Marty Mornhinweg on Managing Six Quarterbacks with the New York Jets

Nov 27, 2011; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg along the sidelines during the second quarter against the New England Patriots at Lincoln Financial Field. The Patriots defeated the Eagles 38-20. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

We have spent a lot of time talking about the quarterback position, even before the draft occurred. There has been plenty of reason for that, obviously. Add to that, the draft of a high-profile quarterback, and we talk even more. Then, we look at the depth chart, and realize that the Jets have six quarterbacks on the team, which sparks even more discussion.

There has been plenty of talk about Mark Sanchez’s perspective, how coach Ryan is going to handle it, about Tim Tebow, and of course about Geno Smith. But, what about the new offensive coordinator? Marty Mornhinweg has to manage and teach all of these guys. Here is what coach Mornhinweg has to say about it:

Yeah, that’s a good point and here’s what we have. We’ve got a host of quarterbacks and now, highly talented young men. This thing is going to be about competition and that brings out the best. Now you give up just a little bit doing it that way with the reps, and so that’s going to be an important process, well thought out and very well structured as far as how we go about practicing to get everybody enough reps, number one, to get a great evaluation on them and opportunity. And then reps are part of the learning process for all of the quarterbacks. So yeah, that’s a good point but you certainly give up something to get something doing it that way.

Mornhinweg has had the unique opportunity to work with more than one “mobile” quarterback, working with Michael Vick, and Steve Young at different times in his career, among other players. Geno Smith is a mobile player as well, and Marty talked about working with that many mobile QB’s:

I’ve been fortunate. All of them are different. Every quarterback is different, even the ones that are sort of in the same mold as each other, are quite different. Every quarterback is built different, so they are unique. And I know this – you have to coach them individually that way and play towards their strengths. My first challenge and goal is, and I think I know, but you never really know until you’re in it, what Geno’s great strengths are and I think I know. Certainly, (we’ll) lean that way. Even in his development in practice and then over on the side we’ll work on, and everybody’s got strengths and weaknesses. We’ll work on the weakness on the side, but we’ll try to get those strengths going right away with all of our quarterbacks.

Marty has also been blessed with a new weapon at the running back position. Here is what he had to say about him:

We all like and appreciate the way that Chris plays the game. He plays it in a tough, physical manner. That always helps. You have a one, two and even three punch thing going on in the backfield. That’s just outstanding because it keeps you fresh. You have a downhill physical guy and then you’ve got some dynamic ability out there. It mixes very well.

He also talked about Mark Sanchez, and the fact that his time at USC is part of what gave him, as he put it, initially a “leg” up on the competition. Marty is on the same page with the competition theme, and appears to be the right guy to run the show. He knows that dividing up the snaps is going to be difficult, but seems ready to take the job head on. He looks at the positives of each guy, and what they can bring to the team.

Who does that mean will be on the field? That we will find out this summer. But I believe that the Jets are on the right track with Marty Mornhinweg.