Mark Sanchez’s stats are not that different from Eli’s. Eli’s completion percentages in his first 4 years are as follows: 48.2, 52.8, 57.7, 56.1. Sanchez has better percentages in the first two years and is close to Eli’s 3rd year percentage.
41. Mark Sanchez’s interceptions are not that far off of Eli’s. Eli’s interceptions the first four years are as follows: 9, 17, 18, and 20 for a total of 54. It’ very similar to Mark’s.

Now, Let’s compare Mark’s 3rd season to Eli Manning’s third season:

In his third season, in 2006, Manning was 25 years old; the Giants finished 8-8; he was 301 for 522 for 3,244 yards and a 57.7 completion percentage; he had 24 touchdown passes with 18 interceptions; his passer rating was 77.0; he was sacked 25 times; and his yards per pass attempt was 6.2.

In Sanchez’s third season, Sanchez is 25 years old; the Jets were 8-8; he is 308 for 543 for 3,474 yards and a 56.7 completion percentage; he had 26 touchdown passes with 18 interceptions; he has a 78.2. passer rating; he has been sacked 39 times; his yards per pass attempt is 6.4.

I’d like to see some major changes this off-season but the one I don’t want to see is Peyton Manning. Mark Sanchez is our starting quarterback and I’d like to see what he can do with a better line and better receivers in year #4.