Link: Master of Puppets
Sometimes it’s hard to tell what a writer’s purpose for joking on players. Witness Steve Serby’s column yesterday in which he calls Mark Sanchez a “puppet” repeatedly.
Mark Sanchez is now the puppet quarterback of the Jets. On the sidelines between series, coach Rex Ryan pulls his strings. Over the headset, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer pulls his strings. Then the puppet quarterback goes out and manages the game. Or, better yet, manages not to lose the game.
The offensive mindset is dictated to the puppet quarterback by color codes on his wristband. Red means hand the ball to Thomas Jones or Shonn Greene. Yellow means caution, maybe a checkdown pass to one of the backs, Green means go ahead and take a shot, kid . . . maybe a missile over the middle to tight end Dustin Keller, or a slant to Braylon Edwards.
The idea is to tame the wild beast that lives inside Sanchez, to keep him from being the reckless, wild-eyed novice who has ruined three games for his team . . . to keep him from being Jake Delhomme (two gift picks for Kerry Rhodes, two gift picks and one touchdown for Darrelle Revis yesterday).
“I think it was more just his competitiveness previously that sometimes maybe got in his way a little bit. … If he made a mistake then he’d want to come right back at’cha,” Ryan said after Jets 17, Panthers 6. “It’s like, ‘I’m gonna show you.’ Where sometimes that might be the best course of action.”
It’s a shame the rookie puppeteer didn’t get in those offensive meetings and in the rookie puppet’s ear earlier. “Maybe so,” Ryan said.
Will yesterday’s win turn the Jets
Maybe I’m not in on the joke, but Serby’s take seems a tad cheap to me. Sanchez had proven that he needed a system to be accountable to in-game and for all the talk of learning from his mistakes, the lack of progress was getting concerning for his coach, and the media and fans. Sanchez has a pretty good complement of players around him, so that the team asked him to do a little less, and put in place a system to make that work shouldn’t be a surprise.
52 Responses to Link: Master of Puppets
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Serby is just another tool who has never played the game at a meaningful level, yet infuses everything he writes with his opinion as if it is fact. The sad state of reporting lives in these types of quasi-journalists. For the record, Serby has always been a mean spirited, say/write anything to get a rise out of a player fool. Just ask Richard Todd.
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starz31 says:
This is the system and blueprint we should have started with. Even in the games we won in the first 3 weeks, Sanchez was reeled in a bit. He only really threw in the 2nd half of game then, and he happened to be effective. Then they opened it up, and he got burned.
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Kyle says:
We made a massive mistake in keeping Schotty. I don’t care who our QB is, a seasoned vet or a rookie kid, the playbook is inept, as is the man calling plays. Peyton Manning would throw 22 picks if he was playinh with this offense.
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brian311 says:
seems like a very condescending slant to take. if you want to think about it, every player in the league is a “puppet” for their coaches, except for peyton manning who basically does his own thing
also i do not agree with calling all 4 of jake’s picks “gifts”. on rhodes’s first and revis’ second, those were great plays made by skilled DBs. those were not gift wrapped at all. rhodes made a great break on a ball on which he needed to anticipate, then close nearly 30 yards to. revis had to go up and battle a #1 receiver for a 50/50 ball. both of those plays are not made by lesser players
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Brett Favre did throw 22 picks in this offense. Schott did not adjust the playbook to Favre, he made Favre adjust to his playbook. I dont care about the injury talk, the team knew he was hurt and still let him play and they never reeled in the playbook once. If so, he wouldn’t have been heaving underthrown deep balls the last few weeks of the year.
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Brendan says:
Because Sanchez is the first rookie QB to have the kids’ gloves put on, right Steve? This is a waste of print. Every rookie QB is SUPPOSED to have this done to them. It just took the Jets longer than most teams.
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Kyle, I’ve been defending Shotty (though not wholeheartedly) for a while now, but I’m starting to agree with you. I don’t feel as strongly about it as you do (I don’t think Peyton would throw all those picks under him) but as games go by I do find more and more to question about Shotty’s playcalling – namely his predictability and what I perceive as his need to out-clever the opponent.
