Mark Sanchez & The Death Of The Middle Ground

Nov 10, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback

(3) celebrates at the end of the game against the Carolina Panthers at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Sometime in the last few years, with the rise of social media , especially Twitter, as the primary method of sports discussion, middle ground died. Shades of gray were out and black and white are now the only colors left. A player or team is either great or terrible, sometimes switching within minutes. Nobody epitomizes this new dumbed down version of analysis more than Mark Sanchez.

Sanchez, the quarterback of the Jets from 2009-13 and now the Philadelphia Eagles starter, is probably one the most scrutinized athletes of all-time. From the middle of 2011 on, every single play was put under the microscope. The practice throws were charted in his competition with both Tim Tebow and Geno Smith. Every success lauded and every mistake magnified. People tweet what they think are witty comments, pathetically writing them in advance most likely, and race to post them as soon as the next play unfolds.

When he was with the Jets there were Sanchez apologists, who blamed any mistake he made on the team’s lack of weapons, offensive line play or coaching, while on the other side there were Sanchez haters who just blamed everything on him whether it was really the quarterback’s fault or not. Now those that rooted for him in New York throw his successes in the face of those that didn’t and use the Jets as a punch line for letting him go while his failures are reminders of jokes past. Then there is the media that feeds the trolls on both sides, as long as it serves their agenda. The truth, as it always does, lies in between but the problem is that “in between” doesn’t get you page hits, likes, retweets or twitter followers.

Last Monday the Eagles crushed the Panthers 45-21 in a game that wasn’t even that close and all of a sudden we got articles about the “rebirth” of Mark Sanchez and how great it was to play for an offensive coach. Here’s an example of that from Manish Mehta of the Daily News. According to Mehta, and many others in the media, Sanchez “embarrassed” the Jets with a “told-you-so’ performance on Monday night and he even said the Jets would be better off with Sanchez based solely off of that one game.

Nov 16, 2014; Green Bay, WI, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Mark Sanchez (3) throw a pass in the fourth quarter against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Fast forward to Sunday and the headline from the Daily News now reads, “That’s the Mark we know, Sanchez throws two INTs, Eagles crushed by Packers at Lambeau”. Sanchez threw two interceptions, lost two fumbles and two of those turnovers were returned for scores and the Eagles lost 53-20. Now the article, which you can read here, references Sanchez’s past failures with the Jets, namely the “buttfumble”, and he is back to being the “butt” of jokes once again.

The fact of the matter is that Mark Sanchez is an average to below average quarterback. His numbers suggest that he is way below average but some of that was shell shock from poor offensive line play, lack of weapons and poor coaching here in New York. Sanchez doesn’t respond well to blitz pressure and getting hit, he doesn’t read defenses well and he isn’t very accurate. In this Eagles system that has a lot of playmakers that can help him and features a lot of short passes that let the receivers run after the catch, Sanchez can have some success but it isn’t going to turn him into one of the league’s elite because he just isn’t talented or consistent enough.

Sanchez didn’t even have the worst day quarterbacking in the league as Eli Manning threw five interceptions in a loss to the 49ers. Manning mainly gets a pass for his horrendous play because his two magical playoff runs ended with Super Bowls instead of AFC Championship Games. Other quarterbacks around the league don’t receive the same scrutiny as Sanchez for reasons I don’t know. All I do know is that “hot takes” that declare someone great or awful immediately is what sells and the more snark the better. Taking the time to flesh out the truth just isn’t exciting enough anymore and that’s a shame because the fun part about sports is arguing about shades of gray and finding that middle ground, the ground that doesn’t seem to exist anymore.