Tim Tebow's Star Power Will Replace Mark Sanchez as Jets Starter

I'm not sure even the people of New York can deny what will inevitably happen at sometime during the Jets' 2012 season. 

Starting quarterback Mark Sanchez, who has led the Jets to two AFC Championship games but is frustratingly inconsistent, will have a stretch where he struggles. Every quarterback in the NFL struggles at sometime during the season, and for a guy that possesses a 73.2 career passer rating, there isn't a chance Sanchez skates through the 2012 season without a string of hiccups. 

In probably 90 percent of NFL cities, hiccups are fine. Part of the deal. Bound to happen. 

In the other nine percent of NFL cities, a stretch of struggles would get a starting quarterback benched for the No. 2 guy on the depth chart.

Then there is the Jets, the final one percent, who have the NFL's most unique quarterback situation.

Of course, the dynamic of Tim Tebow is what sets New York's situation apart.

Even before Sanchez has an opportunity to muster the abdominal muscle power needed to produce a hiccup, he's going to have Tebow breathing down his neck. I mean, in what other situation is a team going to introduce a backup quarterback in a heavily attended press conference, even with the team's owner, general manager and head coach away on business?

And if you thought the outside pressure to play Tebow was strong in Denver, you're in for a big surprise in the Big Apple. The first three-and-out from Sanchez might prompt trailer-sized billboards to go up throughout the city urging the Jets to start Tebow.

NFL.com's Jeff Darlington put it nicely in his post on the Jets' early handling of Tebow.

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It doesn't matter how demanding the media market might be. I understand there's no place like New York. But it's also a place that acts like that big kid on the playground who doesn't think the game starts until he shows up; a place where people believe something can't be hip until they decide it is. If the Jets are approaching Tebow with that same "we got this" mentality, it could bite them back.

While it is fairly easy to argue that Sanchez is better than Orton, it isn't easy to argue against this: If you thought Tebowmania was crazy back then, what do you think it's going to be like in the wake of a season that included five fourth-quarter comebacks and six game-winning drives, including one against the Jets?

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I am confident that head coach Rex Ryan will give Sanchez every chance in the world to hold down a spot he probably still deserves. There have been plenty of downs, but the ups make you think that New York would be crazy to bench the young quarterback before he truly gets the chance to flick the light on at the quarterback position.

But I also don't think that the organization as a whole is going to be as strong as most think against the tidal wave of Tebow support that is guaranteed to engulf the team when (not if) Sanchez struggles next season.

I'd put the chances on a healthy Sanchez starting all 16 games in 2012 at a low number. Eventually, the Jets' wall that will hold back Tebowmania will come crashing down.

Remember, a Hall of Fame quarterback that won his city two Super Bowl rings couldn't contain the storm of Tebow support last season. What makes you think the current Jets' regime has the clout to hold it back in the league's biggest market?