On the day that Mark Sanchez prepares to face the Green Bay
Packers, I've looked back at some of the reactions to his first start with the
Eagles in place of the injured Nick Foles and hearing them has me thinking
people might be getting just a little carried away with his 300-yard, two-touchdown,
so-called "mistake-free" performance. And I wonder if people are
suffering from short-term memory.
I've heard some calling him things like the "new" Mark
Sanchez and it immediately makes me scoff.
Now before I continue, let me just say, I have nothing
against Sanchez. In fact, I like him. I like his attitude, his competitiveness
and many of his skills, and he displayed a lot of that on Monday night, in
primetime, in front of the unforgiving Philadelphia sports fans, no less, in
his first start in a couple years for a team with high expectations this year.
But may I remind people that Sanchez has one of the worst
career completion percentages for an established starter at just over 55 per
cent -- and last Monday night he actually had a Cmp% WORSE than that (54). And
that was against a bad Carolina Panthers that turned the ball over to him five
times.
Sanchez committed no turnovers himself? Technically that's
correct, but the player who committed the most turnovers of any player from
2009-2012 (the period when he was the Jets starter) with 89 (69 INTs, 20
fumbles lost) wasn't exactly sure-handed as he bobbled a couple of snaps and fumbled
twice (he fortunately quickly picked them up) and if not for a toe on the
sideline he would have registered his third interception in seven quarters under
center for his new team.
Also, it really should be noted that his near touchdown pass
to Brent Celek that led to a McCoy 1-yard run into the end zone would have been
an easy score for tight end (who had already established plenty of separation) if
it was not underthrown by Sanchez (just like the deep one to Maclin last week
that had everyone gaga from the get-go).
I'm not saying he played badly – he actually played very
well, and was nearly flawless on one long scoring drive in which he also showed
the type of mobility that the Eagles will never get with Foles. But what I am
saying is he is exactly what he'd always been with formerly defensively-focused
Jets. Give him some support – and five turnovers along with two return TDs
certainly qualifies – and he'll look good. But he will never be the kind of
quarterback that can shine over long stretches like Foles did last year en
route to one of the best QB seasons in NFL history.
And any time anyone mentions that Sanchez played better than
Foles in the preseason it makes me cringe. Even my 13-year-old son is quick to
say that Sanchez got to play against all the backups, while Foles was playing
against starters and had nothing to prove while Sanchez did. It's an apples-to-oranges
comparison, and I can't believe it carries any weight with anyone.
Am I being too nitpicky on Sanchez? Maybe. It was a very
respectable debut as starting QB for the Eagles, but let's see how he does
against the Packers at Lambeau. But if he plods along and the Eagles keep
winning while he does nothing particularly special, I just can't believe the
Eagles would be ready to move on from a guy in Foles who has shown the ability
to be completely mistake-free over long stretches, and to put up truly
spectacular performances – like the record-tying, seven touchdown gem against
the Raiders last year – for a guy who has already had four seasons to prove
himself and failed. That would truly be putting all your eggs in one Sanchez.
Oh and by the way, in an example of apropos timing, Sanchez
was the No. 10 "Quarterback Tease" on an episode of NFL's Top 10 this
week on the NFL Network (defined as a QB who did "just enough to get a
team to commit to him thinking he'll lead their team to the promised land, and
then completely disappoint.") That's a perfect description of what Sanchez
did with the Jets! Are the Eagles about to make the same mistake?
I certainly hope not.
