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cloudboy -> RE: predictions (10/3/2011 7:10:04 AM)
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From the local media:
3. The Jets were fortunate to even be in this game at all. In fact, I'm going to go ahead and predict they don't make the playoffs this year, especially if they don't get back to running the ball.
I don't quite understand why the Jets think it's in their best interests to put the majority of their offense in the hands of Mark Sanchez, but it should be obvious he's not ready for that kind of burden. I'm starting to wonder if he ever will be.
I'll give him this: He's tough, he has a quick release, and he's had a few decent playoff games. (He's had a few awful games too, we should point out.) But his accuracy continues to be a problem. He sprays the ball all over the field, and he has been doing it for years. He also doesn't have a big enough arm to let him get away with some of the throws he makes. Sure, he looks great in a GQ spread with his shirt off, but if he wasn't a good-looking guy playing in the media capital of the world, I don't know that people would rave so much about his potential.
The Jets are like the Ravens in many respects. They both have offensive coordinators who want to mold a young quarterback into an elite passer, and so they've tried to throw the ball more to speed up that process. But both quarterbacks are clearly better players (at least right now) when they're asked to make plays within an offense that has a strong running game. It's a difficult balance to strike, but both teams might benefit from reeling in their coordinators a bit.
It's obviously fun to argue the merits of the NFL's young quarterbacks. We pick them apart every week, we group them into meaningless tiers, and we debate whether or not they'll ever be "elite" as if there is some invisible threshold they'll cross when everything they do from that point on will be perfect. If you turn on talk radio, sometimes that's all you hear. "Is Flacco a top 10 quarterback yet? Does Mark Sanchez have the most upside? Who would you rather have, Matt Ryan or Cam Newton or Josh Freeman or Matt Stafford?"
In the end, it's sort of meaningless. I think Flacco has the potential to be a lot better than Sanchez, even though both of them weren't any good Sunday. Trent Dilfer -- who I really, really like a lot as an analyst -- disagrees. That's OK, because neither one of us really knows the answer. It just has to play itself out.
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