I am a follower of a blog called The Big Lead, and for the most part it is quite enjoyable. However, they have writers who have an unhealthy obsession with Notre Dame, Michigan, and the New York Jets. The last one, the Jets, led to a post called Debunking the Mark Sanchez Myths. Well, after reading it I decided it deserved a FJM-style takedown. I am sure many of you will agree. Let’s get it started.
1) The Jets win in spite of him!
False. In the last four games – two to get into the playoffs, and the two playoff games – Sanchez is completing 60 percent of his passes. He has thrown two TDs and one pick. He hasn’t fumbled. He’s basically playing error-free football.
Okay, that’s great. Cherry pick the parts you want. Ignore the 100 yards passing, the fact that he isn’t asked to make any sort of throw of consequence, his Yards Per Attempt Average, their treatment of him with baby gloves by the coaching staff, and the gameplan that Rex Ryan is specifically designing to make sure Sanchez has as minimal of an impact on the game as possible. Why does Rex Ryan do that, by the way? Because he knows Mark Sanchez is the only guy who could royally fuck up his gravy train. I’m sorry, but if the coach is designing gameplans to minimize the influence and effect on the game Sanchez can have when he’s the one guy who touches the ball on every offensive play, then the team is winning in spite of him. The less he does, the better the team is. GO SANCHISE!!!!
The Jets are winning because the defense has been phenomenal, the offensive line has paved the way for the running game, Sanchez has brilliantly managed the second half of both playoff games, and the Bengals and Chargers combined to go 0-for-5 on field goals. (Ed. Note: Italics are mine)
Hey look! An unordered list that is secretly ordered!! No homer would ever do that!! Let’s actually list these effects in a REAL order for how they really are winning:
- defense has been phenomenal – True. This is #1. Good job. The rest is off kilter.
- the Bengals and Chargers combined to go 0-for-5 on field goals – This is undoubtedly #2. While the Jets probably still win the Bengals game, it undoubtedly changes the complexion of the game if Shayne Graham hits a field goal. HOWEVER, the Jets lose the Chargers game if Kaeding hits the field goals he should. PERIOD. THEY LOSE. Don’t throw any bullshit arguments about how “we don’t know that blah blah blah”. Yes, we do. CHARGERS WIN IF KAEDING GOES 2 FOR 3!!!! This is the #2 reason why the Jets have a conference championship game on Sunday. Everybody who isn’t a homer or Peter King realizes this.
- the offensive line has paved the way for the running game – Undoubtedly true. Without the running game, the Jets would have to rely on Mark Sanchez, and everybody who isn’t a Jets fan knows what would happen then: 5 Interceptions.
- Sanchez has brilliantly managed the second half of both playoff games – I would like to point out that I am a Titans fan, this is a Titans blog, and we had 2007 Vince Young and 2008 Kerry Collins as our most recent playoff QBs and yet we still have a much higher standard for “brilliance” than The Big Lead. If the way Sanchez has “managed” has been brilliant, then it has to be the most underwhelming Brilliance in the history of the modern Western World.
2) If you only throw for 100 yards in a playoff game …
Meaningless.
Yes, absolutely meaningless. It doesn’t matter that the Jets have to manufacture wins and avoid their QB contributing in any meaningful way. Completely and totally meaningless.
The Jets aren’t asking their rookie QB to throw 25-30 times per game. All they’re asking is for him not to make mistakes, convert a few third downs, and put them in position to win the game. He’s done that in both playoff games. There’s a reason he’s only the 4th rookie QB since 1950 to start and win a playoff game: rookies are mistake-prone. If Sanchez has to put the ball up 30 times Sunday, the Jets will almost certainly lose.
Yeah, which is why the Jets are winning in spite of him. If he had to, you know, play like a normal Quarterback, the Jets would most certainly lose. Your words. Not mine.
3) His passer rating – 63 – is so bad!
Take a gander some historical “passer rating” numbers. Chad Pennington is 6th all-time. Eli Manning is 70th. John Elway (79.9) and Byron Leftwich (79.6) are virtually equal in the passer rating department. Read into that what you will.
Yes, all salient points in pointing out why Passer Rating is an overrated stat. However, you inadvertently point out Byron Leftwich is still 13 points higher than Sanchez. The equivalent would be how in baseball, batting average is highly overrated. That’s a true statement in general, however if a guy is batting .205 then its fair to surmise that players sucks ass at baseball. The difference between John Elway at 79.9 and Brett Favre at 89.9 is one thing, but 63 is historically bad. So, just because a statistic is overrated doesn’t mean it’s useless in determining effective play vs. historically bad play. Sanchez threw 20 INTs. He sucks.
(Guess which QB set a few rookie passing records? Rick Mirer in 1993 with the Seahawks. He was never heard from again.)
Of course the Football Outsiders left out two relevant points in the Russell-Sanchez comparison: Russell was a 2+year starter at LSU (Sanchez had one year at USC), and Russell rode the Oakland bench for a year before mopping up for four games in his first year in the pros.
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Tags: Defending Mark Sanchez is useless, Mark Sanchez is a douche, Mark Sanchez sucks, Media Failures, The Big Lead bias
