If this were a movie, Mark Sanchez would win Sunday and again the following week, and then complete the fairy tale with a dramatic Super Bowl victory Feb. 6. And as the confetti is falling and the music is playing and tears are welling up in the eyes of 110 million television viewers, Sanchez would hold up the Lombardi Trophy and say he did it all for Aiden, his young friend who passed away days before the New York Jets [team stats]’ remarkable playoff run began.
Aiden Binkley was 11 years old when he succumbed to cancer two weeks ago. One of the last things he wanted to do in this life was meet his hero, Mark Sanchez, and he did just that on a visit to the Jets training facility in the middle of December. Wasn’t enough for Sanchez, though. The 24-year-old quarterback asked Aiden’s parents if he could surprise their son with a visit to the family’s Long Island home, and a few days before Christmas, there he was, waiting on the couch when Aiden awoke from a nap.
Sanchez gave Aiden a game ball from a Dec. 19 victory at Pittsburgh, and last week, as the Jets prepared for their playoff game against Indianapolis, the ball was buried with Aiden Binkley. The QB offered to pay for the funeral before he went out to Indianapolis and knocked off Peyton Manning and the Colts.
And if this were a movie, Sanchez would beat Tom Brady [stats] this weekend and then win the AFC Championship Game, and then take the whole Binkley family to Dallas, where they would watch the Super Bowl from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ private suite. Sanchez would be the hottest star in sports: handsome, compassionate, clutch, the anti-Vick or anti-Roethlisberger, the brilliant young signal-caller with the heart as big as Texas.
It all makes for such a great story, we almost hate to see the Patriots [team stats] ruin it. Unfortunately for the Jets, this is not a movie, and Sanchez is just not ready for the real-life drama that awaits him Sunday in Foxboro. The biggest problem for the Jets right now is simple: Sanchez is, by all accounts, a great person. He’s just not a very good quarterback. He’s certainly no Brady, and sadly, he’s not even Michael Vick or Ben Roethlisberger.
It’s football. It’s reality. No one said it was fair.
There is a lot of hype and a lot of hope invested in Sanchez because he plays in New York and does all the right things off the field. Decent people want him to succeed, and right now many of them are kind of holding their breath and closing their eyes and hoping when they open those eyes, they’ll see the next Tom Brady standing there in a Jets uniform.
And hopefully it’ll happen someday. But right now he’s not even close. And right now Rex Ryan doesn’t have a team that can win the Super Bowl because the Jets coach doesn’t have a quarterback who can win the Super Bowl. Every decade or so, a Trent Dilfer or a Mark Rypien will lead his team to the championship, but as a rule, you need a Brady, a Drew Brees, a Roethlisberger, a quarterback who can stand up under pressure and win a playoff game or two for you. Sanchez can’t do that. Not this Sunday. Not this season.
Of the eight starting quarterbacks left in the playoffs, No. 6 on the Jets ranks last on the list. He finished the regular season 27th in the NFL with a passer rating of 75.3, trailing such luminaries as Shaun Hill, Alex Smith and Chad Henne. Sanchez was 29th in completion percentage (a wretched 54.8) and 26th in yards per attempt. And he managed all this with a very good set of wide receivers.
In his last 10 games, Sanchez has had just one with a rating better than 90. Worse than that: He’s had just one game without a pick. The general consensus is that the Jets will have to put up 30 points or more to beat Brady’s Patriots. In Sanchez’ last 10 starts, just one time did he put up 30 and win.
On Saturday, the Jets eliminated the Colts with a last-second field goal, but for most of the night, Sanchez looked like a drunk throwing darts at last call. He was consistently high and wide, and was saved by a strong running game (169 yards) and a solid defense. He’ll have to be much better this weekend, and the question is: Does he even have it in him?
In the two games he’s played in Foxboro, Sanchez completed a combined 25-of-54 attempts for 300 yards and seven picks. In losing a 45-3 squeaker to the Pats in December, he had three interceptions and a 27.8 rating. He’ll be on the same field Sunday, probably in the same weather (it was 27 degrees Dec. 6). He’ll be looking across the line at the same defenders and dropping back and trying to make sense of the same coverages.
And we think this time will be different why?
Sanchez was not a good quarterback when he came to Foxboro a month ago and lost by six touchdowns. He’s not a good quarterback now. Maybe in the movies the nice-guy quarterback can go on the road and be a hero and beat the best team in football. This ain’t a movie.
This is football. This is Foxboro. No one said it would be fair.
