Tim Tebow, Mark Sanchez quarterback combo
Quarterback combo could work for NY Jets, says former NFL general manager
The Jets are going to require two playbooks next season. One package will be for Mark Sanchez, the conventional quarterback. It will include simple things such as passes over 10 yards and plays that require reading the defense. The other package, which will be for Tim Tebow, the novelty quarterback, will be filled with gimmick plays out of the Wildcat and simple throws.
It’s been quite an offseason for the Jets. They were turned down by Peyton Manning, one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
They were embraced by Tebow, one of the worst.
The Jets still need to sell PSLs. Rex Ryan wants a return to Ground and Pound. Tebow can impact Woody Johnson’s bottom line and Ryan’s offense at the goal line.
Trading for Tebow was a bad decision by the Jets, but there is a blueprint to make this work. “I think it’s a good move. He brings a spark to the offense,” a former NFL general manager said on Wednesday. “Look at it like this: Tebow is a relief pitcher, a closer. There is nothing wrong with that.”
That means plenty of the Wildcat, which Jets new offensive coordinator Tony Sparano brought into the NFL in 2008 in Miami, helping him win the AFC East. Defenses have caught up with the Wildcat the last few years, but Tebow’s main strength is his ability to impose his will on a game with his legs, not his arm.
“He’s a package quarterback, not unlike Brad Smith, but better,” the former GM said. “The Jets have an offensive coordinator who had a lot of success with that package. That’s how you have to look at it. But even the most illiterate fan recognizes he’s not a legitimate quarterback.”
Timsanity will cause collateral damage for the Jets. Sanchez has a fragile psyche, and his first interception at MetLife Stadium is going to bring chants for Tebow. That’s a given. The Jets didn’t agree to trade valuable fourth- and sixth-round picks for Tebow and a seventh-rounder and throw in $2.5 million to Denver so Tebow can watch Sanchez play. He’s going to play.
“I’m assuming they decided they got away from what they are and want to run the ball,” one prominent offensive coordinator said. “Why else bring him in? Otherwise, it makes zero sense from a football standpoint.”
How many plays should Tebow get?
“A delicate area,” the offensive coordinator said. “I would have a package — that’s the only possible justification for acquiring him and I would try to continue to teach him other stuff and develop a more prototypical quarterback.”
But he didn’t endorse the move. “I wouldn’t have made it. The potential is there for disaster,” he said. “I guess they want to live on the edge. It’s dangerous. No question, they are rolling the dice.”
The Jets will put him on the field. Sanchez, who leads the league in pouting, is not going to be happy standing on the sidelines or splitting out wide as a decoy. If Tebow should happen to throw him the ball, the Jets have to be concerned that Sanchez will tear a rotator cuff leaping for one of Tebow’s errant throws.
“If Tebow screws with Sanchez’s psyche, then Sanchez is on borrowed time,” the former GM said. “I don’t think Tebow will split the locker room, but it can go either way. He’s too good a kid. Sanchez is a good kid. You polarize the locker room when one guy is bad.”
Sanchez needs to grow up. But Ryan has some explaining to do to him. Sanchez surely thought things had settled down after the Jets didn’t get Manning and then gave him that ridiculous contract extension.
“Does it unsettle an already unsettled quarterback? The fans in New York, at the first sign of trouble, will be looking for the next guy to come in,” the coordinator said. “Sanchez has got to be wondering what the hell is going on. Add this to the Manning thing and there is not overwhelming support from within the locker room and from up above. He was anxious and antsy anyway.”
The coordinator said he would tell Sanchez that having Tebow will make it more difficult for the defense “and increases your chances of being successful. No question reps will be taken away because the Jets have to devote a portion of their game plan for somebody else at quarterback. If you are not secure, it’s going to bother you. Sanchez is going to have to deal with it and accept it.”
Here was one general manager’s scouting report on Tebow before the 2010 draft:
“A big, strong overachieving athlete at the position. He has a strong arm, but mechanically flawed with marginal intermediate accuracy, particularly hitting moving targets. . . . There is no player in college sport who can impose his will to win and have such an emotional impact on his peers and get the results he has over a career. . . . He’s a rare competitor, and what he brings can’t be measured statistically. That said, many of his throws are errant of his receivers, and his best plays aren’t necessarily drawn up in any playbook. . . . Surprisingly good accuracy down the field. . . . You love the kid, but there is no pro offense featuring his strengths, and if you adopt what he does best, in all probability he’ll have a short career given the pounding he’s going to take. . . . There is a lot of buyer beware with Tebow.”
Has his opinion changed in the two years Tebow has been in the NFL?
“He’s exactly what I thought,” he said.
That doesn’t sound like good news, but the Jets have to make this work.
This article was written by Gary Myers and appeared in the New York Daily News. 
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