Sunday, August 19, 2012

32 in 32: Jets Quarterbacks

Okay, I have a lot of thoughts on the QB situation with my Jets, so I actually had to create a completely separate article.

Having both Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow can work if executed correctly. Being the Jets of course, they have already messed everything up.

I think that Mark Sanchez is in for his best season as a quarterback. Due tot he fact that the offense around him is so bad, the improvement won't show up statistically, but I have a hunch that he'll start reading defense better and making smarter passes. He's not as bad a passer as he has shown in the past. So far in the preseason, he has looked good when he has time to get off a throw. The only issue is that the receivers can't exactly catch the ball, but that's not Sanchez's fault. Sanchez is an average quarterback at worst, and his ceiling is still high (second tier level, he's never going to be Tom Brady) because he has already shown flashes of playing really well. He's 4-2 in the postseason, all of the games on the road. Not everyone can say that. While the Jets were very defense oriented in those years, he had to make big plays when it counted, and he really delivered in the playoffs. No QB can make it to back to back AFC Championships unless he has some talent. I do think that he has a future in the NFL, but the direction this team is going, I highly doubt it will be in NY.

That brings us to the most famous backup in the history of sports. He's a backup. He has lead a team to the playoffs before, which means that if Sanchez happens to go down with an injury, I trust him more than I do Greg McElroy. I still don't think that he can throw. He's basically Vince Young in terms of playing style. Both are bad passers, but very good runners. Tebow is a better runner than Young, but both are very good backups, if they are used as such. Ideally, the Jets would drop this stupid wildcat idea, but they won't, so here's how it would actually work:


  1. Use it sparingly. Between 2-5 plays a game, it should never expand to 20 plays like I have heard before, because that's just absurd.
  2. Don't make this the Red Zone system; it becomes less of a gimmick and more of a gameplan, and it's a pretty terrible gameplan.
  3. Don't expect it to gain major yardage; everyone knows the possible outcomes of the play: Tebow runs to the right, Tebow runs to the left, Tebow gives it to Shonn Greene, Tebow makes a terrible throw.
  4. Never interrupt to flow of the offense. If Sanchez is leading the team down the field, Tebow should never enter the game. Only use this when the offense seems to be stalled.
The Jets will ignore all of this, and at some point start to alternate plays or drives between the QBs, which is the worst possible outcome of this. Tebow is a better passer than all wildcat quarterbacks in the NFL, but the wildcat does not work alongside of a conventional system, it's best used as something to have in the arsenal, only to whip it out a few times a game. 

Unfortunately for all Jets fans and for Mark Sanchez, I believe that the Jets want Tim Tebow to be their starter. If they really wanted to go forward with the Sanchize, then they would have upgraded the offense; get him a legitimate deep threat, improve the offensive line (attempting to get Jeff Otah when they knew that he would fail his physical doesn't count), and let Mark throw the ball more often instead of attempting to try this "Ground and Pound" that doesn't work in today's NFL. Stephen A. Smith said it best, "the fix is in." The Jets have set this whole thing up for Tebow to be the future of this franchise.

That's why I called a guy to fix my wall since I punched 37 holes into it. 

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