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Robinson Township – The way Brian Schottenheimer used Mark Sanchez on Sunday in Pittsburgh was the perfect formula for “The Sanchise. Perfect! Let’s take a closer look.
Here is the blueprint – Run the football a lot, even if it’s not always pretty, and have Mark throw intelligently designed one (sometimes two) read passes. Have him rollout quite a bit to cut his reads in half.
B-Schotty, who has been relentlessly attacked by many, “stepped up in a big spot,” to borrow an expression from my friend Chris Russo.
On the Jets first offensive play (from center) in this game, Sanchez threw a simple one-read throw to Dustin Keller on the line scrimmage on the left side, and he took it for two yards. This play wasn’t particularly successful, but you got a good idea of what type of passing approach this Jets were going to use in this game.
The Jets followed this opening play by passing on both second and third down, and neither play worked out. The second down play was disrupted when LB Lamar Woodley went unblocked, and forced Sanchez to roll right (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, considering how much he likes to do this), but since the play broke down, two targets ended up in the same area – TE Matt Milligan and WR Santonio Holmes, which means there were also plenty of defenders, and S Ryan Mundy broke it up.
On third down, Sanchez threw a one-read deep pass to Holmes, down the right sideline, and he wasn’t open. CB Ike Taylor had air-tight coverage, and the pass fell incomplete. But this was a definitely a strategic call by B-Schotty to make the Steeler think about the deep pass early and often.
The Jets second possession was loaded with safe, smart passes. On 2nd-and-4, Sanchez hit Holmes on a one-read quick slant on the right side for a gain of seven. Two plays later, a one-read throw to the right side to Edwards went for a gain of eleven.
Sanchez threw a short pass to Holmes that he took for 20 yards on this drive, but it was called back due to a Matt Slauson holding call. I doubt this pass would have been successful if Slauson didn’t hold because a defender blew by him, and would have hit Sanchez if not for the hold. This drive ended in a punt.
After a really, really long Pittsburgh drive (8:12) that took up over half the second quarter, the Jets took over, and Sanchez drove them to a field goal.
On first down, there was the perfect two-read throw for a young quarterback like Sanchez. He looked briefly to Edwards down the right sideline (with no intention of throwing there), and hit Keller over the middle for a gain of six. On 3rd-and-2, another good call for Sanchez by Schotty. He had him roll right, cut the field in half and hit Edwards for a gain of four.
Two plays later, on 2nd-and-8, with Rob Turner in as an extra lineman, perhaps the Steelers were thinking run, and Sanchez hit Edwards for a gain of 38 yards on the deep right side. He looked left briefly on this play (with no intention of throwing there), and then flung the pass down the right sideline, and Edwards made a great catch with McFadden in decent coverage.
But from a passing standpoint, this drive didn’t end on a positive note. First, on 2nd-and-8, Sanchez had a pass batted down at the line by DE Brett Keisel. The problem here was that he only looked at one receiver the entire time, allowing the defensive end to have plenty of time to strategize his jump and block. The on third down, Sanchez threw a two-yard pass to Holmes, and they needed eight yards for the first down.
The Jets got the ball back briefly at the end of the half, but on a play that required a Hail Mary, Sanchez threw it out of bounds on the right side. This made no sense.
The Jets only touchdown drive of the game occurred in the middle of the third quarter.
Sanchez had two nice passes in the middle of this drive. On another tremendous call by B-Schotty, on 3rd-and-1, Sanchez faked a handoff to Shonn Greene up the middle, ran a bootleg left, and hit Keller for a gain of 11. A lot of Steelers fell for the great playfake, and Keller was wide open. Kudos to Greene, who did a great job of jumping into the line, without the ball, and he tricked a lot of defenders. Then on the next play, Sanchez hit Edwards over the middle for a gain of 15, and then tack on another 15 yards, thanks to a questionable unnecessary roughness call on S Ryan Clark.
On 3rd-and-5, Sanchez hit Holmes for a gain of four on the right side, setting up the play of the game. On 4th-and-1, Sanchez fakes a handoff to Greene up the middle, takes off scrambling to the left side, and scores from seven yards out. Tremendous play call.
Late in the third quarter, Sanchez led the Jets on a field goal drive with smart, simple passes of nine (Holmes), 16 (Edwards), and seven Holmes yards. Then Sanchez made a really smart decision on 3rd-and-8. He ran up the middle for a gain of six. He didn’t get the first down, but he turned a 40-yard field goal attempt into a more makeable 34-yarder.
Nothing of note from Sanchez the rest of the way, aside from another batted down pass by Keisel, because he eye-balled one receiver too long.
But you know what, if they are going to go with a lot of one-read passes, this is going to happen once in a while, and that is okay.
This game featured a smart, pragmatic approach from B-Schotty and Rex for their young quarterback, and it contributed a great deal to the win.