Anybody think there’s a chance that Weis would come to the Jets? I guess it depends if he wants to stick it to belicheat or not. I’ve heard that he (belicheat) is a pretty mean-spirited guy and maybe Weis would like a chance to prove he can succeed without him (similar to the way beli wanted out from parcell’s shadow). Wishful thinking I know, but if they were to can Shotty I’d like to see them bring in someone who can match Ryan’s creativity on defense. -
Kirk the Jerk says:
This whole color-coding issue has been completely blown out of proportion by the media. It’s just that such an oversimplified system is easy to take advantage of (by writers and talking heads), particularly when it is stoplight colors.
An oversimplified system is exactly what I want my rookie QB working with.
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Starz – in all fairness I remember reading a lot that they did adjust quite a bit to favre. All these empty backfield sets where there was zero chance they would run and so no chance of a play fake were supposedly because favre liked it that way. That being said, I agree 100% that they should have changed t he playcalling drastically once they knew he was hurt, or brought in the backup if the starter couldn’t execute the game plan well enough. For all the talk of a hurt favre being better than a healthy clemens, I don’t see how clemens could have been any worse (though after this preseason he clearly does suck).
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Harris52ChampionshipDefense says:
I’ve become very disillusioned with the NY sporting media this year. With a few exceptions, it seems one must be a real miserable SOB whose sole mission in life is to make everyone feel as miserable as he does on the inside. Serby is a moron. He is, IMO, the worst sportswriter in NYC. His columns are written like a high school paper, and never deviate from the most obvious of statements (sample: before a big game, he’ll write 1000 words on “Time to step up kid!” for Sanchez, and following a bad game, his columns will feature lots of terrible writing such as “Sanchez OFF MARK yesterday,” or “Eli wasn’t the MANning yesterday!”).
This whole column was a giant cheapshot at Sanchez and Ryan, guys that this insult to the written word was positively orgasming over back in September. Serby writes like a scorned lover – the last seven games have made his ridiculous September super bowl proclamations look just that, and now he’s going to take his revenge.
And what’s Sanchez done to deserve the cheap shots anyway? Can’t we say that Sanchez has just been bad and that Ryan should have done this color system earlier? Why do guys like Serby and that huge, marinara-filled, overweight afternoon radio host have to say things like “Ey oh, Sanchez likes to live fancy and he don’t work too hard, that’s obvious” when they know absolutely nothing about his private life and all his practice habits indicate the opposite?
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subwayfare says:
Serby obviously fell in love with his own metaphor and rode it into the ground. Pretty tedious piece.
It’s clear that Sanchez needed to be saved from himself to an extent, I just hope he and the team don’t over correct. We don’t need a new Chad-like game manager, or the reckless, 2008 Favre here, but something in that sweet spot in between. Someone like…well, Drew Brees, a guy with enough cojones to take it to you, but level headed enough to play under control and not self destruct.
Since they have some similarities, physically and in attitude, I’d have Sanchez spend the entire off season watching film of Brees. Man, that was one hell of a performance last night.
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greg sec 130 says:
So then I guess Warren Moon was a puppet in the run and shoot. Who cares.
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Gehoff says:
Serby certainly comes across like a douche in that article.
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ED says:
I guess 20-25 QBs in the league are puppets going by this azz thought process.
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dave b says:
this is pretty weak, he’s taking the “color code” tool used by Ryan and somehow turning that into some absurdly intrusive/controlling tactic….doesn’t really follow for me.
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Eddie DiGio says:
Call em whatever you want Serby, but he was a WINNER last Sunday!!!
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Pete57 says:
Here are several very strong points that show Schotty is not up to the job:
1- Rex felt he had to get involved in the offense. Rex is a defensive guy and even he can see that Schott was not gameplanning well
2- We have a rookie QB who has been the main reason for the majority of our losses. Case in point- The first Buffalo game. We were playing a team that had scored 1 offensive TD in 4 weeks. We knock out their QB. We have a lead and a great running attck. The rookie is having a bad day. But Schott continues calling for risky passing plays instead of running the ball, and the rookie gives up the ball a couple more times to lose the game for us. Similar to last years game against Seattle in the snow. Favre threw 40 times.
3- Our best offensive player was used completely wrong this year. Leon Washington had many more touches in the games he played but not one TD. Schotty was using him a as an everydown back. Running similar plays to Thomas Jones. No swing passes, no wheel routes, no plays to get him into space.
