Jets fans are mostly idiots. After coming back from that debacle today, I purposely stayed off this board because I knew I couldn't handle it. I knew everybody would be all over Sanchez for this loss and I knew all game long it was not his fault. The CS lost this game, not Sanchez. Yes, the kid threw 5 picks, but the job of the CS is to win games and develop this kid and they failed on both accounts today. Let's look at the situation at halftime. 13-3 lead, cold windy day, Jet running game shredding the Bills, Sanchez looked off in the first half, back up QB in for Bills, defense not giving up a score since the first drive of the game. Game over right? Wrong. At the beginning of the season, Ryan said the Jets were going to be pound the ball smash mouth defensive team. The second half of that game was the time to play that way and protect Sanchez. The Jets should have run the ball, then run it some more until the Bills stopped it. They should have played field position and been content with getting to the 40 or 50 yard line and pinning the Bills deep and making them go the entire field. They should have been willing to force the Bills to pass and get turnovers. Not one of the interceptions or the sacks in the second half should have even happpened because there was no reason for the Jets to have been passing. Period. To repeatedly give the Bills a short field by turning it over with unnecessary passes - to repeatedly give up points by passing while in FG range - to give up field position the entire 2nd half - to put the game on this kid's shoulders when he didn't have it shows me that the CS does not get it. This should have been an easy, safe, boring win. The kind of win we have seen the Ravens have for years. It's time for Schotty to stop trying to be so smart that he outsmarts himself. You have recognize the type of game it is and realize that Sanchez is a rookie who came out a year early. There would have been nothing wrong with Sanchez finishing the game with 15 passing attempts for under 100 yards and no TDs and take a 16-10 win or something like that. But on a day when the Jets ran for over 300 yards and averaged 8 yards a carry and on a day where the QB was obviously struggling to have him attempt 29 passes and be sacked 5 times is a complete embarrassment to the CS and NOT the QB. What is worse is that the CS let the kid take the blame. They should be stand up guys and put the blame where it belongs - with them (Schotty, Cavanaugh, and Ryan). The game plan in the 2nd half was terrible and it cost the Jets a game. Now Sanchez is a target for the media and fans and his confidence took a needless hit when the game could have and should have been over at half time and the running game and defense should have brought it home. If you can't see that, you don't know football.
The coaching staff didnt force sanchez to force a ball into double coverage or to throw it up to edwards surrounded by 4 people. He has part of the blame. So does special teams they werent that good either
As evidenced by today's display, Sanchez has, by NFL standards, a weak arm which doesn't enable him to throw passes that cut through adverse weather conditions. So are you saying that the coaching staff should, knowing this, call only runs and shovel passes? Okay, I guess. Certain play calls may have been bad, but I doubt Schotty is encouraging Sanchez to: 1) force the ball into triple coverage 2) Take sacks when he's had 5 seconds in the pocket 3) underthrow passes to the sideline 4) Throw balls essentially up for grabs when nobody's open
Schotty was bad. But, are you so sure they would've run the ball as well if they didn't have the threat of the pass. Plus, it's not like the running game was gashing them for 5 yards consistently every play. 137 of Jones's yards were on 2 plays. That means 20 carries, 73 yards was his statline otherwise....not exactly a dominant running game...this set up some 3rd and longs....you would've ran on these 3rd and longs? Every Jet fan would've killed Schotty for this. Sanchez played atrocious, I don't see how you can place the entire blame on the coaching staff. Some, yes. All, no.
Here we go again with the arm strength BS. Please let's not start that again. It is a complete fallacy. Yes Sanchez made bad decisions today. But why was he passing when he didn't need to pass. The Bills had 8 in the box and couldn't stop the run. So RUN!!!
He has arm strength? Is it just a little, or a lot stronger, than Joe Flacco's? What games have you been watching, sir. It's more than bad decisions; the decisions are bad because at times he tries to make throws he physically can't make.
