New York Jets: Why Mark Sanchez Is Not A Franchise QB

Attention New York Jets fans: Mark Sanchez is not the answer.

Sure, he has accomplished more than a lot of the quarterbacks the Jets have thrown out there over the years, but it’s not enough, and it doesn't look like it ever will be.

Jets fans have now been starving for another Super Bowl for 43 years, and they will not do it with Sanchez at the helm.  No question he has done a good job winning big playoff games on the road as a young quarterback, knocking off franchise quarterbacks like Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in the process. 

But to call Sanchez a franchise quarterback himself is flat-out wrong.

To understand what makes a franchise quarterback, just take a look at the biggest stage in pro football—the Super Bowl.   The quarterbacks who hoisted the past nine Lombardi Trophies are Eli Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Brady and Peyton Manning—everyone a franchise quarterback without a doubt.

And that’s just the thing.  With a true franchise quarterback, there isn’t any doubt.  Sure, Brad Johnson and Trent Dilfer have won Super Bowls this millennium, but those came behind immortal defenses and against far inferior opponents.

More than ever, the NFL is a passing league, and the time when “game managers” can go out and win a Super Bowl may have died with Brad Johnson.

Sanchez supporters have a lot of ammunition though.  They can point at his two AFC Championship Game appearances, his four road playoff wins, his 27-20 career record and upward trend of his yardage and touchdown totals. 

They can even play the comparison game. 

Take a look at stats from Brees’ first 47 NFL games (9,666 yards, 64 TDs, 42 INTs, 84.3 QB Rating) and compare that to Sanchez (9,209 yards, 55 TDs, 51 INTs, 73.2 QB Rating) and you can see that while Brees’ stats are superior, it is probably closer than you thought.

Compare Sanchez’s third-year statistics with Eli Manning.  Manning threw for 3,244 yards with 24 TDs, 18 INTs and a 77.2 QB Rating.  Sanchez threw for 3,474 yards, 26 TDs, 18 INTs and a 73.2 QB Rating.  Both quarterbacks went 8-8 in their third season.  Eerily similar.

So if Manning and Brees were afforded time to develop into possible Hall of Fame quarterbacks, why not Sanchez?

The answer lies not in statistics or accomplishments, but in one important test that seems to have been forgotten in this age of over-analysis: the eyeball test.

Jets fans do not miss games.  They watch and dissect every play, possibly closer than any other fanbase.  They do not need statistics to tell them their quarterback is regressing.  They see it with their own eyes.

In the 2010 playoffs, Sanchez marched into New England, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, and in five of the six halves played, put together great football.  They probably fell one possession short of a Super Bowl, and when the sting wore off, the positive signs of progress were there.

However, after the first four weeks of the 2011 season, it was apparent that it was the same old Sanchez.  Against a difficult, but not impossible schedule over the first quarter of the season, Sanchez threw five interceptions and completed only 55 percent of his passes.    

And it didn’t get much better from there.

The tumultuous season ended with an embarrassing three-game stretch against the Eagles, Giants and Dolphins in which Sanchez threw seven interceptions and looked more like an erratic third-stringer playing in a preseason game instead of a player on the verge of becoming a franchise player.

Rex Ryan and Brian Schottenheimer declared to anybody that would listen that they were taking the reins off Sanchez this year.  He would no longer be asked to manage games, but to win them.  That idea didn’t even last half the season as Sanchez frequently miscommunicated with receivers and too many times looked perplexed as he threw a 20-yard out to a receiver running a slant. 

Aside from the route mix-ups, interceptions and poor completion percentage, there are many intangibles that will never allow Sanchez to be a franchise quarterback. 

First and foremost, Sanchez is too sensitive to ever carry a franchise.  While he is as tough as they come on the field, coaches and players have to tiptoe around him behind the scenes as to not hurt his feelings.

After a horrid loss to the Broncos in which Sanchez threw a devastating pick six right into Andre’ Goodman’s hands, Ryan gave backup Mark Brunell snaps with the first team in practice the next week.  Logically, it's fine to let any player know that there is competition for their spot, but there was no way in the world that Brunell would ever see the field.  What happened next gave everyone insight into the way Sanchez is treated.

Ryan told the press that it was a motivational tactic to light a fire under Sanchez.  But then Ryan had to publicly reassure Sanchez through the media that Sanchez would be the quarterback as long as he was there. 

So even though Sanchez would never lose a single game snap to Brunell, Ryan still had to placate Sanchez—the way Little League coaches reassure their players after a they may have been too harsh with them.

The 2011 season was tremendously disappointing for Jets fans and players.  Losing has a way of accentuating the negatives in any season, especially when their stadium roommates will be parading the Lombardi Trophy around East Rutherford all spring.

The Jets franchise is fractured and at a crossroads, but there's enough talent there that the organization shouldn’t be looking at a complete rebuild. 

The locker room problems the Jets had are not ones that should be settled by the head coach.  He has more important things to worry about.  These are things that are settled among the team leaders. 

When Santonio Holmes popped off on the final drive of the season, it was Matt Slauson and Wayne Hunter who fought back.  When the media wanted answers, it was LaDainian Tomlinson who spoke bluntly and vowed to confront Holmes.  When word of deep-rooted locker room problems surfaced, it was Nick Mangold who took to Twitter and went on New York radio stations to address the situation directly.

And that’s the problem right there.  Sanchez was nowhere to be found. 

If situations like this arose in Indianapolis, New Orleans or New England (and don’t fool yourself, they happen in every locker room) there's no question Manning, Brees and Brady would put an end to them at the snap of a finger. 

In New York, Sanchez’s voice carries little weight in the locker room.  While there certainly are players who support Sanchez, those are either company men like Mangold or best friends like Dustin Keller.  When it comes down to it, they work with Sanchez every day and at least part of the locker room know he's not the answer.

It’s time for Jets fans to open their eyes and see that too.