If the Giants hadn't won the Super Bowl in 2007 Eli would have been out of town shortly thereafter. His 2007 season actually looked like a step backwards until the playoffs. I don't think the Jets are going to bail Sanchez out in similar fashion and I don't think the management is going to stick with him at that point. Hell, if his season finishes looking a bit worse than last season and the Jets miss the playoffs again I won't want him back either. There's only so much angst a Jets fan can deal with and Richard Todd wasn't worth it. Sanchez won't be either unless it all comes together really soon. The year after the back to back 8-8 seasons in the late 70's the Jets went 4-12 with Todd keeping his job. You really want to go through 4-12 next year so that Sanchez gets the chance to lose another AFC Championship game in 2014? I sure don't.
Actually I posted Marks late game stats in each of his 3 1/3 seasons now, and his 4th quarter stats, especially when a game is within 7 points, are pretty dismal. His best 4th quarter +/- 7 points completion percentage was 2010 at 54%. his worst were under 2012 (so far) 38.1%, 2011 47.1%, 2009 52.3%. All in all pretty dismal 4th quarter numbers with the game within +/- 7 points. he seems to have gotten this reputation his rookie year when in the last two minutes of a half he was completing 63% of his passes on 38 attempts, his best in any other season has been 54%. Still even in that 2009 season he only threw 1 TD in the last two minutes of either half and 2 Picks. Of course, to be fair he did throw 5 TD's last year in the final 2 minutes despite completing only 53.9% of his passes to only 2 picks. However, when you look at his 4th quarter numbers from that same year with the game within 7 points you begin to realize that a lot of his TD's in the last two minutes of a half either came in the first half, or in a game that was more than 7 points differential at the time. These comparisons with Eli really need to stop. Eli has never as a full season starter thrown even as many int's as TD's and by his 4th season as a starter was completing 60%+ of his passes. In fact as a starter Eli has never thrown for fewer than 21 TD's. Can the light turn of for Sanchez? We'd better hope so, we're stuck with him this year and next regardless of whether it does or doesn't.
For most people I think its just the frustration/bitter disappointment - first time in I don't know how long the Jets were taking a highly touted potential franchise QB that could be the one thing we have been missing since, well, forever really. It could still happen but its looking more and more as though Sanchez is never going to be a top flight QB, and in this league that is a very big part of having a successful team without an elite D, which we certainly do not have. If sanchez had been a mid-round pick, or even a late first pick people might be more forgiving but if you are a top 5 pick and especially if you are a QB then people want/expect you to be great. And he isn't.
To be fair, not a lot of people were projecting him that high even if he was the second best QB in that class. It was a pretty weak class to say the least.
The reality is that he was a #5 pick, because that's where they had a trade partner..... one that wasn't demanding a very high price. At a time when the JETS had a good team, aside from the most important position, so they pulled the trigger.
They also let Eli sit, and then let Eli throw. They didn't try to mold him. They found out what type of QB he can be and tried to build around that. I actually think he got the reputation sophomore year when when 2 games in OT against DET and CLE with throws to Tone both times. One to set up a FG in DET the other a TD in CLE. When we came back on our last drive to beat Denver and Houston, where Tone got the pass interference call and the game winning TD. Where we had a late drive in INDY with the pass to Braylon in the playoffs. In Miami where we went down the field with 6 minutes in the 4th quarter to make a one point game an 8 point game. The Detroit, Cleveland, and Houston games were in a row also making it stick out even more. So sophomore year is what everyone remembers. Last year he had two aided by Revis against DAL and SD and the Buffalo one which was really strange. That was the one where he pointed to Tone (and posters complained he was pointing the defensive backs where to go even though every QB does this) and then he barely celebrated, went on the exercise bike and acted like he might be needed on the field again. One of the most low key game winning touchdowns you will ever see. That's why posters give him that reputation, because of all the comebacks the Jets had that one year with him at QB. And as Jets fans we rarely are on the winning side of that many close games so it sticks in our mind. To be correct, it was Eli's 4th and 1/2 season before he threw 60%. He started 10? games his rookie year and then started 4 more years with that 5th year total, 4th year as starting game 1 as starter being 60%. But I get your point.
If you go google mock drafts from that year nearly every one of them had Sanchez as a top 10 pick and many as a top 5 pick - he was absolutely expected to go that high by the time of the draft, just not to the Jets. edit: to make sure I wasn't setting myself up to fail I just looked at the first 5 hits that came up when I googled "nfl mock draft 2009" - all 5 had him as a top 10 pick and two of them had him going at #4.
