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Mark Sanchez had his moments, but there is a lot of room for improvement. Here is Part I of “Looking at the Films” from the Dallas game.
As if often the case, the Jets first offensive possesion wasn’t successful.
On a third-and-ten, Mark Sanchez connected with Santonio Holmes for a gain of six. The pass wasn’t even close to he sticks. Perhaps Sanchez was hoping for some RAC.
On the second series, on third-and-four, Sanchez took advantage of a mismatch, Holmes on safety Barry Church, and hit Holmes on a crossing route for a gain of eight. But this possession ended with two inaccurate passes in a row – first Sanchez threw a pass to Holmes in the flat that was way off target, and then he overthrew Plaxico Burress down the sideline. With the 6-5 Burress, you need to give him a chance, with his huge wingspan, to get a hand on it, and this pass was overthrown to a degree that Burress couldn’t get near it.
Sanchez was blitzed a lot in the first half, and took a lot of hits. So it’s only fair to blame the protection a little, but in his third year, he needs to do a better job with his hot reads. Blitzing a third-year QB shouldn’t be as successful as attacking a rookie. Veteran QB’s need to make you pay.
Sanchez finally got things going at the end of the first half, driving the Jets down field for a touchdown. Early in the possession, he rolled right and hit Holmes for a gain of 17. Sanchez is terrific when you cut the field in half for him. But then he did a poor job not getting a play off before the two minute warning, a case of bad clock management.
Right after the two minute warning, he hit Dustin Keller for a gain of 10 over the middle. Then he hit LT on a quick out on the left side for a gain of nine (this play was very effective throughout the evening). Then after getting sacked, he hit Holmes, on an out, on the right side for a gain of 17. Then the Jets finally made Dallas pay for a blitz, with a beautifully executed screen to LT on the right side that went for 28 yards. This play went to the four. Then he failed to connect with Derrick Mason on the right side of the end zone. This Mason play was a perfect example of what happens when a QB and WR aren’t on the same page due to a lack of work together. It looked like a fade, but Sanchez threw it too hard on a line drive. There was definitely a miscommunication, and they will iron this out as time goes on. The Sanchez rolled right, showed good patience, and hit Keller for a touchdown in the back of the end zone. Keller beat former Jets safety, Abe Elam.
In the second half, Sanchez had two passes of note (not enough considering how ravaged Dallas is at cornerback). On the second drive of the second half, Sanchez hit the Jets secret weapon, Jeff Cumberland (4.4 speed), on a crossing route for a gain of 36. Sanchez showed good patience on this play. Cumberland started on the right side, cut way over to the left side, and that is where Mark hit him.
Early in the fourth, Sanchez threw his other touchdown pass, and he can thank Plaxico for two reasons on this drive. Sanchez hit Holmes on a crossing route for a big gain, and on the play, Plax threw a crushing block on CB Mike Jenkins, knocking him out of the game for a while. Dallas was already down two corners – Terrence Newman and Orlando Scandrick. So later in this drive, Burress beat a third string cornerback on a fade for a touchdown.
Late in the third quarter, Sanchez threw a pick to LB Sean Lee, who he didn’t see in underneath coverage. He just didn’t see him, and Lee returned it to the one, and then Dallas scored.
Sanchez was average, and should have done a better job of taking advantage of Dallas’ issues at cornerback.
But he probably needs to be cut a little slack because he’s still trying to get on the same page with his new wideouts, Mason and Burress.