Randall Cunningham was a great QB. Tim Tebow can't carry his jock. Sorry. You put Tim Tebow into the NFL of the 80's and he wouldn't complete 40% of his passes. Take a look at Bobby Douglass the Bears option QB of the early 70's. That's Tebow in an era when defenses were really allowed to defend the receivers.
I get what you're saying. Production-wise, Brady and Sanchez have somewhat comparable stats for their first three years as starters. Sanchez actually threw more TDs (26) than Brady did (23) in his third year (excluding Brady's rookie season). I think the difference, though, is efficiency. If you look at completion percentage and QB ratings they're a good indicator of avoiding negative plays, converting 3rd downs, etc. Brady's average completion percentage, first three years as a starter, was 62%, and his rating averaged 86.0. Sanchez's numbers for the same categories were 55% completion percentage and an average 72.2 rating. Eli Manning is probably a better "glass is half full" comparison for Sanchez, I think. And with the immense pressure on him, I think 2012 is Sanchez's make-or-break year, even though that's probably not completely fair.
The Giants signed Antrelle Rolle as a free agent, making him the highest paid safety in the league at that point. It's not like they don't use FA.
I agree Tebow isn't half the QB Randall was but Randall wasn't great. Always came up small in a big spot.
You can use free agency to fill a hole when your best efforts to fill that hole via the draft didn't work out. The Jets currently have high profile free agents at LOLB, LILB and SS. They have low profile free agents at RT, WR, FS and ROLB. Last year they had high profile free agents at RB, LOLB, LILB, WR and FS. They had low profile free agents at SS, RT, WR and ROLB. In 2010 they had high profile free agents at RB, RT, LOLB, LILB and FS. They had low profile free agents at FB and FS. In 2009 they had high profile free agents at RT, LG, ROLB, LILB and FS. They had low profile free agents at DE and FB. This isn't even including the fact that they have traded for multiple WR's and CB's along the way spending draft picks to do so. Signing one ILB or one S is not what the Jets are doing here. They are building through free agency as much as through the draft and they are severely overpaying players as a result as well as not getting top end players in most cases but settling for a tier down.
hig profile and high cost are 2 different things, the only high cost FAs we had the last few years were Pace, Woody, Faneca & Scott. Check that list I posted I earlier, we will have around the same # of drafted starters as the Giants had in each of their SB runs.
Brady is not only a Hall of Famer but is talked about in the best ever competition. Mark is not that and probably never will be but the Jets dont need him to be they just need him to be a better than average Qb that can make plays when needed. My point is Mark should still get better and should make a big jump this year. For the Jets to be successful this year and if Sanchez does not improve his completion percentage they will need to improve plays over 20 yards. That is where the Jets sucked last year and will need to improve on. Mark can have the high 50% completion percentage as long as he is making the occasional big play. If not Marks completion percentage will have to jump up significantly.
Why do you think that should happen? He was expected to make that "big jump" in 2011, and he didn't. Sanchez has had 50+ starts already, and hasn't shown any real improvement since about midway through his second season (about 25 starts). In fact, he's regressed, and that regression didn't start in 2011, but back in late 2010, when the Jets altered their passing game for more short throws because he was having difficulty completing passes. A completion % of less than 60% in a passing game that's geared to short throws is far worse than if Sanchez was regularly going deep because long passes are always harder to complete.
Actually on this general point I tend to agree with you. I was merely pointing out that it is not like the Giants do nothing in FA.
Sanchez seems like a streaky passer to me a little. What I think he needs to do, more than anything, is learn how to shrug off a bad throw, a bad play, etc. It seems like so much of it, for him, is playing with confidence, and I think everyone agrees that he showed less and less of that last year as the season wore on. Should be interesting to see what happens now though. I don't think it's any secret that Sanchez doesn't have an unlimited number of chances here. If last season was indeed "rock bottom" then there's nowhere to go but up. And if he fails to do that, then the Jets have TD Jesus waiting in the wings. I think the verdict will be in, one way or the other, on Sanchez this season.
