Sanchez dazzles on first play as a Jet
Photo credit: John Dunn | Mark Sanchez celebrates after a touchdown by Thomas Jones in the second quarter against the St. Louis Rams. (Aug. 14, 2009)
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Considering the circumstances, Mark Sanchez was a little taken aback and somewhat stunned by Brian Schottenheimer's play call.
"I said, 'Man, I'm coming off the bench cold shooting three-pointers,' " Sanchez said. " 'What's the deal?' "
The Jets were backed up in the shadow of their end zone in the second quarter and the Rams' defense appeared poised to pin its ears back, looking for rookie prey. Sanchez barked out the first semi-meaningful signals of his NFL career - and his mouthpiece came shooting out as if he were spitting out the remnants of a sunflower seed.
"Mid-cadence, I said, 'Hut! Green 30!' " Sanchez said. "Boom, mouthpiece came out. Defense was laughing. First play, what an idiot."
But the rookie certainly didn't look like a clod by the time his gorgeous pass fell into the hands of David Clowney for a 48-yard gain.
Rather than go the conservative route and have Sanchez simply place the ball in the chest of running back Thomas Jones on first-and-10 from the Jets' 7, Schottenheimer rolled the dice.
The offensive coordinator trusted the franchise's $50-million man to make a play, and Sanchez was as cool as a crisp autumn night. He took the snap, dropped back and heaved the ball about 40 yards in Clowney's direction down the right sideline.
Clowney's grab was the first tone-setting play of a smooth 93-yard touchdown drive engineered by Sanchez in the Jets' 23-20 loss to the Rams Friday night at Giants Stadium. How's that for a "welcome to the NFL'' moment for the rookie, who took another big step in his battle with Kellen Clemens for the starting quarterback job.
"I just think from the [Aug. 6] scrimmage to now, I felt more efficient in the game," said Sanchez, who played only the one series. "When you finally get to play another team - and I noticed this at [USC] as well - just the different-color helmets and facemask, it clears up everything.''
Sanchez, who completed 3 of 4 passes for 88 yards and had a quarterback rating of 116.7, outplayed Clemens in the first true test between the two. Clemens went 4-for-4 for 24 yards and had a rating of 91.7 but also lost a fumble. He was steady - not spectacular - and just doesn't seem to create the same buzz that Sanchez does.
Sanchez's eight-play scoring drive left many in the sparse crowd yearning for more. He threw crisp and efficient passes although three-fifths of the starting offensive line was standing on the sideline with injuries.
"I think he showed us everything we needed to see," said coach Rex Ryan, who still is undecided if Sanchez will start the Jets' next preseason game Aug. 24 against the Ravens. "He completed a vertical route, mid-range pass, he completed everything."
In his two series, Clemens didn't do nearly enough to distinguish himself and lost a fumble when he was sacked by Leonard Little. Clemens did lead the Jets down the field for a 33-yard field goal by Jay Feely, but he has to do more to win this quarterback derby.
"I am under the understanding that he is going to make the decision once he is ready to make the decision," Clemens said. "We will just continue to compete and improve until he is ready and hopefully continue to compete and improve after that. Hopefully, we will have a clear-cut one and two."
