All Quiet on the QB Front
Another practice, and another tight lipped Rex Ryan. Ryan refused to name Mark Sanchez the starter for this weekend, and Sanchez split reps again with Kellen Clemens.
19 Responses to All Quiet on the QB Front
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2g says:
Although Rex hasn’t named him the starter yet, I read that Sanchez took about 75% of the snaps today and didn’t show any signs of his knee sprain. He didn’t experience any swelling or stiffness in his knee after last night either. Sounds like good news
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JesusRevis says:
Everything ive read and heard suggests that Sanchez will play
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m eazii says:
Yess, we definitely need sanchez to start this one…hopefully he will have a good game!
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JPM says:
Matt Ryan and Michael turner practiced today for the Falcons. Just something to keep in mind.
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greg sec 130 says:
Not good news, but we should still win.
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Ben Nevis says:
Here’s Cimini on the likelihood of Sanchez starting:
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All signs point to Mark Sanchez starting Sunday against the Falcons, but the decision won’t be announced until tomorrow, according to Rex Ryan.
Sanchez was listed as a “full” participant in practice (he was limited yesterday) and took 75% of the first-team reps (it was 50% yesterday) — a strong indication that he’ll get the start.
Ryan said Sanchez had no swelling and no discomfort when examined this morning by the docs, and he indicated that his rookie QB actually looked better and practiced more confidently than he did yesterday.
So it’s all systems go, presumably. Ryan said he’s “optimistic” that Sanchez will start, but he wants to take the extra day just to make sure. The players haven’t been told anything, either, but the prevailing feeling on the team is that Sanchez will get the ball. One player told me he’d be “stunned” if Kellen Clemens.
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And here’s what Bishop had to say at the NYT blog:
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FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Rex Ryan on Thursday borrowed a page from the Eric Mangini news conference manual, as the Jets’ normally loquacious coach turned evasive and secretive in regard to his injured quarterback.
That quarterback is Mark Sanchez, and he practiced again Thursday, for the second straight day and the second time since he sprained his right knee against Buffalo on Dec. 3.
Ryan said Sanchez looked better on Thursday than he did on Wednesday. Ryan also said Sanchez experienced no swelling and no pain.
Still, Ryan danced around whether Sanchez would start Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons at Giants Stadium in another must-win game for the 7-6 Jets. Most signs indicate that he will, except for Ryan’s uncharacteristic and undefined reasons for delay.
“I’m optimistic about it,” he said.
Ryan said Sanchez took 75 percent of the first-team reps on Thursday, up from 50 percent — he split them with his backup, Kellen Clemens — a day earlier. Sanchez also wore custom-made braces on both knees, and Ryan said Sanchez would wear both again on Sunday, if he starts.
In an ideal world, the starting quarterback would take every rep with the first team.
“It’s not an ideal situation,” Ryan said. “If I was really sure, I would have given him 100 percent of them. I’m telling you, I’m not 100 percent sure. I just want to make sure this is the right decision.”
The Jets practiced outside Thursday, in bone-chilling temperatures. Unlike on Wednesday, Sanchez wore sleeves.
Ryan said Sunday’s projected weather — cold, snowy — would not factor into his decision on which player to start at quarterback. Sanchez, who was raised in California and attended college at Southern California, had never started a cold-weather game until earlier this season, and in that game he threw five interceptions against Buffalo. But Ryan dismissed that as a concern on Thursday.
The prevailing feeling inside the locker room was that barring any setbacks in the next two days, Sanchez would be the starter. If not, Clemens would start for the second straight week.
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Bent says: win – it gives JJ their 7th loss, makes it more likely they’ll continue resting players for the jets game, allows us to root for the jags to beat the pats next week and keeps them unbeaten so we can be the ones to end their streak.
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I agree, Bent: root for the Colts, and for exactly the reasons you gave.
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Johnny Reefer says:
Bent is never wrong.
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Randy says:
I think Sanchez will start.I have a feeling Rex is just waiting to see how the Final Practice goes tomorrow before making a final decision.I would expect Sanchez to get the majority of work tomorrow and Rex wwill name Sanchez the starter for Sunday.
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I pray that Sanchez gets the start on Sunday–if KC gets the nod, it’s almost going to be too painful to watch. But I really think Rex is going to base this decision on what the docs say.
In other words, if this were a strictly football decision, it’s a no brainer: Mark S is our QB.
But Rex has made it clear: if the med staff thinks this is physically too risky for MS, we’re going to see Clemens go against Atlanta.
Have to say, though, it’s hard to believe this is the same head coach who said he wouldn’t be surprised if Leonhard were to play the SAME WEEK he had surgery to put SCREWS in his hand. And of course that’s exactly what JL did.
