Poor Outing vs. Packers No Reason to Panic over Mark Sanchez

Any given year in the NFL, there are games you're supposed to win and games you're supposed to lose. It's how you do in the rest of them that typically determines your fate. 

Sunday, on the road against the streaking Green Bay Packers and their red-hot quarterback, the Philadelphia Eagles were supposed to lose. 

The Packers are now 5-0 at home, having outscored their opponents 219-85. And their quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, has to be considered an MVP front-runner with a passer rating of 120.1, which leads the NFL by a margin of almost 13 points. 

The potential problem for the Eagles, of course, is that they lost in such humiliating fashion. The 33-point loss was the worst defeat they've suffered since Chip Kelly took over as head coach a year-and-a-half ago and their second-worst loss since 2006. The 53 points they surrendered were the most since 1972. 

Year	Opponent	Points allowed
1972	Giants	62
1966	Cowboys	56
2014	Packers	53
2013	Broncos	52

We know the Eagles defense is better than that. They've proven it all year. This was a blip on the radar, and it had more to do with how good the Packers are than how bad the Eagles might be. 

“There’s a big difference between the Carolina Panthers and the Green Bay packers," said safety Malcolm Jenkins, according to CSNPhilly.com. "Every week is a new season. You can’t expect just to show up and things go the same as it has been. You’ve got to earn it and today we got beat.”

That's why it's tough to hold quarterback Mark Sanchez's performance against him. With his defense unable to stop Rodgers and the Packers—it missed a ridiculous 10 tackles, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), it didn't have a sack until it was 24-3 Green Bay and it allowed Green Bay to convert eight of 14 third downs—Sanchez was forced to press from the get-go.

A guy who had started just one game in the last 22 months was trying to be Superman, which helps explain why he committed four turnovers in the loss. 

From CSN Philly's Geoff Mosher: 

"

The Packers scored on their first four possessions. They had drives of at least 80 yards and six plays on three of their first-half possessions as they headed into the break up 30-6. They averaged 7.4 yards per play and converted five of their six third downs in the first half, including 3rd-and-23, 3rd-and-9, 3rd-and-10 and 3rd-and-7.

"

The Packers were up 17-0 before Sanchez had thrown his fourth pass of the day. At that point, he was 2-of-3 for 51 yards, having already completed impressive throws to Riley Cooper and Jeremy Maclin on a drive that was derailed by a sack, which the 28-year-old quarterback stood little chance of avoiding.

On that note, his pass protection was shaky, his D provided no help with zero takeaways, his center continued to struggle snapping the ball and his support from the running game was less than satisfactory. Running back LeSean McCoy averaged just 3.8 yards per attempt. 

Sanchez completed 10 of his first 13 passes, including a pair of big strikes to Maclin and rookie receiver Jordan Matthews. The wheels didn't come off for him until he was forced to attempt the impossible in the second half. 

	1st half	2nd half
Comp.%	62.5	57.1
TD-INT	0-0	2-2
Turnovers	0	4
YPA	9.3	7.1
Rating	92.7	73.2

The key now is that Sanchez—whose psyche has been criticized in years past—finds a way to completely forget this performance. Believe it or not, he's played much worse, and each of his best NFL quarterback peers have had similar days. 

Hell, just this week, Peyton Manning looked just as bad in a shocking 22-7 loss to the St. Louis Rams. The Denver Broncos quarterback had a fair amount of support from his D but couldn't find any sort of rhythm and threw two abysmal fourth-quarter interceptions against a weak defense. 

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had a pair of picks and a gross 59.9 rating in a blowout loss to the Kansas City Chiefs earlier this season. New Orleans Saints Pro Bowl pivot Drew Brees threw two interceptions, completed less than 60 percent of his passes and averaged just 6.2 yards per attempt in a home loss to the San Francisco 49ers last week. 

Bad games happen. Even this Green Bay team has three double-digit losses this season. Rodgers had a pair of picks in an ugly three-score loss to the Saints last month and was worse than Sanchez (two picks, a passer rating of 64.5 and an average of just 5.4 yards per attempt) in a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals last September. 

Sanchez still completed a respectable 59 percent of his passes, and all four of his turnovers—two interceptions and two fumbles—came in the second half, with Philadelphia trailing by a minimum of 23 points. The game was over, which is fair, because no quarterback in NFL history has won despite his team surrendering 50-plus points. 

I guess the point is that Sanchez wasn't necessarily becoming a Hall of Famer when he picked apart the Carolina Panthers in a 332-yard, two-touchdown, zero-interception performance in Week 10. But by the same token, he shouldn't be written off as "the same old Sanchez" for poor numbers in a desperation game on short rest at Lambeau.

It's too early in this relief mission to draw conclusions about Sanchez. I know it's unnatural for us to exercise patience in this impatient, unforgiving league, especially when assessing quarterbacks, but Sanchez deserves a blank slate entering the final six weeks of the season. 

Based on the fact that he has just one more road game against an opponent with a winning record, it should surprise nobody if the much-maligned quarterback bounces back during the home stretch. 

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFC East for Bleacher Report since 2012.

Follow @Brad_Gagnon