Why I Want Mark Sanchez Traded.

Now, don’t let the title mislead you. I’m not saying he needs to get traded because I think he’s terrible and the bane of the Jets’ existence like many, many others do. I’m saying that he’s never going to utilize his abilities if he’s a NY Jet. He’s never going to be properly coached — he wasn’t properly developed to begin with so this is nothing new — and he will never be given a fair shake. He will not be given an offensive line that will keep him upright long enough to make a decent decision, let alone play, and he will not be given actual receivers to throw to. Sure, the guys he has end up to be serviceable, but look on any other team’s roster and check out their receiving corps…then look at the Jets roster and check out the names and credentials of the guys whose hands the ball and game are supposed to be in. Kerley’s proving to be an excellent option more than 75% of the time. That’s one. ONE. The others all have promise, but where’s the proven guy? Oh, he’s sitting at home with a season-ending injury, and prior to said injury was showing that his personality flaws of the past were more proven than his playmaking abilities. Were it not for Dustin Keller, Sanchez would be looking at the faces of foreign men. Scared, foreign men. Men who drop passes, who have not been in a system long enough to say they “get it”.

In watching a lot of games this season, there have been several interviews with quarterbacks and analysts, and a common thread has been found in many of the conversations. A quarterback needs a steady, proven system. Said system needs more than a year or two to be in place. It has been deemed essential, especially a young quarterback, and this has been said even as recently as in a discussion with Jay Cutler before TNF game. Without a solid foundation and a system that changes with the team instead of constantly against it, then no matter what a quarterback may do, it will never be fluid enough to actually matter. It may work for a year, but it will not continue to work and the quarterback will not progress as he should. Not only have the Jets brought in a new receiving corp every year in Sanchez’s four with the team, but now the offense as a whole is learning an entirely new system and playbook puppeted by Tony Sparano. Add to that that there are ~super secret~ parts of a playbook — or maybe even a whole book on its own — designed for the backup quarterback, the special weapon, who so far has been as invisible as an employee at Lowe’s when you need help figuring out which hose will actually fit the valves on your washing machine. It should never have taken as long as it did for the Jets to do something about Wayne Hunter. In doing so they used up valuable time that could have been spent actually finding an RT who is known to keep his guy upright and not entrusting it to a noob who has shown way more often than not that he simply can’t get it done. The offensive line as a whole is just awful. Ferguson has more good than bad moments but even Mangold is showing that he’s not the blocker he once was, and it’s either due to the fact that the line as a whole is collapsing or, simply put, these guys can’t do the job of 4 others as well as their own. I’m not even getting into the defense here. This is strictly about the offense. Without run blocking, no runs can be made. Shonn Greene is just awful. There is no better way to put it. He runs into walls, and the inability for the guys up front to create holes for him doesn’t help this matter. Each year he has one game where he breaks off big runs and shows everyone what he can be capable of. But it is ONE game. Out of 16, that’s not okay.

The play calling is suspect to say the very best. It often times seems like Sparano is playing eenie meenie minie mo when it comes to what he deems to be the right play and, you guessed it, it usually isn’t. They seem poorly designed, basic and worse off, completely predictable. Week 1 teased us all. It made us think that not only was the offense going to be good this year, they could be great. Gone was Schottenheimer, gone was the bad energy, gone was Wayne Hunter. Here was a legit passing team who hung 48 on a Bills defense that everyone was touting would be the second-coming. Here was a playbook so stocked with things Jet Nation hadn’t seen in years that the collective fanbase lost its mind upon seeing the Flea Flicker. Here was hope. But it’s gone now. Benching Mark is not the answer. If he had a viable backup that anyone had faith in or wanted on the team, it would have happened by now. If Drew Stanton had remained on the roster instead of being replaced by Tebow, I fully believe Mark would’ve had several seats by now.

Rex has Sanchez’s back. You have to think there is a reason for it.

So getting back to my original intention: As much as I would love for him to continue playing with the Jets, I would love it even more for him to go a team that would treat him right. That would build him into the quarterback I think he can be after seeing what he is capable of when given the pieces other quarterbacks in the league are given without a second question. Not only did this team not set him up properly with pieces on the field, they added to it by bringing in Tim Tebow to create even more stress, pressure and attention on a team that absolutely did not need it, and on a quarterback whose backside was already in flames from the hot seat before the first snap of the first pre-season game. Send him to a team that will build around him. That will support him. The Jets traded up to draft him 5th overall after he’d only played in and started 16 games at USC, one of which by the way was a victory in the Rose Bowl. But no, ignore all of that promise and throw him to the dogs. Don’t bother helping him develop, keep the quarterback coach who has never bothered to do that with any guy who has been plopped in a chair for the quarterback meetings. Who needs legit wide receivers and a running back that can run more than 2 yards, 4 if he’s lucky? No quarterback needs more than .03 seconds to make a play.

The fact is, Mark cannot win. On the field or off. He is scrutinized for everything, even when he’s trying to remain professional. Winning may not even solve this because the damage is done in the eyes of many a fan. Yes, his body language often sucks. We are not at Florham Park behind closed doors to see what he says or does, we can only go off of what teammates tell to the press or what the media chooses to share that they saw with their own eyes. If they’re all saying Mark’s leadership isn’t the problem, maybe it’s time to hop off that train. Or maybe it’s time to just let it keep running on the track and watch as the inevitable trainwreck happens, because this season is churning out of control fast. Seeing Sanchez in another team’s jersey is what a lot of people want. This is just my reason for adding my name to the list. And then I will sit back and smile when yet another player let go by the Jets embarrasses them, because it’s happened before and it will continue to do so as long as these questionable decisions are being made by Tannenbaum & co. So, yes, I’m on the Trade Him train, but not for the reasons most are. Let Sanchez go somewhere while he still can. He’s 25 (soon to be 26) and not entirely ruined yet. If this continues, I don’t have high hopes that I could be saying the same by season’s end.

✈ Sydney Find me on Twitter at @SydneyKira1; email: confessionsofajetsfan@gmail.com