The past 2 seasons have been kind to the New York Jets. In both of those campaigns, the Jets were able to run through the playoffs until the AFC championship game. That’s been their stumbling block, and they’ve failed to get to the Super Bowl. This season, they may not have to worry about any Super Bowl aspirations. They currently sit at 2-3, good enough for 3rd place in the AFC East. If the Jets want to live up to their coach’s goal of winning the Super Bowl, they have to start finding ways to win games, and that’s all on Mark Sanchez.
Now, I’m about to use one of the most controversial stats in the history of sports to make a simple point. Mark Sanchez isn’t very good, and I’m going to use his quarterback rating to prove that. He’s currently 19th in the league with a quarterback rating of 80.4. He has 8 touchdown passes, but he’s followed that up with 5 interceptions and 3 fumbles. He is, however, currently completing the highest percentage of his passes that he’s ever completed as a pro. Unfortunately, that number is still a mediocre 56.1%. Here’s the translation. Mark Sanchez is not a good quarterback. Period.
We all know that the New York media can be absolutely vicious when it comes to their sports teams. The early elimination of the Yankees won’t put them in a better mood when they decide to tee up the Jets. While the Jets have been saying that Metlife Stadium is their home not the Giants’, they have been doing little to legitimately stake that claim. The Jets have always been the Giants’ little brothers, and they’re not bucking that reputation anytime soon.
I hate to start nailing the Jets’ 2011 coffin shut so early, but they simply haven’t been playing up to their standards this season. It’s possible that Rex Ryan has artificially inflated a mediocre team’s expectations to a level that far exceeds what they are capable of doing, but I think the real culprit has to go back to the quarterback position. It’s a passing league, and you have to have a great quarterback to take your team to the elite level. That’s just something the Jets don’t have.
To be fair to Sanchez and the Jets’ offense, they haven’t been getting the usual amount of help from their defense this season either. The Jets are giving up an average of 25 points per game, tied for 20th worst in the league. If you don’t take into account their game against Jacksonville, the league’s worst offense, their points allowed per game balloons to 30.5, which would be dead last in the NFL. We talk a lot about an offense giving their defense some “run support,” but the Jets aren’t playing their style of football. They can’t win shootouts, and that’s what they’re asking their offense to do. It’s simply not reasonable.
With the Jets, it’s hard to pinpoint a specific cause for their early season woes. One could argue that it’s all on the offense, which is only moving the ball an average of 4.9 yards per play (28th in the league), and you could also argue that it’s the defense’s fault for giving out points like they’re candy. Either way you look at it, the Jets are 2-3 in a very difficult division. They’re starting to get a little too old on defense, and their offense isn’t making any head-way, despite adding more skill players into the mix. It’s time for them to start thinking about moving on from Mark Sanchez. He’s not doing them any favors, and I don’t think things will get better any time soon so long as he’s their starting quarterback.