I don't recall comparing him to Pennington. Why not compare him to Cutler, or even Chad Henne? If you use Pennington as your baseline for comparison, 99% of college QB's have arm strength. I am a Jets fan, and I want Sanchez to succeed. But why do you feel the need to deny facts? His arm is what it is.
I dunno, it's not like he threw 40 balls. We ran the ball, a lot. And Id be surprised if there was more than 1 or 2 passes on first or second down in the second half. We leaned on the run game about as much as you can without basically telling your QB you don't trust him, and before today, he hadn't done much to suggest he couldn't be trusted with the ball. The kids gonna take some lumps along the way, today was one of those days. Anybody you asked before the season, no matter how optimistic, would have had to admit that he was likely to give away a couple games with rookie shenanigans. It's one of the strange bits of human behavior that we can get so upset about something we already knew would happen and had made peace with months ago. You don't develop the kid by playing one dimensional football. Look at any quarterback, walk into the Hall of Fame and pick one at random, and that quarterback will have had some stinkers too, and not just in their rookie years. Eli sucked like this for like 4 years before he suddenly won a Super Bowl. And it's hard to say the error today was a lack of commitment to the running game when we had more than 300 yards rushing. I think Sanchez showed enough in the first weeks of the season that when its 3rd and 8, theres nothing wrong with calling a pass. On the other hand. Two of Sanchez's interceptions were on tipped balls. Two were on jump balls that receivers could've made better plays on (if not to make the catch than at least to knock the ball down, one on Braylon and one on Dustin). He didn't get a lot of help, it was one of those days where nothing could go right. Hopefully Cotchery can come back next week and settle things down. It's never as bad as it looks, and its never as good as it looks. That saying has never applied so well to anything as it applies to this season. Unless Jenkins is out for the year. Then, it is as bad as it looks.
The Jet ran for 318 yards on 40 carries. Take out the 2 long runs and Jones and Washington ran for 172 yards on 35 carries - that is 5 yards a carry, consistently on every play. That is a great running day alone, without the two long runs. There were very few plays when the Jets were stuffed running the ball. So you are just wrong IMO. In fact, the only pick Sanchez threw in the first half was on a first down play and was the fluke tip by Edwards right into the DBs hands. In the 2nd half here were the picks: Int #2 - came on 2nd down on the second offensive play of the 2nd half. Why throw a deep out here??? Led to Bills FG Int #3 came on 1st down from the Jet 41 and followed a 5 yard run by Washington, a 5 yard run by Jones for a first down, an 8 yard pass to Edwards, and then a 3 yard run by Jones for a first down. Why pass on first down????? Led to Bills tying TD Int #4 came on 4th and 3. The Jets had 2nd and 2 from the Bills 34 (with the wind at their backs) after an 8 yard run. After Jones got stopped, the Jets passed on 3rd and 4th down. Why??? Run the damn ball and if you get stopped, kick a FG and take the lead!!!!! Needless sack in 4th Q . The Jets move the ball from inside their own ten across the 30. After runs of 7, 9 and 2 yards, the Jets pass on 2nd and 8 and Sanchez is sacked. The Bills then drive into FG range but Lindell misses as the 4th Q ends. OT. Jets have the ball at the Buffalo 32 after the BS holding call on the Jones run. It is 3rd and 13. A run gets Feeley some needed yards. Instead, Sanchez throws a short incomplete pass. Why pass? Run and get 3-4 more yards for an easier FG. Pick #5 -Jets just get the ball on their own 46 after Lowrey's pick. Just over 7 minutes left in OT. Bills have had a 3 and out and a turnover on 2nd down in the OT so far. False start on first down puts it back to the Jet 41. Jones gains 5 yards to make it 2nd and 10 from the 46. If the Jets don't move the ball, they will pin the Bills deep. So what happens. Incomplete pass on 2nd down, pick on 3rd down. Game over. That is crappy play calling and not the QBs fault.
