Guest Post at The Jets Blog.com

Garda jumps ship for a day to talk about his man-crush Mark Sanchez in a guest post at The Jets Blog!

Hey folks, it's you're friendly neighborhood non-Cheesehead NFL analyst.

Despite my efforts to be neutral on The Hard Count and in the NFL coverage here at CHTV, my Gang Green Nation tendencies will pop out from time to time.

So when good friend Brian Bassett of TheJetsBlog.com asked me to do a guest post while he went backpacking and rasslin' black bears in the Grand tetons or whatever he's doing on vacation, I was more than happy to write something and let loose the (green) dogs of war.

So I touched on a subject Nagler and I have discussed on the podcast before: Mark Sanchez.

It's a critical year for the young (maybe not so young) Jets quarterback and he faces some valid criticism coming into his third season. If the Jets are to take the next step, he needs to as well.

So head over to TJB and check out yesterday's post—Mark Sanchez: Time to Grab the Coffee.

Of course between this and my Good Will Hunting/Good Will CBA tweets, I should probably just start that Football-As-Movie-Quotes site I've been thinking about.

Clearly once you have Hollywood in your blood, you're never really free of it.

And if that ain't enough Sanchez for you (and can there ever be?) check out today's guest post by Jerod Morris of Mid West Sports Fan - Five Reasons I Like Mark Sanchez (While Hating the Jets). It's good stuff as well.

If Jarod's name is familiar but you've never seen his site, it might be because he got raked over the coals a few years by ESPN for discussing a player whose stats jumped and how because of the steroids in baseball, it was easy to question whether they had something to do with these stats as well.

He made a great point about the taint Bonds/McGuire/Sosa had laid on baseball and ESPN blew it up into something it wasn't. I often felt it was an opportunity to take some shots at bloggers, but whatever. Jarod weathered it and is still doing good work.

I also attended a cool event on fan's rights and pro sports interaction with fans on Tuesday but have been too busy to post the video of it. Between my youngest's birthday and some writing, I might fit it in tonight. We'll see.

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Comments (5)

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PackersRS's picture

July 21, 2011 at 02:07 pm

Sanchez is an odd case.
While looking at his regular season numbers and performances, he's not a good quarterback. Like you said, he makes bad decisions sometimes, and he's innacurate other times.

But on the postseason, he plays very, very well, being careful, accurate, smart, and usually delivering.

Yet, one thing disturbes me. It can be due to his relatively short period of time as a starter, but there were reports the Jets had to dial down the playbook in the middle of last season, because Sanchez was struggling.

That would explain why he makes bad decisions occasionally, and why his game isn't as good as the elite QBs. So far, Sanchez has gone as far as the system has allowed him to, playing with the best OL in the league, a solid receiving corprs, and a very good running game.

But the elite QBs don't just play within the system. They consistantly make plays and exploit the defense, and that only happens because they've not only mastered their own offense, but they can read the opposing defense.

I don't see Sanchez in that level, in the game we played against the Jets, there were several times where the D left holes to be exploited, but he simply didn't recognize it, not consistantly.

He's able to make all the throws, and he certainly did in the playoffs, but he's not yet winning with his mind, just with his physical tools. How many times do you see Sanchez look away the safety, make a pump fake that freezes the CB or change the play in the LoS?

That's not to say he won't in the future. But it's a step further he needs to develop in order for his team to win the SB, because usually you need an elite QB to win in this league (unless your D can win you a title like in Baltimore, which is extremely rare).

First step is be able to be as mentally sharp and prepared in the regular season as he is in the playoffs, and to be able to master his offense to it's fullest.

Then, he'll need to take the extra step, that guys like Brees, Manning, Rivers, Rodgers, Ben and Brady can, of being able to manipulate the defense (Ben can do it instinctively).

A guy that I already see doing it is Freeman. Which is odd, because the jump from his first year was tremenduous (though the game he had against us kind of served as a sample of things to come). Granted, it's still to be seen how he handles the playoffs, where he won't face easy competition, and the preparation from other teams will be much more intense, not like in the regular season, where teams can't afford the luxury of fully preparing against teams other than their divisional foes.

Wow. tl;dr:

Sanchez needs to improve mentally to enter the upper tier, not only be more consistant on the field but on his preparation.

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andrewgarda's picture

July 22, 2011 at 06:55 am

I've REALLY come around on Freeman. A lot of the stuff I saw pre-draft and his comments post-draft threw up warning flags for me. But he's proven me wrong, happy to say.

He may regress a little this year but I'm a big freeman fan.

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FITZCORE1252's picture

July 21, 2011 at 08:41 pm

You lost fella? Mark who?

GBP 4 LIFE

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Majik Man's picture

July 22, 2011 at 01:26 am

The only "Gang Green" I know of wears a mustard yellow helmet. I don't know a lot of folks who actually bought in to Mark Sanchez being an elite quarterback, let alone a pretty good one. I only wonder how long New York's love affair and patience with him will last.

Man, I've been completely and utterly spoiled in my Packer lifetime. Don Majkowski (not the greatest Packer quarterback, but he was fun and pretty good and is my personal favorite), Brett Favre, and Aaron Rodgers. 3 quarterbacks in my 20+ years of Green Bay Packer fandom. Lucky, lucky me. I mean us. :)

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andrewgarda's picture

July 22, 2011 at 06:54 am

The Pack has had some great QBs no doubt.

I said waaaaaaay back when Sanchez was coming out early that he needed another year or two to develop. I don't know I expected him to be elite even if he'd stayed at USC, but his 'intangibles' are definitely top shelf and it could have only helped.

Instead he's basically getting his college experience now which is VERY difficult to do.

I've LONG believed that in football (and I'd say basketball save for a few cases like Kobe and LeBron both of whom would have learned leadership at least in school) college is a critical learning arena. Sanchez skipped some of it and I think it hampers his development still.

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