Will New York Jets’ Mark Sanchez survive the heat? –NFL Special
In recent weeks, Mark Sanchez, along with Schottenheimer, accumulated loads of criticism from angry fans who felt dejected at their poor performances.
Now with Schottenheimer having gone for good, all their attention seems turned towards the Jets’ quarterback.
Sanchez has long been guilty of losses faced by his team this season and had come up with a clumsy time out in the first half against the New England Patriots, thus allowing Tom Brady with the opportunity to launch a touchdown drive.
That proved to be the biggest mistake of the game as the Jets lost, 37-16, and drew in coach, Rex Ryan’s anger, who called it the "stupidest play in NFL history".
Ryan’s anger though subsided with time.
Then came some respite for the quarterback as he went on to score four touchdowns to lead his team to a victory over the Buffalo Bills.
Keeping in mind that the Bills rank at the bottom of their division, not much was gained by Sanchez through that victory.
It was a, 37-10 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs that included two scores by Sanchez, helping him gain an edge.
However, bad time for Sanchez started once the Jets lost to the New York Giants, 29-14, which came amid lots of boasts and claims by Ryan that the Jets were a better side than them.
The heat once again fell on Sanchez who accepted his mistakes.
"I left a lot of completions out there", Sanchez said after that game.
Sanchez received the vote of confidence from Ryan once again who stated that he had “great confidence” in Sanchez and went to the extent of saying that he would prefer the likes of Peyton Manning to him.
"I recognize Peyton Manning is an unbelievable quarterback. But do I think it's even a consideration for us? No, I don't”, Ryan said.
That was weeks back.
Now according to some news sources, the Jets have players demanding that Peyton Manning be brought in place of Sanchez, which brings about another controversy.
As if all that was not enough, Sanchez finally came up with the last great blow that he had delivered to himself, the team being eliminated at the hands of Miami Dolphins in their season’s finale.
The person responsible for this debacle was none other but Sanchez himself.
Compared to three turnovers against the Giants, he came up with three interceptions in this game and all three interceptions went for field goals with Ryan blaming the turnovers for the loss.
That was probably the last chance Sanchez had to defend himself and failed to capitalize on it.
Sanchez proved to be inconsistent over and over again, thus dampening his standings with his own teammates.
If the players are now calling for a replacement, it is because they have strong reasons to do so.
That poor show negated all claims made by Sanchez earlier on that he would try and be consistent. He had been so adamant that he saw no need of defending himself and teremed that everyone was aware of the hard work he was doing.
"It's a steady improvement and it does take time, but I'm trying to expedite that process and move things along as swiftly as possible”, Sanchez had said.
All that seemed nowhere in sight this season and for the time being Sanchez is now left to take in all the heat for Jets being wiped out from the playoff race.
However, amid all opposition and calls for his replacement, Sanchez finally has some teammates jumping to his rescue including guard, Matt Slauson, tight end, Dustin Keller, and centre, Nick Mangold, who came out in strong support of their team member.
"Mark is heading in the right direction. He is going to be a great quarterback”, Slauson said.
Slauson further added that Sanchez was the hardest working quarterback who had led the team to an American Football Conference (AFC) championship last year and could very well do it again.
While Nick Mangold negated reports that players were opposing the quarterback saying that Sanchez was the guy he wanted to go and “battle” with.
Finally Sanchez, who has the vote of confidence from Ryan, has found the much needed support from his teammates.
Will he survive is yet to be seen.
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