How short is Mark Sanchez's leash? That is the question that has most of New York buzzing this offseason, and also what has my Twitter time line loaded with Jets OTA updates of a quarterback battle between Sanchez and the MetLife Messiah, Tim Tebow.

The starting job is Sanchez's to lose, and he won't be losing it in training camp. None of what I write here is to say that Sanchez should or will lose his job this coming season. If Sanchez does indeed lose the job at any point in 2012, here are some of the ways it could happen.

136319690_crop_exact Marc Serota/Getty Images

Sanchez Struggles

Let's face it: This is Tebow's best shot at becoming a starting quarterback in 2012. 

If and when Sanchez isn't playing as well as many hope he will, there will be no stopping the chorus of boos from raining down on him, and if that happens, it will only be a matter of time before the Tebow chants begin.

Jetsfirst5opponentdefenses_original_original Stats courtesy Pro Football Reference.
And the early part of the Jets' schedule doesn't look pretty for Sanchez. They get the Bills and their revamped defense to start the season, followed immediately by the Steelers in Week 2 and a Dolphins defense that has been nightmarish for Sanchez in the past.

From there? The Texans and the 49ers. Ouch.

 

The Jets are Losing...Badly

This ties into the previous point, but even if Mark Sanchez is playing well and the Jets are losing, the Jets could look to a change at quarterback to head things in the right direction.

With or without big-time struggles from Sanchez, it will take a pretty horrendous record for the Jets to make a change at quarterback, and it probably wouldn't happen until around the halfway point of the season.

Beyond the record, though, the Jets will have to be losing in a big way, with the offensive ineptitude at the forefront of the problem, before they would consider turning to Tebow and turning away from the Sanchize.

 

Tim Tebow Works a Miracle

A near-miracle made way for several more miracles in 2011.
Tebowmania really got its start in Week 5 against the Chargers. Tebow nearly led a comeback from down 23-10 at halftime on the strength of two touchdowns, one rushing and one passing. They went on to lose that game 29-24 to the Chargers, but the seed had been planted. Tebow was capable of great things.

He proved that he was capable of starting and finishing the job the next week against the Dolphins, leading the Broncos back from being down 15 points in the fourth quarter.

I won't rehash all of Tebow's miracles here, but Tebow Time got off to a big-time start with two solid performances.

It will take a sequence of events similar to or the same as the ones Tebow saw in Denver before he'd be considered a viable candidate to supplant Sanchez as the starter for the Jets.

 

Erik Frenz is the AFC East lead blogger for Bleacher Report. Be sure to follow Erik on Twitter and "like" the AFC East blog on Facebook to keep up with all the updates.