Week 21 QB projections   •  NYJ Stats

QB Mark Sanchez, New York Jets

HT: 6-2, WT: 227, Born: 11-11-1986, College: USC, Drafted: Round 1, Pick 5

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Stats and Week 21 Projection

WK	OPP	RES	CMP	ATT	PYD	Y/A	PTD	INT	RSH	YD	Y/R	TD	FPT
SEASON TOTAL			308	542	3474	6.4	26	18	37	103	2.8	6	314

Week 21 Injury Status and Other News

No official injury reports have been released yet

[Thu Feb 2, 4:24 PM] Mark Sanchez Impending free-agent Plaxico Burress offered very little when asked to comment on the play of Mark Sanchez. "Mark Sanchez is Mark Sanchez," Burress said. When he was asked what he thought of the criticism heaped on Sanchez since the Jets' season ended, Burress did not stick up for his quarterback. Instead, he said, "I haven't entertained any of it."

Week 21 Matchup Info

The New York Jets have a bye this week.

Game Summaries

Week 1 vs DAL - Sanchez started slowly, with small dinks and dunks, but going 5 for 5 to begin the game., after which he missed the next four passes. Still, he really began to pull it together on a touchdown drive at the end of the first half. You saw the good Sanchez, patient throws, good vision and capping it all off with a nice throw to tight end Dustin Keller. On the play, Sanchez rolled to his right and it looked initially as if he wanted to dump the ball to his running back, who would have had nowhere to go. Instead, Sanchez saw Keller move to the back of the end zone and threw a nice pass to him for a touchdown. Unfortunately, Sanchez was once again plagued by odd and occasionally outright decisions, resulting in a fumble and an interception. The interception was like so many of Sanchez's turnovers. On the pass, Sanchez seemed to lock onto his target (Keller again) very early on. Somehow he missed LB Sean Lee, positioned directly between Sanchez and his target. Possibly he thought he could finesse the pass over Lee. Either way, Lee picked the ball off and ran it back to the one yard line, which led to a one yard touchdown run by Felix Jones. As happens nearly every time the Jets look ready to give the game away, Sanchez manages to bring them back from the brink. In this case, he played extraordinarily well while coming back from a 14 point deficient in the fourth quarter, including a very nice touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress where he threw the ball to a spot only Burress could get it. Sanchez then capped the night off by moving the ball down field and putting kicker Nick Folk in position to win the game. Overall, Sanchez had his usual up and down performance and still struggles to be consistent for the whole 60 minutes.

Week 2 vs JAX - Once again Mark Sanchez had a schizophrenic outing, at moments throwing a great strike to Santonio Holmes where he puts it over the head of the defender to let Holmes use his size and vertical ability leap up and make the catch for a touchdown. The next moment, he's picked off when he misses corner back William Middleton on a pass to Derrick Mason. How many times in a season do you hear an analyst say 'Well, I guess Sanchez must have missed (insert player X)'? Too many if the Jets want to make the Super Bowl. Sanchez has to take better care of the ball and he continues to lack the full-game consistency the Jets need to take the next step.

Week 3 at OAK - While Mark Sanchez passed for a career high 369 yards as well as two touchdowns, it was a disappointing day for the Jets as Sanchez and the team fell short on the last drive. Sanchez, who had run for a touchdown earlier in the game on a misdirection play, waited in the pocket for a few seconds, then ran forward towards the goal line. He was clipped by a defender and while reaching for the goal line, his shin and knee hit the turf before the ball could cross it. For the rest of the game, the third year quarterback was asked to throw a lot and take advantage of a banged up Oakland secondary. He did this often with little time as his offensive line struggled in the absence of C Nick Mangold. Sanchez had some nice throws, such as on his touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress in the mid fourth quarter. On the play, Burress was well covered as he ran straight for the end zone. Sanchez threw a hard pass to Burress, who caught it in stride. It would have been a better throw had he put it on Burress' back shoulder, away from the defender, but Burress had enough position to keep possession of the ball. Sanchez had accuracy issues though. including several throws towards tight end Dustin Keller which were well off target and an interception in he end zone, intended for Derrick Mason. On the play, Sanchez rolled to his right but the coverage was good and he had no targets. Instead of throwing it away, he tossed it into double coverage and it was intercepted. Sanchez also made a bad pass on a critical third quarter pass when the Jets were desperate to convert a fourth and two and threw behind Burress on a slant which would have given them a first down. Compounding things further, Sanchez eyed Burress the whole way and so the coverage had a good idea where the play was going. The poor decisions are still a huge issue for Sanchez and for every good play he makes it seems there are two he'd like back.

