Jets fan here - not looking to troll just have some good ole football talk.
Here are some observations on Sanchez.
Obviously you guys have the #1 qb in the league - no denying it and you win this matchup by a huge margin. But I think some of you are reading into the stats a little to much on Sanchez and are underestimating him a little.
I think he is above average for one simple reason, there are 32 teams in the NFL and there are not 16 qbs in the league I would take over him. There are probably 10-13 off the top of my head that I would. That makes him slightly above average. He is tied for league lead in the only stat that matters (wins).
Sanchez will not take the team on his back all game long and win a shootout for you but in a close game in the fourth, he has confidence, balls and more than enough get it done.
He has not proven that to me. He has gotten, by his below average play, his team in tight games with bad teams, that he won because of the other team screwing up.
Vs Denver the game was over and he heaved 45 yard desperation pass on 4th down that would not have been caught and the defender for some unknown reason reached back for a WR who couldnt make the catch.
Vs Detroit, it was over if they ran on 3rd down, or if Peterson didnt have a late hit 10 yards out of bounds.
Vs Cleveland he failed to put it away numerous times and would not have won without a stupid fumble and another illadvised pass where a run would have killed the clock.
Vs Houston, he threw an Int that should have ended the game on the next to last drive, after other failed drives helped them get back in it.
He has out his team in a hole vs bad teams and bringing them back seems to be more about opponents errors.
Of course he will continue to have to opportunity to prove that he is the kind of player you are already prematurely annointing him, but those 4 games dont do it.
His completion % is skewed a little lower because the Jets try to stretch the field with the deep ball at least 5 times a game with very low percentage passes - so even if hits 70% of his 26 shorter throws (18) and only hits one of his low % throws he is 19 out of 34 for 55%. As opposed to a Chad Pennington who would complete a high % but never attempt any deep balls.
Too bad the facts dont agree with that excuse.
That being said - that is oversimplified and there are other factors as well. Sanchez still has a ways to improve in this area if he is to be considered an upper level QB.
I have noticed a lot of talk here about the Jets using the slant route. The Jets do not run many slants to the wr's at all. The slant to Holmes in the Cleveland game was the first one thrown that entire game. They throw way more to the outside. When the Jets throw inside it usually a deep curl route.
I would not be concerned with Jets beating you with slants. Even if it is your weakness you can count on our OC not to try to exploit it. Being that your pass D is suspect (ranking wise), I would expect the Jets to come out with an extremely run heavy game plan.
I think you intended that as a slam on your OC, but that kind of strategy is smart.
If I am going against a team that has a secondary that cant cover, and I come out throwing every down to exploit it, I am giving them notice to overcomensate for the pass, and give the dbs help. Now I am throwing against bad dbs with them getting help. If I run the ball, and make them play honest, now I will torch the weakness.
The key to football isnt attacking the weakness 60 times so the entire defense is overcompensating against it, it is to weaken the defense so it has to rely on the weak guy to do his job with no help then attack him. 10 times of that is enough for a blowout.
