Rex Ryan and Brian Schottenheimer Destroyed Mark Sanchez and the Jets

Rex Ryan and Brian Schottenheimer destroyed Mark Sanchez and Jets in 2011. 

The cancer that started eating away at the New York Jets locker room earlier this season has now begun to spread to the point of certain death. Now, there are reports that some Jets players are far from happy with the "Sanchize," and that's an understatement. 

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We have to bring in another quarterback that will make him work at practice. He's lazy and content because he knows he's not going to be benched.

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What kind of leader sets up an environment where there is no competition?

The best teams in the history of the NFL have always had some sort of quarterback controversy at some point. The reason is simple: the best teams have always had great head coaches and great quarterbacks. 

It's a gamble every time you pick a quarterback with a high draft pick, but the only way to get great quarterbacks is to keep swinging until you hit a home run. 

The Jets took a big swing back in 2009 when they traded up from their 17th overall pick all the way up to the fifth pick to draft Sanchez out of USC. He was considered by many to be untested and possibly too inexperienced to risk a high pick, but the Jets liked him and pulled the trigger.

It seemed like the right decision, as the Jets went on to the playoffs and ultimately the AFC championship game in 2009, Sanchez's rookie season.

The Jets also made the playoffs the following year, and Jets fans were becoming hopeful that they might be seeing a dynasty in the makings. 

The hallmarks of those two teams were their stellar defense and a persistent, punishing rushing attack. Sanchez showed promise in his ability to hit timing patterns and play-action passes, provided the defense was off-balance, looking for the run.

Then, 2011. 

Ryan made Santonio Holmes a team captain, for crying out loud!

I've got to give Joe Namath loads of credit. He called it first. He came out way back in the beginning of October to criticize Santonio Holmes as a team captain:

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For Holmes, as a captain, to go outside, to the media, and start pointing fingers. I mean ... he's right about the offensive line, but that can create a problem in the locker room.

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Ryan didn't take too well to Namath's criticism this year, but it seems to me Namath had the pulse of the Jets locker room better than the head coach. 

Namath wasn't the only Jet critical of the Jets this year, either. 

Veteran wide receiver Derrick Mason, one of the most professional players in the game, was signed as a free agent before the season. He knew something wasn't right almost as soon as he entered the building, and on October 3rd he said this:

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Obviously, there are some things that need to change. They have to change—it is evident. You saw it, there are some cracks, and nobody really wants to identify the cracks. Until we identify the cracks, we’re going to keep having the same problems. Whenever somebody wants to fill up the cracks, then we can continue to move forward.

The defense did a hell of a job, but you can’t keep turning the ball over four times and give them three touchdowns and a field goal. That is 24 points, and you can’t do it. The defense played a hell of a game, and you can’t put the defense in a position like that against their defense."

Schottenheimer and Ryan made an executive decision to turn the Jets in to the Indianapolis Colts. They treated Sanchez as if he were Peyton Manning and abandoned the running game. They also pumped Sanchez so full of himself that he is now despised by his own teammates.

Then, after they were done pumping him up, they tore him down. Viciously. Ryan called one Sanchez decision the "stupidest play in NFL history".

Now, his at least one person in the Jets organization is calling for Manning himself to come in, while disposing of Sanchez in the process.

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Come on. That's a no-brainer. If you have a chance to get a healthy 36-year-old Peyton Manning and you don't do it, then you're stupid. If I could get a healthy 36-year-old Peyton Manning, then, hell yeah, I would trade Sanchez.

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Wow. What a way to throw a kid under the bus. 

I mean, I can't argue the logic of it all, but it's not right to treat a player like this. If anyone should get the blame for what's happening in New York it should be Ryan. He's the one that created the poisonous environment in the first place.

I wonder if Sanchez will ever be able to recover from this fall from grace? He was the toast of New York, and now he's the villain.

What a sad state of affairs. 

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