very very good well written post JWWS. I will admit that initially I didnt feel the way you do and when I saw the subject I clicked on the thread expecting to become angry at your post. But after reading your point Im really inclined to agree with you on most of what you are saying. I think Sanchez is going to have a good (not necessarily great) NFL career and I think that there will possibly be a day in the future when we laugh about this game, seeing how far he progessed. But for the time being you are right the CS should have recognized much sooner that he was having a rookie day and just pounded the rock over and over again. Especially in overtime, when we were fortunate to get a 2nd chance!!! I honestly feel like the way the game was playing out that if Schotty called all runs we would have eventually gotten into FG range and won. Schotty screwed the pooch tonight, Rex should have been a head coach though and told him to cut that crap out. I feel like our team is similar, probably not AS good obviously as that Pittsburgh team from Roethlisberger's rookie year. Awesome D, really good running game, and a Rookie QB that is progressing from week to week with highs and lows. However Cowher was perfectly content with Ben only throwing 15 times or even fewer on games like we saw today, and pittsburgh kept winning. Theres NO way The Jets should feel they need to throw as much as they did today. As far as ruining Sanchez's confidence, I am confident myself that he isnt the type to let this game stick with him or in the grand scheme of things become an issue. A lot of people fail to realize that he actually did go through some rough times at USC, losing his job and playing some rough games drawing criticism, namely. Hes hard nosed and hes a gym rat and I feel he will learn more from this game than let it hurt him. We'll be okay Jets fans!
The arm strength argument is a crock. Most of the great offensive minds in NFL history have consistently said that arm strength is the most overrated aspect of the tools a successful QB needs. Sanchez's picks were not due to lack of arm strength or him throwing passes he was not capable of throwing - they were due to bad decisions and just poor throws. The first interception was actually a rope and was overthrown. The second interception was just a poorly thrown ball. The third was a bad decision to throw long into double coverage. The fourth was on 4th down and was tipped. The 5th was just a force.
what about Hartswick or however you spell 84s name when we were on the 25 yard line in overtime and he held and brought us back 10 yards...the game was over!
Yup. For calling pass plays on each of those situations. There are no style points in the NFL. A win is a win. The game did not call for the Jets to pass more than 15 times today. So yes - they were the coach's fault.
There is just too much blaming the QB in football. It doesn't all come down to QB play and sometimes you have to play a game where you make sure the QB doesn't lose you the game, especially when you have a rookie QB playing against an inferior opponent on a bad weather day with a 10 point lead. The only way the Jets lose today is by turning the ball over. You put the playbook away and you go conservative. The runnning game was shredding the Bills. Take any of the 5 picks away and the Jets win.
Seriously, you started a thread blaming the coaching staff and half of what you wrote here is him forcing the ball or making poor throws. Ok, i agree he shouldnt have been throwing but because they decided to switch it up and he makes stupid decision is not the coaching staff's fault. I am honestly baffled on why this kid kepts getting a free pass for sucking up the place.
I feel like I am banging my head against the wall. He gets a pass because he is ROOKIE playing the hardest position in sports and rookie QBs rarely succeed. He happens to be on a team that can run and play defense, so why put him in a position to make mistakes when you KNOW that a rookie is likely to make them? Especially in a game that could have been won without having to pass the ball???? Let him grow up and mature slowly. Flacco threw 1 TD pass and 7 picks in his first 4-5 games last year. Then the Ravens ran the ball down teams throats and played defense and won 12 games. Look at him this year. Ryan was successful because the Falcons ran the ball down teams throats. The Ravens and Falcons were first and second in the NFL in rushing attempts last year and near the bottom of the league in pass attempts. The Jets have the blue print for a rookie QB. They should follow it.
Dude, he just lost to chad henne and...some guy I never heard of in back to back weeks. Both had fewer starts then Sanchez and they still managed to not lose the game for their teams.
The INT's against the Saints were more understandable given that the Jets were generally outclassed and needed to put points on the board. I understand exactly what JWWS was saying in the original post: the Jets set Sanchez up to fail today on a lousy day against a lousy opponent and he did. That's on the coaching staff AND on Sanchez, but on the coaching staff first because they should have known better. They're the ones who have experience in the NFL, not him.
