Peter King- Sanchez breakdown

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/10/01/game.plan/index.html?eref=sihp

Now on to the column. Let's talk ball security for a few paragraphs. (Ooooh! Wheeeee! Exciting!) I maintain that's what Mark Sanchez and his offensive coordinator have been doing since he arrived in New Jersey. And it's paying off for the 2-1 Jets heading into their division game (walkover?) Sunday at Buffalo.

Over the last eight games (including playoffs), here's how the three best quarterbacks in football rank against Sanchez in terms of protecting the ball:


Quarterback Plays* Int. Fum/Lost** Turnovers
Drew Brees 296 3 5-2 5
Peyton Manning 293 3 1-0 3
Tom Brady 253 8 2-2 10
Mark Sanchez 190 2 0-0 2

* "Plays'' is pass attempts plus sacks taken.
** "Fum/Lost'' is total fumbles/fumbles lost.

Think about that for a minute, a rookie quarterback in the playoff race, and then the following season, in the first three games of a highly anticipated, Hard-Knocks-laden season, turning the ball over two times in eight games. With zero fumbles. In his first three games this season, Sanchez hasn't thrown a pick or fumbled. For a player who started 16 games in college and who will start his 22nd pro game this week, that kind of ball protection is remarkable.

"And I'd point out,'' Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer told me Thursday, "that one of those turnovers was a tipped interception against the Colts in the championship game last year.'' The other was a pick at San Diego, in the divisional playoff game, a game in which Sanchez put up mediocre numbers (12-for-23, 100 yards, one TD, one interception) but managed it well and won.

"A lot of it, quite honestly, is the ability to sit down with Mark after games and show him the result of each decision he makes in games,'' Schottenheimer said. "We all know interceptions are going to happen. But we talk about two kinds of interceptions -- bad-throw interceptions, which every quarterback who's ever played is going to have, and bad-decision interceptions. Those are the ones we've concentrated on. We put on the film and I'll show him an interception, and I'll say, 'What did you think of your decision here?' And we talk about the power of completions. It's OK to check down.''

That can be a dirty phrase -- "checking down'' to a running back -- to some quarterbacks. And at times, critics of Sanchez have thought he was doing it too much, particularly in the opener this year against Baltimore, when Sanchez steadfastly passed on throwing downfield against a weak Ravens secondary and kept throwing the ball short. But Schottenheimer won't knock him for it, and he didn't after the game, even though the Jets were terrible on offense all night and lost, 10-9.

"I'll take some of the rap for that,'' Schottenheimer said. "What happened that night is not a short answer. When you have six months to prepare for a game, sometimes you have a tendency to over-analyze. We had some calls in there where we send Mark to the line with two plays, and he runs a play dependent on what defense he sees. That didn't go too well that night. When we were analyzing the game afterward, Mark said to me, 'Hey Schotty, can we eliminate those kills?' [A 'kill' is the play you eliminate to go to the other play called.] He just wanted to have a play called and let him execute it. I said, 'Sure, Mark.' And that's what we've done.''

Schottenheimer and quarterback coach Matt Cavanaugh have stressed to Sanchez, however, that he needs to be comfortable with the safety of the offense.

"We did a study in the offseason looking back over the top five offenses in the league over the last five years. And we took the average number of balls the top running back for each team caught each year. The average turned out to 47, 48 catches. These are great quarterbacks -- Brady, Manning, Brees, [Matt] Schaub -- being willing to say 'uncle' and check it down. I think Mark was kind of floored by those numbers, and how involved the backs were in each one of those passing games.

"This year, we've said to him, 'You can check it down to a future Hall of Famer [LaDainian Tomlinson] or to one of the top young backs in the game [Shonn Greene]. Let them help you.' ''

Sanchez is still working to form a bond in the pass game with Green (he's targeted him only three times), but he's thrown to Tomlinson 15 times so far -- and Tomlinson has played only about half the offensive snaps. Dustin Keller (24 targets) is clearly Sanchez's favorite so far, most often on safe, intermediate routes.

I expect Sanchez (six touchdowns, no picks) to be better throwing downfield when he has the twin threats of Braylon Edwards and Santonio Holmes intact starting next week; Holmes returns after a four-week substance-abuse suspension in time for a game against Minnesota.

Schottenheimer told me he estimates Sanchez has at least 90 percent of the offense down pat now. The comfort is showing. When quarterbacks are throwing touchdowns and not erring, that's comfort. It's a good sign for a team that's going to have a top-five defense, and I'd be surprised if the Jets don't make the playoffs in large part because of Sanchez's safe, and successful, play.



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