Most players in the NFL are extremely happy to be there. All the hard work devoted to their craft, beginning in pee wee football, then high school, college and so far in their NFL careers have set most players up nicely. Quarterbacks especially have it best usually. They make the most money, have the most recognition, and also the most notoriety. Sadly for them, they also get most of the blame when things go wrong.
This year, there is one player whose shoes NO ONE wants to be in, and that player is Mark Travis John Sanchez, the starting quarterback of the New York Jets.
Sanchez has been the Jets starting QB since he was drafted in the first round in '09 out of USC after a stellar college career. He has gotten better every year in the NFL, but still has not really lived up to many Jets fans expectations.
His passing attempts, completions, passing yardage, and completion percentage has gone up every year. His rating has also, but only from 63 to 75.3 to 78.2. Those ratings are not close to a top ten quarterback, which is where most in the organization were hoping Sanchez would be by now.
Jets management and the coaching staff say they are fully behind Sanchez, and that he is their unquestioned starting quarterback. They feel so strongly about that, they went out in the offseason and traded for some guy named Tim Tebow. Perhaps you have heard of him?
The move has been questioned ad nauseum pretty much ever since the minute the deal was announced. Media members, fans, Jets players...they have all wondered what the heck the Jets were doing. Most experts have said basically the same thing: bringing Tebow aboard as Sanchez' backup could be a brilliant idea, OR things could go really really badly.
Tebow of course needs no introduction. He has become an American folk hero. He is almost Bunyan-esque in his reputation. From his amazing college exploits, including a Heisman award, to leading the Denver Broncos from the doldrums of a 1-4 record to the playoffs and an improbable upset win over the defending Super Bowl champs, the Steelers, in the playoffs, Tebow has become a phenomenon. He has brought us "Tebow-mania". He has introduced us to a new way of keeping time, "Tebow-time". And he has invented a worldwide craze that has been imitated all around the globe, "Tebowing".
All that, and all it got him was traded away from the Mile High, and back to being a second string backup in the league. Hall of fame quarterback, and now director of player personnel and vice president of the Broncos John Elway signed Peyton Manning and cast aside Tebow like a world-class bass fisherman would get rid of a carp or a catfish.
Even though that was not the kind of "thank you" Tebow deserved for an amazing season in Denver, he came to the Big Apple and said all the right things, did all the right things, and kept his feelings to himself. Once again, Tim Tebow has to feel like he has something to prove, which can only mean really bad things for Mark Sanchez and the rest of the NFL.
Now, combine that feeling Tebow must have, with the fact that the Jets have perhaps the shakiest starting quarterback in the league and it doesn't take a genius to figure out what will happen.
Sanchez has the intestinal fortitude of a mayo and bologna on white sandwich. Tebow is one of the best leaders of men the NFL has ever seen. You do the math.
Has there EVER been a safer prediction in sports history than what we will see this upcoming football season? In case you are clueless about what I am talking about, here is what will happen:
Sanchez will start out the year at home against the pumped up, new look Buffalo Bills. Mario Williams, Mark Anderson and Shawne Merriman, who won't get hurt 'til at least week two, will be all over Sanchez, forcing bad throws, interceptions and a week one loss in front of the home fans. The boos will begin.
In week two, it will be more of the same in Pittsburgh, as the Steelers are determined to get back to prominance, and just seeing Tebow on the sidelines will anger the Black and Gold so much, they will trounce the Jets, who fall to 0-2. The next week, the Jets will bounce back and get on the board with a win over the lowly Dolphins, but will most likely go back to a ground and pound offense, due to Sanchez's shaky first two games.
Then the problems will really start. With the New York media already all over Mark Sanchez, the Jets have back to back home games....against two of the top defenses in the league last year, the 49ers, and then the Texans. Both will pressure Sanchez into more mistakes, sacks and picks, and with three straight combined home losses to start the season, the fans and media will be CRAZY to bench Sanchez for Tebow. Rex Ryan will be forced to agree, saying "we need a winner in there to lead this team, and I know Timmy can be that guy".
Guess who is the next opponent at that point? Yeah, the hapless Indianapolis Colts and their rookie QB, Andrew Luck. Tebow should lead the Jets to an unimpressive win, and it will be on.
After the Colts, the Jets will take on New England twice in the next five weeks, but the other opponents will be Miami, Seattle and St. Louis. Then after the 2nd matchup with the Pats, the Jets take on Arizona, Jacksonville, Tennessee and San Diego. If Tebow were to win one of the two Patriot games, he could conceivably have a 9-2 record as a starter. It would not surprise me in the slightest.
The jets will overcome a 1-4 start, and thanks to Tebow, would finish with a 9-7 or 10-6 record. They will win most of their games unimpressively, by scores of 13-10 or 16-13, and Tebow's stat line will be pedestrian at best. If they make the playoffs, the Jets will win a game or two, and then probably lose in the conference semi-finals or conference championship game because ultimately, they are a flawed football team.
I will continue my bold prediction. After the season, the media will question if Tebow is their guy moving forward. Rex Ryan will say "Absolutely. Say what you want about the kid, he wins football games". Meanwhile behind the scenes, there will be discontent.
The Jets will then pick a quarterback in the first round of the 2013 draft to compete with Mark Sanchez and trade Tebow to someone, who will say they are "ecstatic to have a backup quarterback like Tim Tebow on our team", and the cycle will start again.
As the great troubador Billy Joel sings, "and so it goes, and so it goes..."
I'm afraid that as many games that Tim Tebow wins, it will just never matter. I thought this was football, not gymnastics, and it didn't matter how pretty you look winning football games. I am starting to see that that is not the case. I promise you, you will see what I mean in the next year or so.
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