To me Schotty doesn’t see a big picture. My opinion is he is infelxible to what he wants to do. It is so obvious that the game plan we had last week should be our basic gameplan everyweek. Don’t let the rookie hurt you. It is very analogous to Flacco last year. But I get the feeling that is too “boring” for Schott, and he wants to show how smart he is. Give Charlie Weiss a call, or I’d be very happy with Callahan taking over.
At least it appears that Rex will be involved in the offensive game planning for the rest of the way. -
Subway- I was thinkin the same thing about making Chez watch film of Brees. The guy was great last night. Good point
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I THINK THAT Steve Serby’s ARTICLE IS ANTAGONISTIC. ITS EASY TO WRITE WHEN EVERYTHING IS GOING WRONG BUT WHEN THE TEAM WINS IN A QUITE BORING WAY YOU NEED TO GET CREATIVE IN YOUR WRITING. HE JUST DIDN’T KNOW WHAT TO WRITE.
FYI-U ALWAYS START LIKE A PUPPET. REX IS NOW LEADING AND MICRO-MANAGING. NOT JUST CHEERING
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bonebreaker says:
I can not stand Sanchez and I would have picked a better word to describe him than a puppet. He came in and ruined this season and has made the Jets look like a joke. I wouldn’t be that upset if he didn’t have that smugness about him. Chad was ten times the man this two year old is and had much more class. Its sad how we have a legitimate playoff team but instead have to baby-sit a QB who should have stayed in college.
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Chris says:
Im split on this article. I know Sanchez is just a rook but if the Jets think they are a playoff team they can’t necessarly hold him back completely. If they have any shot of beating Indy and Cincy and making a run its going to take more than Sanchez managing the game with this color coded system or what not and the coaches protecting him. Sanchez is going to have to make some plays, they just cant rely on the D to have a big game everytime.
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kc. says:
whatever WORKS.
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bonebreaker,
So I guess Sanchez was responsible for a defensive collapse on MNF, a special teams collapse against the Miami Ginns, and a defensive collapse against Jax. Yup, all his fault.
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reality99 says:
Subwayfare , Thought the same thing with regards to brees and sanchez. Serby always writes garbage like this if it was thcoughlin he would be a genious. But i agree as far as what took ryan as the head coach so long to help the kid. Rookie coach or not there is no excuse for that.
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Sanchez a rookie qb played well enough to win 8 games. I cant say the same for a defense and special teams with a bunch of vetereans.
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Matt says:
Callahan is the answer. Keep the same system and nomenclature, change the playcalling and strategy. Our OL and running game has been remarkable since he took over. The guy has experience at the highest level, and for some reason is only our OL coach?
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Johnny Reefer says:
Yes, subway, i totally agree with you.
Sanchez looks and feels like a young Drew Brees to me, in every fascist of his game. I think Sanchez should call up Brees during the off season and see if they could work out together. Start pickin at his brain, see how he went from “bust” to MVP.
Sanchez has all the tools we need. In 3 games this year, he has drivin us down field to win the game. One, play calling lost the game for us, and the other two the D lost it.
He has only lost 3 games, on his own, but that’s what we all expected by a rookie QB.
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Brandon: Our defense is ranked within the top five in the league and the special teams had a bad day in one game but they are not the reason why we are a laughing stock of the league.
If our special teams gave up TD after TD in more than just one game than I would have to admit to you that they are as clueless as our QB. But that hounestly is not the case.
If our defense did not make Miami’s offense look like fools after they burned us on MNF than maybe I would say it doesn’t matter if our QB SUCKS now because we wouldn’t be much of a football team anyway. But honestly that is not the case.
Also, if Sandhead did not throw two interceptions vs. Jax which one of them was returned for six than maybe our defense did not have to try to bail out our QB. But sadly that is the case and I hate to admit it and would love to be wrong, but honestly I do not think I am.
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Matt I agree with you that we need to make a change with our offensive coordinator. I hope we make a change by next year.
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mole57 says:
NYPE hit it on the head. The last time Serby was newsworthy was when he got Richard Todd to “assault” him. Maybe he’s hoping Sanchez will take a poke at him.
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BB,
Sanchez lost 3, just as many as the rest of the team. You can talk about overall season all you’d like, but in reality our team is responsible for just as many losses as our rookie QB.
Saying our ST’s had a “bad day” is like saying the Atlantic Ocean is “damp”. Despite what you say about the Jax game, Sanchez led them down the field for a lead-taking TD and then the defense blew it. Same for the Monday Night game.
