Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Mark Sanchez Hitting It Big In The Big Apple

After having the top selling rookie jersey last week, and currently on pace to beat Oakland Raiders' RB Darren McFadden 2008 mark last year, New York Jets rookie QB Mark Sanchez may have already sealed the starting quarterback job in the Big Apple. According to Rich Cimini of the New York Daily News, Rex Ryan "has made it abundantly clear, without saying so, that his plan is to make Mark Sanchez the opening-day starter" based on word around the Jets' training camp. Rex was in Baltimore in 2008 when QB Joe Flacco was the opening day starter and never looked back so it makes sense that he would think Sanchez could handle it too. Many questioned whether Flacco would be ready given that he played at the University of Delaware, a Division 1AA school, and due to the Ravens' lack of an ideal receiving corps surrounding him. Most experts originally figured Sanchez would not be ready anytime soon due to his 16 collegiate starts and the Jets' lack of an ideal receiving corps also.

If anything Sanchez would have an advantage over Flacco when it comes to starting immediately. He did play at USC which is immensely abundant in talent and runs a very complicated pro-style offense. Also, he is known as a poised, smart decision-maker with an unbelievable work ethic and amazing accuracy, which makes his learning curve much lower. Flacco was seen as more of a raw gun-slinger. Sanchez knows that the job is his to lose, especially afer the success of last year's starting rookie quarterbacks in Flacco and the Atlanta Falcons' quarterback Matt Ryan. Fortunately, he loves challenges like these and does all he can to impress those judging him. A perfect example of this was him deciding to throw at the combine when there was no need to, unlike Matt Stafford. Rumor is that he actually learned a significant portion (around 20 full plays) the night he got his playbook and executed each of them flawlessly the next day in his first day of training camp. Only time will tell, but I bet he will end up starting immediately given his attributes.

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