As I write this article, the New York Jets are preparing for their 2011 season finale in Miami against a much improved Dolphins team. There is still a flicker of hope for the playoffs, the Jets needing losses by three other teams and a win against the Dolphins to advance to postseason play. But the only thing that many Jets fans feel confident about for Sunday is that the Jets will lose to the Dolphins, and that it will once again be a result of poor play on the part of Mark Sanchez.
The Jets’ franchise quarterback has proved in 2011 that the future will probably never come, at least not with “the Sanchise” as the quarterback. Sanchez has proved this season that he is the worst quarterback in the NFL, at least amongst quarterbacks who are considered to be the franchise quarterback by their teams. Forget about the Clevelands and the Arizonas, they haven’t anointed their current quarterbacks as anything other than “the best answer we can come up with for the time being”.
By my count, there are at least nine teams still searching for an answer at the quarterback position – Arizona, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Washington, Miami, Denver, Kansas City, Seattle and Tennessee. I’ll be generous and allow that Sanchez is better than the quarterbacks on these teams. Let’s also throw out the Colts and take a look at how Sanchez stacks up against the remaining 22 quarterbacks in 2011.
The first place to start is the QB rating, a paltry 79.0 for Sanchez through 15 games, placing him in the bottom five amongst franchise quarterbacks The Jets have a non-existent vertical passing attack. They have a league worst two offensive plays that gained more than 40 yards this season. Sanchez averages 6.4 yards per pass attempt, tied for second lowest amongst franchise quarterbacks. In three regular seasons, he has five games (out of 47) where he has thrown for 300 yards or more. Accuracy is a major deficiency. He sits at 56.2% completion percentage for 2011, tied for third worst amongst franchise quarterbacks. Ball security is an alarming issue for Sanchez. He has already thrown 15 interceptions in 2011 through 15 games, more than his season total for 2010. And he leads all quarterbacks with 8 fumbles lost for a total of 23 turnovers.
There are few positives for 2011, with 24 touchdown passes thrown and 6 rushing scores being the most obvious. And as ugly as the statistics are for 2011, many actually represent an improvement over his first two seasons. The shame for the Jets is what could have been for the 2011 season. With marginally improved play at the quarterback position, the Jets could have easily won another two games and would already have clinched a wild card slot. Now they face elimination on Sunday and a future with a franchise quarterback that is the worst in the league.