You act like our unit is the Steel Curtain. They’re good, but the give up a lot of yards and don’t exactly force th emost turnovers in the league. Sanchez lost us 3 games, our team lost us the other 3.
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Jets69 says:
Sanchez threw many picks in critical games in his junior year at USC when he started for the injured John David Booty. He had the same problem. The good thing is that in his senior year, he mostly protected the ball. He had a much better team and didn’t have to carry the team on his shoulders
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from ESPN
With one game still left in the season for the USC Trojans, there’s a rumor circulating that fourth-year junior wideout Damian Williams may declare his eligibility for the NFL draft at the conclusion of this season, according to the L.A. Times.Amongst juniors, Draft Insider Mel Kiper, Jr. has Williams pegged as the No. 3 wide receiver prospect in his latest rankings. Hmm … we know a certain team that could use a wide receiver, and they just so happen to have Mark Sanchez at QB, the young man who was tossing bombs to Williams in 2008.
If nothing else, you can expect Sanchez to lobby his bosses on Williams’ behalf should the current Trojan elect to forego his senior year of eligibility.
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Jets69
Good point about Chez as a soph filling in for JDB. He did throw alot of picks that year but when he came back the next season he dominated.
From everything Ive read and seen from the kid, its pretty obvious that people around football think that this kid has all the tools to be a really good pro. Its just a shame that Rex had to go gestapo on Schotty for the guy to start grooming the kid properly
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If the Jets draft a WR in the first round (assuming they bring back Braylon) there will be a freakin’ riot at Radio City. ESPN has to pull their collective head out of their arse in all things regarding the Jets.
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Brendan- agreed about ESPN, they have NO feel for what is going on with the Jets in REALITY. I guess they have to report something, however senseless or false it may be
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frustratedjetfan says:
Serby’s job is to sell newspapers and if he has to stir the pot, he’s not the only one to contrive an angle.
With respect to color scheme, Rex is simply providing the veteran game smarts that Sanchez and all rookies lack. Sanchez has ability but even with the color codes has exhibited problems hitting open receivers. After the first few games his accuracy has been suspect. If he has to rush his throws, even short ones, he’s throwing in the dirt or behind receivers. As he matures he’ll eventually maintain better body control (footwork, weight shift, etc) and complete more of these passes. Until then, bring on the colors.
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i agree – there isnt a snowball’s chance in heck we are taking a WR with a 1st or 2nd round pick. the jets are set as far as offensive skill players for at least the next few years. i think the FO goes DL / OL with our first 2 picks
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One more thing: Shotty willl move on by “mutual agreement” to pursue other opportunities after this year and Callahan will take over as OC. —Just my opinion, but you can bet on it. Weiss will never go against his buddy Bill Belichick and sign with the Jets.
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Brandon: I know I am giving Mark a hard time and it is unfair to expect too much from a rookie QB but it is very clear that he is holding this team back. Ok he “lost us 3 games” those games are the difference between us being 8-3 vs. 5-6. In the NFL every game is important and can change the entire complexion of the season.
The entire team as a hole might not be one of the best in the league but I think it is good enough to be in the playoffs. But when you have a QB who costs us a couple of games that could be the difference.
If we didn’t have such a good rushing team and had to live or die with Sandhead than it wouldn’t be that bad. I know our offensive coordinator has a lot to be blamed about but when I look back at that fourth interception vs. the Pats; when we were only down by 10 and he floats the ball up in the air for a player I begin to wonder what is going on in his head and if it is really the coordinators fault? Or do we really have treat him like a puppet?
In all fairness, I do not think we could have won a couple of games in the beginning of the season without Mark making some great plays on third down but since than it looks like he has regressed and looks more like a high school QB than an NFL QB.
Whats even more scary is that we do not have any Idea what we will be getting next year. All I know is that he better not be costing us 3 or 4 games just by himself.
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RE: weis, i dont think he will coach next year. ND handed him an $18 million check on his way out the door. the guy has 2 young kids (one with autism) and has some obvious health problems. he would be crazy not to take some time off
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Nick says:
I love the NY Post, read The Daily News during the football season, in part, because Serby is so unreadable. He is either totally in love with a player or thinks he is garbage, there is no in-between. Also, he has no problem switching back and forth between these too points of view from week to week.