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Why Sanchez??? says:
I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY EVERYONE HAS JUMPED ON THE MARK SANCHEZ TRAIN
yes, Kellen Clemens did not have a great week. He missed a couple passes, one being a touchdown pass, and had some questionable pokpet presence in the first half.
BUT
how many times did Kellen Clemens turn the ball over? When the Jets win the turnover battle they are undefeated this year… UNDEFEATED.. so it is clear that that is all we need out of our QB. TO not throw interceptions or fumble the ball. The rest, will be taken care of by;
A. Our defense
B. Thomas Jones
C. Thomas Jones
D. All the above(((((( D )))))))
Sanchez kills us more times than not. Put Kellen in, you wont want to start him on your fantasy team, but he will not lose us games, he will give our BEST players (Jones, Revis, Scott) a chance to win it for us.
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Why Sanchez-
Give us all a break, will you? Kellen Clemens absolutely sucked against the Bucs. His footwork was terrible, his pocket awareness was terrible, his timing was terrible, he missed his receivers again and again and again. For much of the game, Tampa was able to stuff the box and minimize our run attack, just because KC was a big zero threat through the air.
NOT ONLY DID CLEMENS SUCK LAST SUNDAY, HE SUCKED AGAINST ONE OF THE WORST TEAMS IN THE LEAGUE.
If Kellen C ever starts for us again–and I pray he doesn’t–any halfway decent team (ie, the Falcons) or any great team, even a great team that is hopefully resting its starters (ie, the Colts), is going to be able to shut down our run game and worse, much worse.
Which means a lot of three and outs, which also means our D is going to be on the field for almost the entire game, worn down and exhausted and not at its best. And to beat any halfway decent to great team (the Falcons, the Colts, the Bengals), our D is going to have to be at its best.
Clemens is the kind of QB who has the uncanny ability to sack himself, to just fall on the ground, to fumble the ball (as he did last Sunday, deep in our own end), with no absolutely no upside. No arm, no accuracy, no leadership. The man does not belong on a professional football field. He’s a side-line, clipboard QB at best.
All of which is to say, it’s absolutely clear by now: despite his many rookie mistakes, Mark Sanchez is still the best QB on this team, he’s still the QB who gives us the best shot at a win–not just the best shot to run the table, but the best shot to win ANY of our remaining three games.
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Brendan says:
Yeah I agree with Ben on most of his points. Clemens does have an arm, but that’s means nothing if you can’t locate a throw where you need to (Jamarcus Russel? Kyle Boller? Hay Cutler? All big arms, little accuracy).
Why Sanchez? Because he’s better. Simple. The offense looks much more open when he’s in there. The Yucs did not respect the pass at all. They stacked 8 in the box (the early Sanchez treatment) against a 4th year pro. Dared him to beat them, and he couldn’t. Our defense and special teams won the field position battle, and we got some timely runs. Yes, this is the blueprint we’ve wanted since day 1, but aside from a streak of 3 or so passes in the 4th quarter, Clemens did nothing to make them stop stacking the box at all.
Sanchez stands taller in the pocket, has better footwork, better vision, has already started reading defenses better, and is a fiery competitor. The only advantage Clemens has is arm strength, which as I already said is useless if you can’t be even remotely accurate. When you throw a ball so high that Edwards can’t even get a fingertip to it, that’s a nightmare. A 6’3 receiver who won the state high-jump championship with a 7′ leap can’t reach a ball because it’s too high? That’s an issue.
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Hutch is saying that Sanchez took all the reps with the first team at yesterday’s practice, which means it’s fairly certain that MS will start against Atlanta:
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Mark Sanchez will start at quarterback when the Jets meet the Falcons on Sunday at the Meadowlands, two players predicted after Thursday’s practice.
“There’s no doubt,” said one player, who requested anonymity because he’s not authorized to discuss the move. “He took all the reps with the first team.”
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Cimini is saying that Rex will probably announce who’s starting at QB today at his 1:00pm presser:
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Rex Ryan didn’t make any dramatic quarterback announcements to the team before practice (10:50 a.m.) this morning. . . .
The Jets went about their usual Friday-morning business under the assumption that Mark Sanchez will start Sunday against the Falcons. In other words, nothing has changed behind closed doors. That was the feeling on Wednesday and Thursday as well. Everybody expects Sanchez to be the guy.
Ryan will make the annoucement a little later, around 1, during his news conference.
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Good. Maybe Rex is learning that a little secrecy is a good thing. The Bucs defense was very well-prepared to take on KC last Sunday. Might as well keep his old friend, Mike Smith, guessing because the Falcons can be very tough.