The Jets aren’t only facing the possibility that next week will be their final game, they are staring down the barrel of reassessing their long term vision of Mark Sanchez as the franchise QB. Filip Bondy of the Daily News thinks the Jets should be considering an alternative to the Sanchize. Rex Ryan, on a conference call, defended both his QB AND his offensive coordinator who faces a much more difficult battle to calm the restless masses who want someone to pay for that loss. Roderick Boone of Newsday says that despite failing to back up his talk the blustery coach will NOT change his ways. George Willis says that perhaps Woody Johnson may need to step in and make an executive decision.
The Jets need a bunch of teams to lose and to win a game against a Miami team who’s playing like they relish the opportunity to spoil people’s seasons. But the bigger story coming out of this game is two fold: is Brian Schottenheimer’s job FINALLY in some jeopardy? Is he the reason that Sanchez hasn’t progressed the way that they’d like? Was the game plan the culprit for Saturday’s loss? Is Sanchez JUST not that good? That last question especially, has to be troubling for the Jets because now that’s not being whispered in circles. Its openly being discussed among Jet scouts and talent evaluators. Why is it important? This upcoming draft has a bunch of QB prospects who look like franchise material. Then you add the elephant in the room which is, what if the Colts get the number one pick? They either trade the pick OR they unleash Peyton Manning to teams who would like to have an elite QB for AT LEAST 3 years. Again, this is a Jet defense built to win now so the thought is that the Jets would much rather pursue Peyton Manning. So what happens if Peyton is out there? Either Rex is a man of his word and he sticks out his QB and his offensive coordinator OR he does the right thing and brings in Peyton Manning.
Look, I’m not saying that Peyton wouldn’t be an immediate upgrade and I’m not saying that Sanchez can’t get better. I’m just saying that as an organization you have to evaluate where you are. This is still a decent running team. They have a championship caliber defense. They are a win-now team missing ONLY a good QB who can push them over the top. The Jets have to entertain the possibility that perhaps its more important for the organization to view it from the outlook that they are a team built to be successful now. So that leaves the Jets with the decision of what to do with Sanchez. Do you dump him to another team? Do you cut him? Do you keep him on the roster and give him a chance to take a breather? Which wouldn’t be terrible for him right? Sanchez is still young enough that with time to work under the tutelage of a great QB like Manning, he could learn a thing or two.
Imagine trading for Manning and signing him for two years. Given his neck injury the tenuous nature of his health would be troubling and not something the Jets would want to sign up for on a long term basis. Give Sanchez two years to learn under the thumb of Peyton and then allow him to come back in two years. But what to do about the possibility that his confidence will be ruined? It would take a person with absolutely zero pride to sign up for such an assignment and Sanchez may not be that guy. Plus, think about what the Colts would demand. Are they prepared to surrender multiple first and second round draft picks? Its a decision that will come down to Mike Tannenbaum and could draw the ire of his coach. Its a relationship that has been so good. So maybe they both make a decision that may not be popular. Right now the Jets are signing the praises of Sanchez and Schottenhiemer and vowing to stand by embattled members of their team. But for how long? How long before the Jets have to make a business decision?
I’ve long been a guy crying for Schottenheimer’s firing. His play calling Saturday was NOT as baffling as people were saying. I dont blame him for thinking the Giants secondary was ripe for the picking. But its coming from a place of false confidence. How good is Sanchez? Isn’t that something that Schotty should know by now? And if he’s got this false confidence in Sanchez isn’t that because if he didn’t it would be a direct indictment of his own work with the neophyte?
There’s one easy decision to make: Fire Schottenheimer. The second one is tougher: what to do with Sanchez?
The Giants meanwhile face a must win at home. Ralph Vacchiano notes that the Giants historically haven’t had a home field advantage. Paul Schwartz meanwhile says that in order for this season to continue and go deep the Giants MUST make blue it up Sunday. Tom Rock however says that the practice comment by Antrel Rolle may have saved the team.
MUST-WIN. Enough said. And its against the Cowboys. The Antrel Rolle comment about practice was right on the money and it needed to be said. Yes, the Giants need a big mouth like they had with Antonio Pierce and Michael Strahan. The Giants need a guy to step up and say the things that need to be said in the locker room and in the media and through the media that can motivate guys. Look at what it did for Justin Tuck. He practiced all week and he had his BEST game this entire season on the line. He was blocking passes, getting pressure on the offense and making sure that he was a presence felt by the offense. JPP has been a one man wrecking crew on the line and with the news that Osi Umeniyora has been upgraded to questionable, the Giants need all hands on deck for this run starting with this Sunday’s game against the Cowboys. The Cowboys present problems for the Giants and they are two teams who are much more alike than they know. They both have defenses that leave their fans wondering what they are doing out there. They have quarterbacks that can cause headaches and make boneheaded plays. They have a dominant defensive end. They have maligned running games. BUT, the one thing they both have is talent. They have talent on both sides. Its an even match up. Its going to be fun. Its going to be for the division. Hopefully the Giants can take the emotion of last week’s game into Sunday.
It always appears that the Giants feed off whatever their emotion is. They need to ride that wave of emotion into the Cowboy game and deeper. Unfortunately we won’t know which team shows up until well into Sunday night.
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