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BB,
Every rookie QB costs his team games. But what was our other option? Clemens? Clemens would have easily cost us that many. He is atrocious.
Everything you’re saying about Sanchez could be said about the entire team. If our defense could close out the MNF and Jax games, and our ST’s could cover one friggin kickoff, then we’re at 8-3 also.
Of course Sanchez has had three horrendous games. But two of them were against two top 5 teams in the NFL. One was his first cold game. I’m also willing to put much more of the blame on Schotty for those performances (except the NO game, because until that point Sanchez had been very impressive) because you saw this past week how he should have been handled.
Next year he’ll probably cost us two or three games too. It’s just the way it is with a young QB. Did you see Flacco literally hand the Colts a game this year? It happens. Growing pains. But the locker room knows that Sanchez is their guy for better or for worse and they’re going to have to prop him up some games, which they haven’t been able to do.
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MM says:
Let’s remember that Sanchez played only one complete season in college. The Jets knew that he needed more experience before he would be ready to lead the team. But the Jets believed in Sanchez’s talent and woudl rather lose a few games this year and give him experience at the pro level as opposed to against PAC10 defenses.
I’m ok with that thinking, even if it means that Sanchez has to be taught on the job. You learn things like when to be aggressive and when to throw it away from experience. You learn when to slide and when to lower your shoulder with experience. You win games with experience.
Sanchez has a bright future. He works hard, keeps his nose clean and he has all the talent in the world. Hopefully the Jets coaches will continue to nuture him until he is ready.
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JesusRevis says:
Well put MM
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Brendan: I absolutely believe we would have been better off with Clemens starting this year. Clemens would never had the luxury of throwing three interception in one game let alone five. It would have forced the team to play a more conservative game plan and could have kept us in more of the games. Now if he sucked at any point we could have easily put in Mark to see what he could do.
Having Mark sit on the bench for a while and learn the playbook is not a bad idea unless your team sucks and we have nothing to prove. So, I guess you think our team sucks and are ready to declare Mark Sandhead the next D Brees.
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StvDoe says:
Bonebreaker.
While I doubt that we’d be better this year with Clemens at the helm, it’s no doubt possible. But that isn’t really the issue unless your goal is to just make the playoffs this season.
If your goal is to build a championship contender then playing Clemens is a waste of both time and money. Playing Sanchez is an investment in the future. Playing Clemens is an investment in a less than mediocre QB, who in all probability won’t even be a Jet next season.
While I understand your bitterness, it’s just plain short-sighted. As I’ve said from the day he was drafted, the Sanchez era in NOW, just as it should be.
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BB,
“it would have forced the team to play a more conservative game plan and could have kept us in more of the games”…why couldn’t they have done this with Sanchez? They had the chance to insulate him from constant pressure and mistakes by doing what they did last week, which is what I think you mean by playing more conservative, but they didn’t. That’s not Sanchez’s fault.
Here’s the guy you think we’d be better off with:
http://www.nfl.com/videos/new-york-jets/09000d5d8121fd9c
30 seconds in is my personal favorite part. His TD throw was about 10 yards underthrown too.
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Yes exactly, Sandhead throw a pick six in the same game and it was OK he is a rookie but Clemens throw a pick six and it was the end of the world. Unfortunately, our head coach had such a man crush on Sandhead that when he started to throw interceptions all over the place he couldn’t see how bad he was stinking the place up until last weak. It was hard for him to admit that he made a mistake and should have started Clemens instead or put a noose on Sandhead a lot sooner.
Don’t get me wrong I like Ryan but he made a mistake with starting a rookie QB who only had one year of starting experience and this artical is a product of his mistake.
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BB,
Are you serious? Clemens shot put (or hook shot, whichever you prefer) that ball directly into the defender. I can take those mistakes from a 23 year old with one season of starting in college. Clemens may not have been a starter for more than 8 games in the NFL, but he was around Pennington and Favre and has been in the league 3+ years.
Do you honestly believe, even 1%, that this team would ever win a Superbowl with Clemens? That’s the end game, and we are better off in the long run, and more likely to win a Superbowl with Sanchez as a QB, and the sooner that education began, the better.
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nicko says:
we all know serby is a punk….
That’s a real article? What is he trying to prove? He does realize Sanchez is a rookie, right?