Don’t get us wrong. We here at BLS are definitely Kellen Clemens fans. But Mark Sanchez was acquired and signed to be a marquee player. He started behind Clemens on the depth chart with an opportunity to win the job — and is taking every step to do so. Sanchez made his “real NFL” debut last night against the Rams. It was a short appearance but the rookie made the most of it.
I was only half paying attention (it is pre-season football) but I noticed two big things. The deep ball to Clowney was obviously impressive. He looked left and pumped before hitting Clowney in stride down the right sideline. The DB actually had Clowney “covered” but it was a nearly perfect throw over the top. Sanchez also seemed to mesh well with Keller — hitting him twice. Whether or not he was leaning on his safety valve, that should end up being a nice connection.
Discussing Sanchez with BLS writer John, I asserted that I think Sanchez should be on a 1.5 to 2 year “plan” to learn the entire playbook. He should be given a chance to win the job — but the Jets also need to bring him along slowly. Sanchez only started for a season at SC, so it’s likely he could face difficulty digesting an entire NFL playbook. At the same time, the Jets seems to have a number of dependable high-percentage options that could take pressure off of the rookie. I’m excited by what Sanchez is doing now, but I really can’t wait to see how he develops in the second half of the 2009 season.
Via FanHouse:
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — That first throw didn’t go quite as smoothly for Mark Sanchez as it may have looked. That the Jets’ rookie quarterback electrified the small preseason crowd at Giants Stadium with a 48-yard strike to David Clowney on the first professional pass of his career was the story of the night, but as cool as he appeared, there was more going on than you may have realized if you were watching on TV.
When the play came in from the sidelines, for instance, Sanchez couldn’t believe it. He’d watched Kellen Clemens, his supposed rival for the starting quarterback job, play two very conservative series. Now here he was, in his first game action as a pro, backed up on his own seven-yard line, and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer had called for a deep ball. Sanchez looked at left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson with eyes wide.
“First play?” he asked. “I’m coming off the bench cold and shooting three-pointers?”
No time to debate it, Sanchez got behind center and started counting his way through the cadence. Two beats in, he barked “GREEN 30!” and his mouthpiece flew out of his mouth.
“The defense laughed,” Sanchez said. “I definitely heard somebody laughing. I don’t know, it might have been somebody on our own team, but somebody definitely was thinking, ‘What an idiot.’”
The ball was snapped. Clowney sprinted up the right sideline. Tight end Dustin Keller raced up the middle of the field. Sanchez read the blitz, pump-faked once in Keller’s direction to freeze the safety and then unleashed a perfect pass to Clowney, who caught it over his shoulder for a 48-yard gain.
“As soon as he caught it, I was really excited,” Sanchez said. “Then I started looking for my mouthpiece.”
Nobody was laughing anymore. The sparse crowd of Jets fans had cheered when Sanchez took the field, and they cheered much louder now. Even Clemens, who likely had just seen his final chance at being the Jets’ starting quarterback evaporate, claims he was cheering.
“Awesome,” Clemens said in answer to the question of what was going through his mind. “I’m cheering for anybody that’s in a Jets uniform.”
Tags: david clowney, dustin keller, kellen clemens, mark sanchez, new york jets, NFL, quarterbacks, Rex Ryan
