I guess what he is saying is that he wanted to prevent them from being able to down the ball in a botched snap situation?

Man, that seems like a pretty weak excuse considering the benefits of Sanchez getting coaching under a highly stressful situation.

I still think he is nuts for his not going for the perfect season. You can't deny your guys a chance at football imortality even if it does make sense from a "staying healthy" standpoint.

I don't think it was luck, because it seems like every time I've turned on a Jets game this season and it's been close at the end Sanchez has played flawlessly. I'm still not sold on him overall, but he appears to have mastered the two-minute drill in just his second year in the league.

Eli Manning is a good comparison. Maybe a better comparison would be somebody like Ken Stabler. Not impressive most of the time, but very good in the clutch. It will be interesting to see if Sanchez eventually becomes a top-tier QB.

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From what I've seen of the use of the term, "clutch quarterback" is a nice euphemism for "sucks in the first three quarters."

I'd rather have a quarterback whose level of play throughout the game doesn't consistently force my team to rely on desperation plays in the final two minutes.

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Me too. But I understand the optimism about Sanchez, considering how well he's done with one of the most difficult aspects of the game. If the rest of his game comes around, he could be really good, but who knows if it will. He might be one of those guys who needs to be in a desperate situation in order to play his best. But the best QBs have the self-discipline to master all of the boring stuff as well, so that they are playing their very best on every snap. Aaron Rodgers fits that description.

It remains to be seen if Sanchez has that kind of dedication, and I'm not sure if he has the physical tools to be a top-tier QB. But he might.

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Your analysis is excellent. I personally think that Mark Sanchez may simply have been drafted too early; I think he could have benefited from the seasoning of another year in college. Another factor that has hampered his development is the fact that he's been injured multiple times since entering the league.

For the first half of the league, Sanchez was phenomenally efficient, no doubt aided by his running game. He was on pace to perhaps set a record for fewest passing attempts to 30 TDs. His production tapered off toward the end of the year, no doubt impeded by his injuries.

My main objection to all the accolades heaped on Mark Sanchez is that they seem to be based mainly off (a) his perceived potential as opposed to his actual production and (b) the fact his team made it to the playoffs his rookie year, even though statistically he didn't play a huge role in their success that year. (In fact, he was objectively bad). I just wish assessments of player performances were more objective and weren't based so heavily on a single metric: wins.

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