Rex Ryan Says Sanchez ‘Elite QB’
Added on Aug 18, 2011 by Jack Thurman in
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New York Jets’ quarterback Mark Sanchez is seldom mentioned as one of the NFL’s elite signal callers. Now his coach, Rex Ryan, is taking exception to that.
Despite the fact that Sanchez has never been to a Pro Bowl or completing 60% of his passes in a season, Ryan says that he’s among the league’s ‘elite’:
“When you talk about elite quarterbacks, I think he’s an elite quarterback because he wins the big games and he’s a winner,” Rex Ryan said Thursday. “That’s all I want him to do — just win. Don’t worry about anything else. The stats will take care of themselves, let’s just go out and win. Hopefully, he can’t play in the Pro Bowl anyway.”
Sanchez does have four road playoff wins in only two seasons and that puts him in some impressive company including Len Dawson and Roger Staubauch. Even with this vote of confidence, however, Ryan made clear that Sanchez isn’t on the same level as Peyton Manning or Tom Brady:
“No, not those two,” Ryan said. “Those two have won Super Bowls. Peyton Manning’s won a Super Bowl and he’s won a zillion games and, in my opinion, (is) the best quarterback in football. And you have Tom Brady, who has only three Super Bowls, been the MVP of the league probably three times. We’re a ways from there.”
Sanchez has been working on improving his accuracy and quarterbacks coach Mark Cavenaugh hopes that bodes well for him this season:
“We need that from him all year long. That’s going to make us a more productive offense.”
“When he’s under the big lights in the big games, he knows what’s at stake. He steps up, he makes better decisions and hits the open guys more accurately. There’s something about those games that excite him. What we want him to understand is that, if you do those things in the regular season, we’re going to get home-field advantage and a playoff game at home.”
The Jets continue their preseason campaign this weekend as they host the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. New York is a -6′ point NFL betting odds favorite with the total set at 35.5. Plaxico Burress and Shonn Greene are both listed as ‘out’ for this game.
