Mike Tannenbaum’s Comments Prove Mark Sanchez is Set Up to Fail

Dec 24, 2011; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez (6) throws a pass during the second half of their game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-US PRESSWIRE

I have talked ad nauseum about my opinion on the Tebow/Sanchez situation. You can go just about anywhere on this website to know how I feel, I am not going to rehash my opinion.

What I am going to talk about, though, is my perception, that the Jets want Tim Tebow to be the starter, and are no longer happy with Mark Sanchez. Mike Tannenbaum was on air with Pro Football Talk yesterday, and made some comments regarding the situation. If you read the comments, they seem pretty innocent. But if you break them down, I think it shows the Jets true feeling on their incumbent starter, and incoming backup.

First the quotes, courtesy of Pro Football Talk:

“We had a good idea of what we were getting ourselves into,” Tannenbaum said.  “Tim’s a pretty unique person with a very unique following.  And when we made the decision from a football standpoint — and, you know, that’s our charge, and [owner] Woody [Johnson] always reiterates that and we sat down with Coach [Tony] Sparano and [head coach] Rex [Ryan] — we felt like by far this was the best opportunity for us to try to get back to some of the diversity we want to do on offense, running different types of plays. And we just thought it was a great opportunity, and I felt like from my standpoint, Mike, that we should be able to create the infrastructure where Tim [and] the rest of his teammates could be successful, and we can manage the distractions.”

He went on to say that Tebow will “play a lot”.

Innocent enough, right?  Well, I want to break the comments down a little bit.

If you follow the New York Jets at all, you saw how Mark Sanchez melted a bit at the end of the season. When criticism and pressure is behind him, he folds a bit. Is that a flaw in his character? Maybe. But that is not the point. Take the first part of what Mike said yesterday:

“We had a good idea of what we were getting ourselves into,” Tannenbaum said. “Tim’s a pretty unique person with a very unique following.

Really Mike? You knew what you were getting into?

Let’s take that at face value. They knew. OK, so that means they knew that from the minute Tim Tebow came to town, that every media person within a billion miles would be watching his every move. “They knew”, that the media would discuss the daily activities of the backup quarterback, every day. “They knew”, that the biggest story out of a media day would be that Tim Tebow is passionate at lunch time, or that he changed his dogs name from “Bronco” to “Bronx”. “They knew”, that anyone who has a locker room near Tim Tebow would be pinned against their locker due to all the media, while there is plenty of room near Mark Sanchez.

What that means then, is “they knew”, that Mark Sanchez will feel pressure on a daily basis thanks to the Tebow talk. “They knew”, that there will be legions of fans that will be pulling for Mark Sanchez to either underperform, or get hurt, just so their idol Tim Tebow can come into the game. “They knew”, that they brought in a quarterback that if Sanchez throws an incompletion, will hear his name chanted from the legions of Tebow fans.

All previous evidence indicates that Mark Sanchez will not stand up well to that.

In other words, “they knew”, that Mark Sanchez will feel sufficient pressure that will ultimately cause his demise.

Finally, Tebow will “play a lot”. Really Mike? But yet we are supposed to believe that you want Mark Sanchez to be your starter?

Do you think Peyton Manning would have stood for coming out 20 plays per game? Absolutely not. Now don’t jump on me folks, I am not comparing Peyton Manning to Mark Sanchez. Far from it. What I am saying is that Manning, as a guy who wants to win at all costs, knows that a 2 QB system doesn’t work.

And it won’t work in NY.

Did the Jets need a backup quarterback that was young? Yes. But they didn’t need a guy that is one of the most popular athletes in the world. This will create much unneeded pressure on Mark Sanchez, which he doesn’t handle well, which will lead to his undoing, and Tim Tebow as the starter, which is what the Jets want.

If you don’t believe me, read Mike Tannenbaum’s words one last time.

We had a good idea of what we were getting ourselves into.

Maybe they did.  And that is what worries me.