NOW that Quarterback Sam Bradford has had his inevitable injury (told you), this team has a chance at winning this loaded diaper of a division. It was hard for some to hear me over all the noise of people rubbing their faces on Bradford’s jockstrap after just 15 preseason passes. However now that we’re 4 – 5 behind his starts, and now that he’s injured again, Eagles fans are looking to hear a voice of reason. You’re looking for a reason to believe our season isn’t over. Well relax. Our season just got started.
Mark Sanchez is by no means a great Quarterback. No one would ever confuse him with a (healthy) Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, or even Phillip Rivers. (Deflators don’t make my list.) However, what Sanchez is, is the best QB the Eagles currently have under contract; and yes, by that I’m saying he was the best QB we had on Opening Day.
Despite having a year’s experience in this system, there were a number of factors that led to Sanchez riding pine behind a guy who struggled with executing the offense. Between not trusting his body and not being comfortable with his players or the system, Bradford kept looking to take the easy way out, time and time again. As a result the Offense stalled and sputtered under him.
Say what you want about the red zone interception that Sanchez threw last week; the Offense hummed with him out there. There was no hint of the typical falloff that happens when a back-up comes into a game with only a few warm-up throws under his belt, 9 games into the season. Imagine next week with a week of first team reps under his belt.
No one is predicting that we’ll put up 30 points per game under Sanchez, but don’t expect us to dip far below the 25 per game we averaged under Bradford. Then again….Hell maybe we will post 30 per game under the Sanchize. In Sanchez’s 8 starts (4 – 4) last year, the Eagles averaged 30 points per game. In fact we hit that 30+ mark, 4 times. In Bradford’s 9 starts we’ve done it all of twice, one of which required Overtime. Would an additional 5 points per game help us out? That spread would have helped us defeat the Falcons, Redskins and Dolphins, and would have us running away with the East at 7 – 2 instead of down third at 4 – 5. (But I’m just saying is all.)
I won’t even go into the differences in their mobility.
I will bring up something else I like about Sanchez over Bradford, and it’s not something that shows up in a box score. If you screw up, Sanchez will get in your face about it. As a former player I love that. When it’s you that screwed up you don’t always like hearing it; but being immediately accountable has a way of waking you up and making you assess yourself faster. If you give a damn about being better,
You saw what happened out there earlier this year when WR Riley Cooper and Bradford were on different pages with a routes and the ball was thrown near no one. Bradford had nothing to say to Cooper on it. Even if all he did was jog over and say “My bad.” Instead there was nothing. Meanwhile the miscues mounted. Sanchez on the other hand, you will immediately hear from. Players know that bad play will not be shrugged at with Sanchez out there. They now know that they can’t “dog it” anymore, and in that we have a leader who makes everyone around him better. From Bradford you get a guy sitting by himself on the sideline and on the field doing shit like this.
and this
If this is your idea of a leader, you probably get off on being disappointed that we don’t win the Super Bowl every year. Bradford couldn’t lead stink to shit. Mark Sanchez on the other hand, say what you want about his shortcomings, this team now has an actual leader out there.
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