Jets Finally Get It Right with Mark Sanchez

This critic wonders why it took after the Patriots game for Rex Ryan to realize the Jets put Mark Sanchez in a position to fail by giving him too much responsibility.

Ryan decided to scale down the playbook for his struggling quarterback by telling him to throw the ball to his running backs more and only to make passes when it's appropriate.

So far, this strategy has worked. The results have been two wins in a row after the Jets' 19-13 victory over the Bills helped them to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Sanchez played a good game overall before leaving the game with an injury. Sanchez's ability to run for first downs is what helped the Jets be in position to score the game-winning touchdown.

The USC star showed everyone why Mike Tannenbaum liked the guy enough to make a trade in the NFL Draft. He threw accurately and hit Braylon Edwards with a nice pass for a touchdown. He knew how to avoid being sacked by figuring out to run to open spaces.

You can talk about the defense winning the game, but without Sanchez's smart play, the Jets would not be in a position to celebrate a victory.

Ryan deserved his criticism for this losing streak so it's only fair that he gets his props for getting this straightened out.

We waited for the rookie coach to get tough and figure out a way to get the Jets back on track, and he finally did it by being involved with the offensive meetings in an effort to help his quarterback.

Ryan likes to work with his defensive unit, and he takes pride on defense being the story in games like his father's defenses were, but that's not how a head coach should go about it.

A head coach needs to be involved in all facets of the game so it's a good thing Ryan realized that fact.

It's a sign Ryan is growing in his job by being proactive with Sanchez.

Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer screwed the development of the Jets quarterback by forcing him to throw a ridiculous amount of passes based on his success the first three games of the season.

Schottenheimer should have realized that rookie quarterbacks do not become prolific passers this quickly so it's baffling a son of a veteran football coach never understood this concept.

If Ryan did not get involved, there's no doubt the Jets offensive coordinator would keep his quarterback throwing. After all, this is the same guy that told Brett Favre to wing the ball despite the fact he was playing with an injured shoulder.

This begs the question whether Schottenheimer should be running the offense next year.

Ryan talked about how the Jets were going to be an all-weather offense with more running game and less passing game in training camp so it's inexcusable to see Schottenheimer stray away from that strategy.

By setting Sanchez up to fail, it cost the Jets several winnable games in recent weeks. We will undoubtedly look back at this decision if the Jets don't qualify for the playoffs.

It's better late than never that the coach figured it out at least.

We look for progress during a course of the season, and now we've seen it from the head coach.