Dec. 23, 2012; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan stands on the sidelines with quarterback Mark Sanchez (6) during the second half against the San Diego Chargers at MetLife Stadium. Chargers won 27-17. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

Mark Sanchez may still be here, and so is Rex Ryan, but clearly, the allegiance is changing.

It was not a great day at OTAs for Mark Sanchez yesterday, having a too familiar problem with interceptions. He was even picked on back to back plays, which included one by defensive lineman Damon Harrison. It is early, but it wasn’t good.

The change was in Rex Ryan’s reaction. His days of coddling Mark are obviously over. Here is what coach Ryan had to say when asked if he was disappointed in Mark:

Yes, it is, absolutely. It’s a good thing the defense made some plays, but no, I’d rather (have) him not turn the ball over once, obviously. It’s funny because you can look at the practice, and you guys were out there and you saw it, he did a lot of great things, and then those negative things, but at the end of the day, that’s what gets you beat. We have to do a better job of eliminating those turnovers. The quarterbacks, as I’ve said before, whether it be a running back, whoever, we have to protect the football.

Rex was later asked if Mark should understand how to take care of the football by now:

Again, this is OTAs. But yes, that’s going to be the pressure that we’re putting on him, that no, this is unacceptable. (You) did a lot of great things and it’s not that you try to cover up the fact you had some bad plays, no, you flat tell him, ‘We can’t have these,’ and that type of stuff, and he knows. Right now what’s happening with the offense is you’re putting in a brand new offense and there’s some different things that are going through your head. The fact that the defense is not standing still for you, they’re standing, blitzing (and) doing whatever, it’s probably not really comfortable back there, but that’s exactly why we’re running the defense the way we’re running it.

Again, it is far too early to start making assumptions about anything. It’s been one day. But, what is obvious, is that unlike year’s past, Rex has not thrown all of his support to Mark. Rex really is getting behind the idea of a competition, and that will only mean good things for the New York Jets.

May 10, 2013; Florham Park, NJ, USA; New York Jets rookie quarterback Geno Smith (7) talks with offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg (right) during New York Jets rookie minicamp at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

What will the Jets offense look like in 2013? No one quite knows yet, but it will be an amalgam of the philosophies of new offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg and head coach Rex Ryan. Who the starting quarterback will be is still up in the air but if Geno Smith wins the job both coaches have been down the road of having to start rookies. The meshing of these two coaches’ philosophies will decide what direction the Jets go this year and how rookie QB Geno Smith develops.

In 2009, the Jets started Mark Sanchez immediately after being drafted in the 1st round. Rex Ryan decided it was in the best interests of that year’s team to run the ball behind the league’s best offensive line and take advantage of having Thomas Jones, Shonn Greene and Leon Washington in the backfield. The Jets ran the ball 607 times compared to only 393 passes, a 60/40 split. Sanchez’s role was minimized and it was made clear that his job was not to lose games for a team that revolved around defense and running the football. His 6.7 yards per attempt showed that he was throwing short passes and trying not to make the big mistake. Sanchez had his ups and downs with 12 touchdowns compared to 20 interceptions but the team finished 9-7, made the playoffs, won two road playoff games and were one win away from the Superbowl.

With the Eagles last year Marty Mornhinweg had the unenviable task of reworking his offense on the fly when an injury to starting quarterback Michael Vick in Week 10 forced rookie Nick Foles into the starting lineup. While Vick is the gunslinger who scrambles out of trouble and throws the deep ball proficiently, Foles is a pocket quarterback who likes to throw in rhythm and is limited athletically. Mornhinweg took advantage of Foles skill set and hid his inexperience by having him throw 157 of his 238 throws either at the line of scrimmage or short routes. This quick, short passing game (a staple of the West Coast Offense) helped Foles complete 77.7% of those short throws and allowed him to complete 61% overall for 1699 yards in just 7 games (6 starts). The Eagles passed 613 times overall and ran 413 times for a 60/40 ratio favoring the pass. Foles also had 6 touchdowns to 5 interceptions during that period as well. The Eagles defense and offensive line play were their ultimate downfall as they finished the season 1-5.

March 19, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA; New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan answers questions from reporters during the annual NFL meetings at the Arizona Biltmore. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Apr 26, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Geno Smith (West Virginia) is introduced as the number thirty-ninth overall pick to the New York Jets during the 2013 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

Geno Smith was by far the most interesting pick the New York Jets this weekend. We know that the team has quarterback issues. The wrench in it was the variety of grades with the quarterback class. The grades from this quarterback group were so wide-ranging that choosing one would have been better served on the third day of the draft. None of them graded high enough to make the first two days, based on the personal “eye test”.

Another reason the pick was so interesting is the gentleman pictured to the right. Rex Ryan, as we all know, has been joined at the hip with the incumbent starting quarterback, Mark Sanchez. His success the first two years of his coaching term was directly tied in with Mark Sanchez. The success, and with that, the failure, of this quarterback is directly tied in with this coach. It makes another choice of a quarterback high in the draft, interesting.

Moving forward, let’s think about what this draft pick means to the relationship of the current coach and the new quarterback.

Whether or not Geno Smith wins the job as starting quarterback in 2013 remains to be seen. You know my feeling about the situation, that he is definitely not ready to move ahead that quickly. His pocket presence is not great, and his accuracy is strikingly inconsistent. When his mechanics are on, he is accurate, but too often they are not, and therefore he is not.

David Lee has a lot to work with before Geno Smith is ready to take the keys to this team.

However, Geno Smith will get the keys to this team. You don’t draft a quarterback in either of the first two rounds of the draft, without the expectation that he will eventually become the starting quarterback. You don’t “reach” for a player at that level, you pick a player that you are confident will become the guy, with a couple of years. You choose a guy like this to be the future of your team.

Let’s think about coach Ryan for a minute. We all have thought about Rex as a lame duck. There is a new general manager in town, and typically, general managers want to bring in their own head coaches. They don’t like to be handcuffed with a head coach that was here before they were. It can work, but it doesn’t always.

Now that the Jets have kept Rex Ryan, they have drafted a quarterback for the future. Look at it in this light, are the Jets going to draft a quarterback for the future, and then bring in a new coaching staff next year that wasn’t part of drafting their quarterback? That doesn’t make sense. A new coach will not want to be handcuffed by a young quarterback that they didn’t necessarily want.

Isn’t it more realistic to think that drafting a new quarterback under Rex’s watch might mean that they are giving the keys to Rex for longer than this year? Doesn’t it make you think they are going to give Rex the chance to fix the situation that the Mark Sanchez problem has caused? The latter seems to make more sense.

We will see how this plays out in the coming weeks and months, but maybe Rex is not as lame duck as we thought. Maybe he is getting the chance to fix this team, that none of us thought he would get.

Time will tell.