Green Lantern: The Sanchez Fear Factor
By Jeff Capellini, CBSNewYork.com
NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- Sure, Darrelle Revis is back in the fold. All is seemingly right in the Jets' world.
That is until the offense has to go on the field. I hate to be a party pooper, but everything is not hunky-dory.
It was a trying preseason for fans of the men in green. Whether it was the 36-day Revis holdout, the constant bashing of "Hard Knocks," the injury to Calvin Pace or the very unpopular cuts made on Sunday, Jets fans had plenty of reasons to worry about whether this team would indeed live up to the hype once the games started to count.
The truth is, even with Revis signed the Jets still have one gigantic question Mark.
Sanchez, that is.
After five weeks of preseason, all the fans want is to hit someone in the mouth and get this thing on. The Revis signing aside, what went down during that month-plus of training camp in both Cortland, N.Y., and Florham Park, N.J., left a bit of a sour taste, if you know what I mean.
Right now, the Jets don't look very Super, even with Revis in tow. They don't really resemble a team expected to make it to Dallas for this February's Super Bowl. In many ways they look like they did after last season's preseason.
But the difference this time is the stakes are 100 times greater. No one expected more than maybe 9-7 last season and that's what the Jets were before getting a gift and taking advantage of it. The remarkable run to the AFC title game, followed by a series of incredible offseason maneuvers, only heightened the expectations that 2010 could really, honestly and truly be the year.
Then camp started and the offense proceded to stink up the joint. Weeks went by without any real improvement.
Now one could chalk up the perception of the struggles to nothing more than end-of-preseason jitters. Maybe the offense will come out and thrash Baltimore next Monday night in front of a packed house at the new Meadowlands stadium.
Wishful thinking? Perhaps.
HBO's "Hard Knocks" may very well be great TV, but it's just that -- somewhat scripted nonsense. The first three weeks were too much about cheap laughs, profanity and Rex Ryan's snacks and too little about the hurdles this team must clear in order to become what everyone expects.
In my opinion the show finally got it right in last week's episode 4. There was a downtrodden feel to everything. Players feared for their lives and the coaches showed their concern over several areas of the Xs and Os that, frankly, are lacking in a big way right now. Sanchez has been a focal point of the show throughout, and with good reason.
He will be the difference between the Jets coming down like a house of cards or being sturdy enough to withstand the huffs and puffs of the NFL's big bad wolves.
While it would be easy to just say let's see a few games first before we worry about the sky falling, the Jets really don't have time to view this offense as a work in progress. If it repeatedly struggles against this hefty schedule, the team could fail to meet expectations. While I agree this defense will be among the best in the NFL, it cannot be asked every week to hold opponents to two touchdowns or less.
Revis' holdout appeared to be the biggest source of angst for the fans, but hidden below the surface remained the true fear: What will Sanchez do? Because if the preseason was any indication, um, the Jets may have some rather serious issues.
The entire season hinges on No. 6. And long-time NFL coach Marty Schottenheimer said something poignant in episode 2 of "Hard Knocks" -- if you get a rookie quarterback to play at the same level in year 2 you have made progress.
The problem with that statement is the Jets need Sanchez to play like he's in year 3 or 4 to truly propel them where they think they belong.
The Jets will ground and pound like last year, but with a receiving corps consisting of home run threat Braylon Edwards, pro's pro possession guy Jerricho Cotchery, maybe the best route runner in the entire NFL in Santonio Holmes (starting in Week 5) and blossoming tight end Dustin Keller, Sanchez simply has no choice but to ramp up his game exponentially.
He did everything the coaches asked for in the offseason. He lived at the practice facility. He studied film in a Peyton Manning-esque manner. On top of that, he's healthy. He has toys to play with. He's got a really good offensive line, even with Alan Faneca gone.
Yet in the three preseason games in which he played we all saw a lot of the 2009 Sanchez -- the happy feet, the forced throws, the indecision. And while it would be easy to say there are no excuses for Sanchez, considering his abilities, the bottom line is he's still not where this team needs him to be.
Here-in lies the fans' glaring concern. Will the light go on? Will Sanchez be the Cool Hand Luke gunslinger we expect or will he be that sophomore QB trying not to lose games?
The Jets need him to show more glimpses of the former and far less of the latter.
The Jets coaching staff is exceptional. Their running game has the potential to be ridiculous. The defense should be as advertised, or at least good enough to give the team a chance to win every game. Mike Westhoff's special teams figure to be better than last year's hit-or-miss bunch. Even the kicking game looks good.
That leaves Sanchez, the face of the franchise. The man with the several million dollar smile and the golden arm.
Is it "Go Time" as the commercials claim?
It better be. Too much is riding on him.
(Jeff Capellini is a senior editorial editor for CBSNewYork.com. He also writes under the moniker "The Green Lantern" on the Jets, Yankees, Islanders and many other things Gotham sports. Please follow him on Twitter at @greenlanternjet)
