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Let’s be honest, it’s hard for the Jets to be feeling great about this situation right now.
Maybe it will work out well, but it’s hard to imagine their current hand can engender a lot of confidence in the Jets brass.
I’m talking about the Jets’ quarterback situation.
Let’s put all the happy talk to the side for the minute, and look at it objectively.
With Greg McElroy not in the picture, it’s Geno Smith and Mark Sanchez vying for the Jets’ starting quarterback job.
Let’s be blunt – how could anybody look at those two choices, and say, “You know what, I think the Jets are going to have a great season this year.”
I’m not looking to be a doomsayer, just trying to keep it real.
Hey, Smith could be a quick study, and turn into this year’s RG III. It’s hard to see, but maybe he can pull it off. The thing is, there are more question marks about Smith entering the NFL than Robert Griffin.
And Smith will have to work a lot harder than he did in college for this to happen.
What he thinks was hard work in college, is nothing compared to the kind of hours he will need to put in on the NFL level to be successful.
He might think he worked hard in college, but in the NFL, quarterbacks need to open the team’s complex and close it. The quarterback needs to be the hardest working player on the team.
Let’s see if he’s willing to do it.
I will give you an example of how his college work won’t cut it on the NFL level. Look at his body. He’s almost skinny. His lower body is dangerously undersized for the NFL game. It just doesn’t look like he spent a lot of time in the weight room at West Virginia.
He better start busting his butt in the weight room because his current body structure isn’t ideal to hold up physically in the NFL.
As for Sanchez, he’s coming off a couple of poor seasons. Not a lot of quarterbacks would still be in the picture after two rough seasons in the NFL, however, Sanchez has a rare chance to get things turned around, and grab the starting job, once again.
But he has got to cut down on turnovers. I know that isn’t great insight, but there is no gray area here – if he doesn’t stop turning the ball over, he won’t have much of a future in this league.
Also, how will he hold up playing in front of what is expected to be an unfriendly home crowd? Many Jets fans want to move on from him, and he could be in for some nasty treatment at home. That can’t be good for any quarterback.
Usually, the venom towards a quarterback, from the home crowd, happens at some point into the season. This could be a strange situation, where the crowd is on him from the get-go. I’m not promoting this, it’s just the sense I get.
If he’s the starter, Sanchez will have to deal with this challenge, and it’s a significant one.
Sanchez has been compared to Freddy Krueger, by an analyst with a Jets media partner, and this sort of coverage, could fuel even more vitriol.
Hey, this somehow could work out well for the Jets, with Smith or Sanchez grabbing the job, and doing a solid job.
But let’s be real, how on earth could the Jets brass being sitting in their offices in Florham Park, as we sit here in early June, and think, “Wow, we feel great about our current quarterback situation.”
They have to be nervous as hell.
June 3, 2013
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