That makes sense considering it was a very weak QB draft. Stafford was clear #1 then Sanchez and Freeman after, both who are average to below average
Eli went 18-53 for a 3.47 YPA against the Redskins in 2007. He did this in December in a game the Giants had to win to keep any chance of winning the NFC East alive. He did it in front of the home crowd. Can you imagine what the reaction would be if Sanchez stunk up the joint like that in a late season game when the division and possibly the playoffs were on the line? 3 games before that he went 17-41 with 4 picks against the Vikings at home again. Can you imagine whose fault the Jets season would be if Sanchez had games like that late at home in a playoff race?
To be correct I did say full season as a starter at the begining of the statement. However, if you want to compare the two as 4th quarter qb's within 7 points then even including eli's partial year, his worst completion percentage was 57% in the first 4.5 years, his other years were I believe all over 60% in the 4th quarter game within 7. This is not to say Manning was star at the time, he threw too many picks, but save his first partial season, he's never thrown as many picks as TD's. and man it sucks having to sing about how Mannings early years were actually better than Sanchez's. .
Yeah I agree, but I don't think you can throw away things he learnt/saw in his first partial season where he started. I always though sitting a new QB and then letting them take over midseason/after a season was better that letting them start day 1. Obviously the new wave thing is to have these guys start day 1 so maybe I'm behind on the curve on that. I don't think you can really compare Eli/Sanchez except from the media hate they got. Couglin and Eli were rumored to be going out the door, then they won the Super Bowl. Obviously I think beating GB in GB would have sealed their fate as coming back for a few more years, but they closed any speculation with that playoff run. The critcism towards Eli/Sanchez has been eerily similar, but that doesn't mean Sanchez will have the same career arc as Eli or played similarly to Eli as you have pointed out. Also, couldn't you say save for Mark's first season he hasn't thrown more picks than TDs? Mark played a 1/3 of a more season than Eli's first season. 15 games (he sat TB) vs Eli's 9.
That was also on a night with 40 mph winds when the running game was being effective until it was essentially given up on by Gilbride. Shockey went down that can, IIRC. I'm not saying Eli wasn't awful that game, but the whipping boy online, on the radio, and in any other media I can think of was moreso Gilbride than Eli.
People have an obsession with comparing Mark to Eli. The only thing they have in common is they play in the same city.
No, they also have in common that they disappointed early on in a vast media storm surrounding their team. They have in common that their supporters say that they're better in clutch situations than in normal play. They have in common that they both are/were very erratic early in their career. "How could Eli have thrown that ball?!" was a common theme among Giants fans until the Super Bowl win. "How could Eli have thrown that ball?!" was a common theme among Giants fans *after* the Super Bowl win.
The game in NE they had sums it up. Eli threw a RZ INT off his back foot, then came down late in the game and threw a TD pass to win it.
So what do you want to do, start Teblow? That will really win us some games. /facepalm When Sanchez had people he could throw it to, he helped the offense see back to back AFCCGs. This is an off year if you think about it, especially with the early injuries.
I'm not sure why people are still comparing Mark to Eli. Never in the NFL has there been a player who had his rocky start, and just got better and better and then exploded like Eli has. To think it will happen to Mark is wishful thinking. I mean, if it happens, fantastic.... I just can't see it playing out like that. There is a huge difference between Eli and Mark, and I'm not even talking about the HOF pedigree he has. Even though Eli had a tremendously shaky start his first few seasons, it seemed to me the Giants not once ever considered that they might have made the wrong move in drafting him. Granted, it might have played out differently if the Giants had not won it all in 07, but it just seemed that the Giants just knew Eli would be a winner. I don't think the Jets have that feeling with Mark.
I really hate it when people keep bringing this up. There is only so long you can dangle this in front of our eyes before we tune it out completely. Anyone still talking about the Bills and their 4 straight Superbowls? No, because looking back, none of that mattered cause they just couldn't finish the job.
Flacco has an outstanding cast around him and always has. I really don't know that I'd take Flacco over Sanchez at this point. I might take him and I might not. Having Ray Rice and the WR's that Flacco has had is a big part of where he is right now and he's not a star by any means. I expect the Jets to have a shot at Flacco in free agency one of these years soon. All it will take is an injury season for the Ravens to move on.
