Interesting that you should mention that because him not pulling the plug on Sanchez earlier in that season was the start of me, slowly but surely, getting off of the Rex bandwagon. However, I would argue that he made the same mistake this season. He should have given Vick a full week of practice as the starter heading into the San Diego game, or at the very latest, heading into the Denver game (When we were only 1-3 or 1-4, respectively). The fact of the matter is, he waited until the season was already lost to start Vick.
I'm curious to know how many games you thought the 2012 team could have won if not for the guy "killing the team"?
I'd take Chad in a second over Mark every day of the week. Even though his enemies called him "noodle arm." If anyone was treated unceremoniously bad by the Jets org it was Chad when Tanny signed Brett Favre. A player personnel move that backfired on Tanny when Chad was better than Favre, as a matter of fact Chad was runner up for league MVP and beat the Jets the final game of the season for the Fins to make the playoffs instead of us.
Not the point. He failed to adequately hold his starting quarterback accountable for his inexcusably bad play. He was too much of a delusional cheerleader to bench a player who deserved to get benched.
WR, Safety, Offensive line, Quarterback (Of course, Rex didn't bother playing the guy until the season was lost).
I don't know but it was pretty obvious which player was most responsible for losing the games. I guarantee you that if Mark plays like that for the Eagles he' ll be benched. He gave us no chance to win. While his buffoon of a head coach kept proclaiming that he gave us our best chance to win.
There is enough revisionist history on Sanchez's Jets career being spewed in this thread to write a book.
The QB situation in 2012 and this year is an apples to oranges comparison. In 2012 you had a top 5 overall pick you traded up to get just 2 years removed from his second consecutive AFCCG appearance being backed up by 2 guys that are currently not in the league and should not have been in the league even then. This year the season was lost not at 1-3 or 1-4 but at the start when we decided to gift the starting position to a second year second round QB fresh off one of the worst season ever by a starting QB despite having a highly compensated serviceable vet on the roster. In 2012 when Rex repeatedly said in presser after presser that Sanchez gave us the best chance to win, there was an element of truth to that. This year if/when he said it, it would be total bullshit.
By early to mid 2012, Sanchez had been playing very poorly for quite a while. His decision making was not improving and he was making game-changing mistakes. He deserved to be benched far sooner than he actually was. Starting Vick at the beginning of the year would have made total sense, but that's asking a lot for Rex and quarterbacks. But, regardless, my point is that Rex still had a chance to save the season. He had a perfect opportunity to put Vick in at 1-3 or 1-4, you know, when the season still mattered. But, Rex is Rex. His coaching philosophy is to encourage, cheer, and pump his struggling players full of hot air, no matter what. The way Sanchez was playing in the middle of 2012, he wouldn't have given any team in the NFL the best chance to win. He was playing with no confidence. He looked shell-shocked. At least Tebow was irrationally confident. He deserved to be benched well before he actually was.
I've countless times in thread after thread that Sanchez was hot burning trash in 2012 but the sad reality is that we had nothing better behind him. Is your argument that he should have been bench on principle?
Absolutely. I'll add that I don't think Tebow would have been any worse. We would have run a lot more and not turned it over anywhere near as much (Tebow was never one for interceptions, just a lot of incomplete passes).
We had Tim and Greg McElroy. I would have given it to Tim. To see what he could do. What did they have to lose. Just games because he stubbornly stayed with Mark.
I agree with every up until the bold. Irrational confidence means nothing if you can't throw a ball. The fact that you reached the point where you would play Tebow and others would not is not revisionist history; it's just a difference in tolerance levels.
WR was not an area of strength lol, they had to add to it. Neither was safety which is why most people liked the Pryor pick. Offensive line we basically flipped two right tackles. QB they finally got a QB2 that could in theory play, who could know that HE HIMSELF really didn't want to play?
Tebow is 27 and NOT in this league; doesn't that validate Rex's decision? And again were we some kind of playoff team that Sanchez derailed?
Neither one has played a down of football in the league since that season...they did try McElroy late and he was a human pinata. Tebow was finally undressed by Billy Boy in the playoffs after a season full of miracles and never got another shot at QB after that. They had stooges at backup QB until the last two years, and they shot themselves in the foot getting Sanchez hurt last year.
My revisionist history remark wasn't directed at Tebow/Sanchez or really even at Sanchez in 2012 at all. I just think Sanchez needed to be held accountable for his turnovers. He was a fourth year player making the decisions of a rookie. His body language was terrible. I honestly feel the best thing for Sanchez was to sit for a while. I really do. I sincerely believe Rex hurt Sanchez's development by not sitting him at several different points in his early career. Players have to be held accountable for their mistakes. Terry Bradshaw was benched before he had any success. Johnny Unitas was benched and eventually cut before he became the legendary player that he is seen as today. I don't think it's an ultimate indictment of a struggling young player to sit him down for awhile.
Not relevant to the discussion at hand.. Mark deserved to be benched in 2012 way before he actually was. The fact that Tebow isn't a starting caliber NFL quarterback doesn't change that reality. Heck, when Mark's performance eventually became so cartoonishly bad that even Rex couldn't stomach it, he was benched for Greg McElroy - another non-starting caliber NFL quarterback. McElroy not being worth a fuck didn't change the reality that Mark deserved to sit for a while.
If we had serviceable back-up, trust me he would have been benched. Rex just stayed loyal to the guy he won 4 road playoffs games with in the not so distant past hoping he turns it around rather than going with the other 2 guys he knew had no business on the field, at least playing QB. I'm sorry I just don't see that as being such an egregious error on his part especially considering we weren't very good to begin with.
