Monday, October 5, 2009

Mark Sanchez cleans nails on NYJ bench in 4th Qtr? Does this bother anyone else?

First let me start by saying I am high on Mark Sanchez as a future QB. I picked him in my annual Fantasy Football Almanac as the highest ranked rookie QB at #5 overall among all rookies at any position. So that is high praise indeed.

Long term, dynatasy league wise, I like Sanchez over Stafford and J Freeman. Sanchez may look like a pretty boy (see recent NY photo ops) but he appeared to me to not forget his family, heritage or work ethic and coaches/players at USC who made him what he is.

Then I saw the NO-NYJ game Sunday evening.

The Jets are down in the 2nd half by a TD and the camera keeps panning to the NYJ sideline. There sitting by himself is Sanchez…….cleaning his nails. (Or at least that is what it looked like to me through my 42” non High Def TV).
Regardless of what he actually was doing (picking his nose, biting his nails, cleaning his nails, checking his finger prints or creating hand puppets with his working digits) he was not doing anything productive to help the JETS win the game. The cameras panned to him on several occassions and every time he seemed to have a far away glaze on his face and no drive to fix the situation.

What could he have been doing instead you ask?

1) He is NOT LOOKING at photos of the opposing defenses that have just stymied him.

2) He is NOT TALKING to WRs or Offensive linemen or coaches to figure out better play execution.


When I see the likes of Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Tom Brady on the sidelines, they always seem to be doing SOMETHING productive. Like looking at photos or talking to teammates.

The JETS were never more then 2 scores behind and were in fact just a TD away during some of these snap shots. To be fair I am sure the camera just caught him at the wrong time each shot and in between he was working feveriously to right the sinking ship.

Sanchez will be fine.
He had a rough game versus a fired up NO defense.

Nevertheless, for the love of all that is true in Football- do something other then pick your nails on the bench between series.


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Fantasy Football Guidebook: Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95 on sale for $17.95) http://www.amazon.com/1602640203

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