Difficulties loom ahead for New York Jets’ Quarterback Mark Sanchez –NFL Special Part 2
Sanchez also had three turnovers against the New York Giants, which the Jets lost, 29-14. Owing to the hype that had been created over that game due to Ryan’s claims that the Jets were the better side and could beat the Giants, a lot of heat fell on Sanchez.
Ryan’s boasts had received a humiliating rebuke in that game.
Though Sanchez had kept insisting that he would try and be more consistent throughout the season, yet there were shortcomings on his part that added fuel to the criticism that kept showering on him.
Another victim of criticism, the offensive coordinator, Brain Schottenheimer, left the Jets’ team recently and with all that, the guns were turned against Sanchez.
The climax of opposition to Sanchez was reached as a newspaper quoted anonymous players as saying that they had reservations over their quarterback, with one player going as far as to term Sanchez as being “lazy” and content”.
Then, the Jets’ coach, general manager and owner, had all come forward to announce their support for the quarterback.
Ryan had said that an “anonymous” source did not speak on behalf of the whole team and that was not like being a Jets’ member. Ryan had further added that if not the whole team, majority had confidence in Sanchez.
A day later four Jets’ players, guard Matt Slauson, tight end Dustin Keller, and centre Nick Mangold, all came forward to support their teammate, saying they had confidence in Sanchez.
However, that scenario seems much changed now.
Johnson is all intended on making the Jets’ the number one team and he would look into “anything” and every “possibility” in order to achieve this task.
That could surely include replacing the quarterback.
However, Sanchez can derive some solace from the fact that he is ten years younger than Manning and Johnson seems to realise this.
“With Mark, you have a 25-year-old quarterback that you can develop”, he said. “You can have a quarterback for 10 years with a guy like this. These guys are not available everyday”.
To make matters better off for Sanchez, Johnson has refused to pin the blame for the team’s woes onto him while expressing his confidence in him once again.
Johnson had Tony Sparano hired in as the new offensive coordinator to help Sanchez overcome his problems and feels that would happen.
“My feeling is that Mark is the kind of guy that will learn from this and get better”, Johnson said. “We are going to try to make the offence maybe a little bit more suitable to what Mark's development is”.
That will allow Sanchez some breathing space but he would surely need to improve this time and prove to be consistent, otherwise he would become more of a liability to the Jets, which would undoubtedly waste no time in bringing in a suitable replacement.
The reason for the critics coming hard on Sanchez is that he has been completing just 56.7 percent of his passes this season. He has thrown 26 touchdowns but went for 18 interceptions.
Much more had been expected from Sanchez and the then offensive coordinator, Schottenheimer, but they failed to live up to the expectations of their fans.
The Jets’ offence under Schottenheimer averaged just 307.7 yards per game, ranking at the 25th place in the National Football League (NFL).
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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