He didn't mainly b/c the OL stunk, the run game was bad for half the year, he had 3 new WRs w/ no offseason,... he was more than good in 2010, I expect he'll be closer to '10 than '11 which should man big things for the Jets if the D is back to normal. Isn't it odd how he hits rock bottom and helps us to 8-8 and Ryan Fitzpatrick is celebrated for leading his team to 6-10?
All about expectations, right? :wink: I've seen the Patriots lose a playoff game to a Sanchez-quarterbacked team. I won't take him lightly.
Your team had three OLers go to the Pro Bowl in 2011, so stop using the "OL stunk" excuse. If he had the Bills OL "protecting" him, he'd have probably been sacked 80 times. If Sanchez doesn't hold the ball so long, he doesn't get sacked so much. If Sanchez doesn't throw short so often, the safeties move off the LOS and the RBs have some room to run. Underneath passes then actually gain some yardage. How many pass plays of more than 40 yards did the Jets have in 2011? IIRC, it was 1 or 2. Sanchez is a former Top 5 draft pick who was handed the keys to the offense and was expected to be a franchise QB. So far, he's failed to even come close. He has a lot of physical talent but hasn't demonstrated that he's a leader or a gamer. Fitzpatrick is a former 7th round draft pick from Harvard (one of about two or three in the entire NFL) who was never expected to be much of anything in the NFL. He lacks a lot of physical talent, but he's proven over and over that he's a leader and a gamer. In that respect, he and Tim Tebow are alot alike, which is why both are "celebrated" despite their shortcomings.
stop w/ the pro bowl nonsese, 2 made it on name recognition and the 3rd was an injury replacement. our OL was mediocre at best last year and bad for a good portion of the year. Did you not notice Sanchez throwing deep in 2009 and 2010? he actually had a deep threat those 2 years and had an Ol to protect him- 2 things he didn't have in 2011. Sanchez has helped us reach 2 title games in 3 years, he's been worth every penny and the trade was a steal for us as we essentially gave up a 2nd rd pick to get him. All the draft stuff is in the past, Fitz got a huge deal last year(and once he did he tanked it), both QBs are expected by their teams to help them win- one wins consistently while the other never has,
That should happen because he is in year four. To me the number of starts is somewhat meaningless as to when a pro qb makes the jump. He did make a jump last season all his numbers were better. I believe if the Jets had the same received core as they did in 2010 mark would have made big jump. Mason, Holmes and Burress did scare anybody. They shipped one off mid season and refused to sign the other that still can't find a job. I think that is pretty significant. Either way year four is when it usually comes together if lack back on Qbs through the years. If Sanchez was on any other team beside the Jets he would be a bright young prospect.
There's a great article today at espn.com: http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/42840/mark-sanchez-is-capable-of-a-turnaround
Was just coming here to post that. The only thing I don't like on the Manning comparisons is that people start arguing on a Sanchez vs Manning basis...that's not the point. He doesn't have to become Manning. The point is that a QB doesn't need to win a SB MVP in the first few years of their career in order to be successful. Let's just say I'm highly skeptical that the Jets will win it all this year, obviously I'll be thrilled if they do, but it's probably not going to happen. Comparing him too much to Manning now will backfire if (read: when) we don't win a SB this year. People just need to calm down and realize that not every (or many, for that matter) light the world on fire in their first three or four years.
It would be wonderful if Sanchez finds the on switch and flips it. That said Eli would have been run out of town based on his performance after year 4 if the Giants flopped at the end. The pressure on Sanchez to perform at an extremely high level this season combined with the lack of personnel upgrades around him is going to be a really tough thing to beat.
Yes I agree with paragraph 2 totally Eli & MS are totally different people so compare 1 to another in there accomplishments is silly at best :sad:
