Bent On - While Bassett’s away communing with nature or whatever in Wyoming, we’ve asked some of the best writers on the web to step in and show TJB readers what real writing is about. Today’s guest post is from Jerod Morris of Midwest Sports Fans. Apparently, he’s a Miami Dolphins fan. Boooooo! (Just kidding. He’s one of the good ones.) Thanks, Jerod! Take it away…
Salutations, loyal chanters of J-E-T-S. I come to you today risking life and limb by contributing this blog post, but my respect for Brian and the great site he has built here trumps the fear I have for my own life that grows with successive keystroke.
You see, I’m a Dolphins fan, always have been, thanks to my mom. She grew up in Miami, had season tickets to the ’72 undefeated season, and counts Mercury Morris as her favorite athlete of all-time. She also loathes the Jets with every fiber of her being, as do my other Miami-based Dolphins-loving family members.
So, needless to say, if they knew that I was contributing to a Jets blog (let alone THE Jets Blog), there would likely be a family intervention almost immediately. If they knew that the tenor of my post was going to be mostly positive, they might either disown me or just put me out of my perceived misery right then and there.
But alas, here I am, with an admission that I may not be proud of, but that is true nonetheless: I like Mark Sanchez.
And for the remainder of my precious time here with you, I am going to list out the reasons why I have come to like the quarterback for the team I hate the most.
1. He has a great attitude.
This is easily the most important reason why I like Mark Sanchez. In fact, “like” might be the wrong term. I respect Mark Sanchez; and I respect him because he is upstanding, he takes responsibility, and he says and does the things a leader should do even if he isn’t quite ready to live up to them all yet.
There is no shame in “faking it ’til you make it”; in fact, it’s a strategy for personal and professional growth that many people believe in. Mark Sanchez was thrust, quite unprepared, into being the starting QB for a Super Bowl caliber team. He may not have been ready, but he never shied away from the pressure, the limelight, or the accountability that came with the position. In the process, he damn near got the Jets to two Super Bowls anyway, in spite of his inexperience and inaccuracy.
The jury is still out on Sanchez the passer, and whether he can play the game at an elite level, but I’m convinced of one thing: he can play the part. And when it comes to quarterbacking, that is much more important than people often want to admit.
2. He seems like a genuinely good dude.
Professional football is filled with amoral, anti-social jackwagons. Names like Ben Roethlisberger, Pacman Jones, Leonard Little, and Kenny Britt come to mind just in a split second of thought. Unfortunately, certain traits that may make someone a great football player may not make that person an upstanding member of society.
This is not the case for Mark Sanchez.
I wrote about this last January when the Jets were preparing for the AFC Title Game after I first heard the story of Sanchez and Aiden Binkley, the young boy with cancer whose second wish — after the continued health of his brothers — was to meet Sanchez. I’m sure I do not need to rehash the details of said story here, but there is one detail that spoke volumes to me about Mark Sanchez, the guy:
They became texting buddies and, one day, Sanchez surprised Aiden’s parents by asking, “Can I come over?” When Sanchez arrived, the boy was sleeping. Sanchez sat at Aiden’s feet, waiting until he woke up.
“He opened his eyes and there was Mark, sitting on the couch,” Lisa said. “He was so sweet.”
Sanchez really seems like one of the “good guys” in the NFL. It’s hard not to root for a guy, no matter team he plays for, who really seems to appreciate his enviable place in this world and at the same time uses it to make others’ lives better. There isn’t much more “good” you can do than help fill the last three weeks of a dying boy’s life with smiles.
3. He’s there for his friends.
Did you know that Sanchez and the other former U.S.C. quarterbacks (I believe there is now at least one on every NFL team) have a little club called “The Brojans” that they all belong to? Seriously. And when Matt Leinart needed help, who do you think was called on to intervene? That’s right: the Sanchize.
The full story is here: The Divergent Paths of Matt Cassel and Matt Leinart.
(Note: Clearly I am joking about “The Brojans” thing, but I do hope you enjoy the photo story and don’t mind me weaving it in. The highlight, after all, is definitely the ridiculous pictures of Sanchez, which is why I’m including it.)
4. The poise.
During Sanchez’s first two years in the NFL, I have greatly enjoyed the fun that Deadspin has had with the plethora of media references to the young QB’s poise. Here is an example, titled “The Lost Poise”, that tracks media members discussing young Mark and his poise.
5. Mark Sanchez’s greatest comparable may end up being Trent Dilfer.
Whoa!
An article filled with laudatory sentence after laudatory sentence about Mark Sanchez, and then, BAM, I have to go step into the hornet’s nest with a pejorative comparison like this. I just couldn’t leave well enough alone while in enemy territory could I?
I suppose if I am going to be candid and effusive in praising what I like about Sanchez, I must also be candid in assessing my thoughts on what is actually the most important element of this whole discussion: Sanchez the QB. Clearly, if I am comparing him to the underwhelming Dilfer, I’m not all that impressed.
(And if you’re wondering how that fits into a post purporting to be “Five Reasons I Like Mark Sanchez” just remember the sunshiny rooting perspective I am writing this from…)
A few stats, for grins and giggles:
Through two seasons, Sanchez’s QB rating is 70.2; that was Dilfer’s career QB rating exactly.
Through two seasons, Sanchez’s completion percentage is 54.4; Dilfer’s was 55.5 for his career.
Through two seasons, Sanchez’s TD:INT ratio is 29:33; Dilfer’s career ratio was 113:129, which is roughly equivalent.
Through two seasons, Sanchez’s yards per attempt is 6.6; Dilfer’s was 6.5.
See where I’m going with this? There are other similarities, but I’m sure you believe me by now.
Caveat: Sanchez only played one year of college football and made a nice statistical jump from his rookie to his sophomore year; so he will improve. I don’t doubt that, and quite likely his career numbers will be better than Dilfer’s when all is said and done. But will Sanchez get to the Peyton/Brady level? No. Will he get to the Brees/Rodgers/Roethlisberger level? I don’t think so. Will he even get to the Rivers/Ryan level? Personally, I doubt it. And there are plenty of other guys I’d rather have, guys like Sam Bradford, Tony Romo, Josh Freeman, etc.
But hey, don’t forget that I’m just a frustrated Dolphins fan who spends most of my football time lamenting the turd sandwich we have slated to be under center; so you can – and I’m sure will – take my assessment of Sanchez the QB with a gargantuan grain of salt and maybe a sour grape or two.
Besides, there is one thing we all know about Trent Dilfer: he won a Super Bowl, and he did so leading a pedestrian offense (to be kind) that was carried by an out-of-this-world defense. The model in New York is not exactly the same as this, but it’s not totally different either.
The question is and will always be for Sanchez: when those AFC Title Games come, and the elite QBs are under center on the opposite sideline, can Sanchez rise to the occasion and be good enough to lead his team to the next step? We know he has the attitude, we know he has the character, and we sure as hell know he has the poise; does he have the eyes, the mind, and the arm?
An 0-2 record in AFC Title Games would, on the surface, seem to suggest no; but a 4:1 TD:INT ratio and a 95+ QB rating in those two games would seem to suggest yes. As a quarterback though, it’s always that first stat that will matter the most.
As Mark Sanchez enters his third season, we’re going to start seeing much more of what the peak Mark Sanchez will look like. Right now I like him, even as a Dolphins fan, for the reasons enumerated above. But if he takes the next step, and delivers to the Jets what no one has since Namath, I’ll have to start hating him.
Forgive me for closing this way, but…stay likable Mark Sanchez.
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