If warranted, why not give Brunell a series?

FLORHAM PARK, N.J.

Rex Ryan spends most of his time figuring out ways to motivate his players to get the most out of them on game day. And what about his own motivation to coach better? Turns out Ryan does a lot of reading to get himself pumped up.

In fact, chances are he'll read this column and find something to get fired up about.

"I read every one of [your articles], every one of them," Ryan told reporters the other day during his news conference after practice. "And when I get criticized, trust me, I'm like, 'Oh, yeah. I'm going to show you.' "

Whether it's praise or criticism, Ryan reacts. Especially when he gets tweaked. And we'll be doing some tweaking in this space about how Ryan has handled quarterback Mark Sanchez in recent days.

The coach reached into his bag of tricks in practice this week, giving backup quarterback Mark Brunell a handful of practice snaps with the first string. The purpose was to fire up Sanchez and help him break out of a two-game slump that has coincided with the Jets' two-game losing streak. Actually, Sanchez's poor play has been a root cause of back-to-back losses to New England and Denver.

So just as he did after two straight losses to the Patriots and Dolphins last season, Ryan gave the 41-year-old Brunell extra first-team snaps this week.

Last year, Ryan admitted that he briefly considered benching Sanchez during that Dolphins game. Turned out Sanchez was so peeved at that possibility that he said he wanted to fight Ryan, which he admitted in a magazine story published in the offseason.

It also turned out that Sanchez turned his season around. A week later, he helped the Jets to a 22-17 upset of the Steelers in Pittsburgh, and the Jets were well on their way to a playoff berth and a run to the AFC Championship Game.

Ryan hopes for a similar result this time, but his motivational techniques were on the half-hearted side this time. After all, Brunell took less than a dozen first-team reps the first three days of practice, which hardly qualifies as a threat. And when pressed on the issue of whether Ryan would actually replace Sanchez during a game, he said he wouldn't.

"It's nothing against Mark Brunell, it's just this is our quarterback, and that's how I look at it," Ryan said. "Whether it's a veteran quarterback, whoever is pushing him, I don't see taking Mark Sanchez out of a game. I don't see that. If we did put him out or pull him, would it be for a series, whatever? Maybe so, but I don't see myself ever taking Mark out of a game."

The question here is: Why not?

If Sanchez is truly struggling to the point that he is a detriment to the team, why not strongly consider putting in Brunell, if only for a series? If that's what it takes to get Sanchez to snap out of it, why not?

Ryan has seen fit to bench other players during his two-plus seasons with the Jets. He did it two years ago with safety Kerry Rhodes, who wasn't playing as physically as Ryan would have preferred. He released veteran receiver Derrick Mason earlier this season after it became apparent that Mason didn't have it and rookie slot receiver Jeremy Kerley was ready for a bigger role. He even benched kick returner Joe McKnight late in last week's loss to the Broncos after he fumbled on a return.

So why not Sanchez? It might do him some good to know that his coach is willing to sit him for a period of time if he's not getting the job done. But to publicly admit that he actually wouldn't sends the wrong message.

As far as the Jets are concerned, there's really only one player who need not be threatened with a benching. That's All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis, one of the game's best and most consistent players.

I'm not saying that it's time to sack Sanchez for good. I happen to believe there's still plenty of upside in him, contrary to what a lot of people around the league are saying. But a big part of that development process is accountability, and if Sanchez's poor play warrants it, Ryan ought to be willing to at least shake things up with a temporary seat on the bench.

In the long term, it might do the kid some good.