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It’s time for Part I of Dan Leberfeld’s look at Mark Sanchez’s performance against the New York Football Giants. It might be time to turn the page . . .
The Jets got good field position on their first offensive possession thanks to a terrific punt return by Jeremy Kerley.
This 22-yard return gave them the ball on their 47.
Sanchez operates best on a shorter field and aided by penalties.
The reason for this is his poor completion percentage.
A former NFL quarterback told me once, “It’s hard to sustain drives when every other pass hits the ground.”
The Jets started this possession with a short pass to Shonn Greene that he took for eight yards, and then on second down, Greene ran for three yards off right tackle for the first down.
Let’s fast forward to a fourth-and-four in the middle of the possession. The Jets got a break on this one. Sanchez threw a pass on the short left side to Greene. The play was dead-in-the-water. Jason Pierre-Paul was right there to stop it for no gain, or a very short gain. However, the Giants were called for having 12 men on the field.
After getting a life-preserver, Sanchez did a good job getting the Jets into the end zone. First, he threw a beautiful back shoulder throw to Santonio Holmes on the right side (why doesn’t he do this more), that gained 13 yards.
Two plays later, Sanchez goes to play-action, and hits Plaxico Burress on a quick slant that gained 11 yards. The Jets caught the Giants by surprise when they hit seldom-thrown-to Josh Baker on a five-yard square on the left side for a touchdown. This Baker has a lot of ability, and in JC Magazine we compared him to a poor man’s Aaron Hernandez.
One negative aspect of this drive was two incompletions to Dustin Keller.
Keller and Sanchez are close friends, and there is a perception they have a good feel for each other on the field, but that being said, it’s surprising how often they aren’t on the same page.
On the fourth play of the possession, Sanchez ran a bootleg right, and threw to Keller, and it wasn’t even close. Keller blamed the sun, but sun or no sun, this pass was way off the mark. Three plays after this, Sanchez threw to Keller in the same vicinity and it went through his hands. Perhaps this was the sun. It was the same spot a few minutes later.
Then the second drive ended with a pass over the middle that hit Keller in the side of the helmet, and he wasn’t expecting the ball.
How on earth, at the end of their third year together, are these two on such different wave lengths, so often?
I’m starting to wonder if the Jets are going to re-sign Keller. Baker looks like a talent, Jeff Cumberland is coming back from IR and they have two tight ends on their practice squad.
After the opening scoring drive on the Jets first possession, the Jets offense went on hiatus for the rest of the first half.
We will have Part II of our look at Sanchez by 9 pm Sunday night.
I will be on Sirius NFL Radio from 12-4 on Sunday, for those that have satellite, and I’m sure there will be a lot of Jets talk.