A commonly asked and ever so important question has been brought up once again this preseason: should you start your ace rookie qb or give him time to adjust and learn? For every Matt Ryan or Joe Flacco there are ten Joey Harringtons or Alex smiths in the lurk. And the Aaron Rogers/Phillip Rivers mold of coming in and learning the system seems to work with remarkable consistency. No one questions whether or not these kids can throw and run and take a hit, its how they will react psychologically to the situation that is in question. Harrington, for example, just couldn't take it. He could throw the ball too, just needed time to grow up and the Lions couldn't afford to give it to him. The Jets, in any case, are putting Sanchez right in the mix: "I feel that the best move for our franchise and our team is to go with Mark as our quarterback," coach Rex Ryan said. Now Sanchez's performance this preseason has certainly been lauded but excited old man chatter aside, he really hasn't played that well. He is a combine 6/12 for 131 years a TD an INT (pick six) and a fumble. His QB rating so far is 82.29, which is good for 20th in the league (just behind Jason Campbell). Nevertheless, in this case I agree with the decision. Sanchez seems like he could eventually be good, and whether or not this is the right thing for his development Sanchez is likely to be better than Kellen Clemens. Which is quite frankly the deciding factor. Every team that drafts a young QB would rather sit them on the bench and have their face in a playbook then have them play, but the reality is that not too many teams have that luxury. The packers did it with Rogers cause they had Favre and the Chargers did it because of the surprise emergence of Drew Breese. In most cases, however, that is not an option: Matt Ryan in Atlanta, Flacco in B-more, and now Sanchez in NY. Its not really about the rookies themselves its more about whether or not there is someone/anyone else, and that's the only reason why Sanchez should start and Matt Stafford shouldn't. An 82.29 passer rating is better than Favre's 81.0 from last year after all.
"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."
Dammit Ganesh, I was going to throw up a Sexy Sanchez post! You beat me to it, so I am going to use this as the forum for my rant. Someone needs to help me understand what seems to be a growing disconnect between the college game and the pros. Dirty Sanchez stands to be the highest paid player in Jets franchise history, and he has just been named the team's starter in his first game as a rookie. Tebow, McCoy, and Bradford have all gone back to campus, and surely all three of them will be in the Heisman hunt from the get. I just don't get it. When did being a "great" college football player become unequal to being attractive to NFL teams? Or if they are attractive, and these QBs are staying in college for their own reasons, is there something contradicting the old line of reasoning that staying in NCAA when you could turn pro risks an injury that could cost you hella? Maybe it is the Troy Smiths and the Matt Lienerts and the Tim Couches that scare these guys away from the pros. Why risk obsurity when you can stay a big man on campus, and get more media coverage. But the money! Don't these weirdos want the money? Someone help me with this.
ReplyDelete