Week 4 at BAL - This was, by and standard, a tremendously ugly game but not all of it falls on Mark Sanchez's shoulders. With Pro Bowl Center Nick Mangold out due to a high ankle sprain, the lack of depth on the Jets' offensive line was in full effect as they were unable to give Sanchez any time to throw during the majority of the game. Hit so early, so often and frequently from his blindside, Sanchez got jumpy early and never looked comfortable. The result was a performance that looks much worse than it was, even though it wasn't very pretty. It all kicked off with the Jets' first possession, where Sanchez was hit from behind by an unblocked S Ed Reed. The ball popped out and was run back for a touchdown. There were a pair of bad snaps--one definitely on Sanchez where he should have caught the ball and one probably not his fault--and another fumble return for a touchdown when Sanchez was hit by DT Haloti Ngata after the Raven abused D'Brickshaw Fergusen and Vlad Ducasse. Once again, this was a blindside hit and Sanchez had no time to get rid of the ball. With no run game, the Ravens were able to lay back and wait for the short slants that were called all night, which made it nearly impossible to get the offense moving. All of the above does not absolve Sanchez of his issues--he still shows some poor decision making and ball protection issues (four fumbles, three lost, two for touchdowns) and was unusually rattled by the poor line play. However, much of this disaster was on the Jets offensive line which rarely gave him any protection to speak of.

Week 5 at NE - All in all, Sanchez didn't have a bad game. He took care of the ball, threw two touchdowns and with a 105.6 quarterback rating. Sanchez had a few very nice throws--one to rookie wide receiver Jeremy Kerley where Kerley split the zone and Sanchez threw it right to him for a big gain (Sanchez had earlier hit the rookie for a touchdown). The other was a perfect throw to Santonio Holmes where Sanchez saw some of the coverage shift towards a shorter route while Holmes headed for the end zone pylon. Sanchez put the ball over Holmes' shoulder for an easy touchdown. Both plays showed good timing and chemistry between receiver and quarterback. Yet for all he did right, Sanchez generated very few yards and the team converted a terrible 27% of their third downs. As has been the case all season long, Sanchez and the offense started slowly. Without being in a meeting room or huddle it's hard to pin the blame--is there a lack of creative playcalling? Is Sanchez unable to handle more than the short throws and limited passing we saw featured this week? When you go up against one of the worst pass defenses in the league and only generate 166 yards, that's a bit worrisome. Yes, the Jets ran the ball more than they have so far this season. However they rarely threw downfield, didn't seem to adjust to what New England did defensively and as pointed out above, kept putting themselves into 3rd-and-long situations they couldn't convert. Something isn't clicking here and it's hard to think it may not be offensive coordinator or quarterback--instead the concern is becoming that it's a little bit of both. Perhaps both parties are limited in what they can do, therefore neither is able to do what they are capable of while together.

Week 6 vs MIA - Early on, Mark Sanchez--and by extension the whole of the Jets' offense--seemed out of sorts and sloppy. In fact, it took until late in the first before Sanchez completed a pass. His receivers weren't getting seperation and many of his throws were off target. Near the end of the second quarter, Sanchez seemed to get it together, hitting rookie wide receiver Jeremy Kerley for first down which sparked a nice drive, ending with a Sanchez rushing touchdown. On the touchdown, Sanchez did a great job of confusing the defense with his cadence, then got a fantastic block as he ran virtually untouched into the end zone. He also showed very good patience on his touchdown throw to receiver Santonio Holmes. On the play, the Dolphins had good coverage but Sanchez had great protection and time to wait for a target to appear, which Holmes did streaking across the middle. Sanchez delivered a perfect throw and Holmes used his open field elusiveness and a Jeremy Kerley block to score the touchdown.

Week 7 vs SD - Sanchez continued his solid play in 2011, helped along by some fortuitous field position for his touchdown passes. His longest completion of the game was a 34-yarder to TE Dustin Keller, but he made the most of his goal line opportunities in tossing three touchdowns to red zone maven Plaxico Burress. Sanchez's afternoon started off disastrously, as his very first pass of the game resulted in a turnover. He was hit as he threw, resulting in the pass going a bit behind Keller on the run. Keller wasn't able to fully secure it, and it was juggled a bit before having it stripped away by a defender as he was being tackled. The ball was taken the other way for a defensive score. But Sanchez seemed to keep his cool, getting loads of time on most occasions and using the play action fake to set up most of his higher percentage passes. He connected with WR Santonio Holmes on a highlight reel touchdown pass over the middle, but that was negated due to a holding penalty on the offensive line. Sanchez then made his one really bad play of the game, an underthrown pass to the end zone for Plaxico Burress that was intercepted. It was Sanchez's first pick in 77 passes, but it came as a really bad time. But again, Sanchez more than made up for that with several laser strikes to Burress in the end zone later on. Sanchez did a nice job of stepping up in the pocket when the situation called for it, and on one instance he scampered for a career long 25 yard run to avoid the pressure from behind him. It wasn't all perfection by Sanchez on the day. He was unable to connect with Holmes on what would have been a long touchdown, but Sanchez couldn't get the ball away in time while facing some rare pressure right in his face. And on the next play, he didn't see a wide open Jeremy Kerley wide open down the left sideline until it was too late. By the time he found him, the ball was underthrown and knocked away incomplete. But again, the San Diego defense was often all too happy to help the Jets move the ball downfield, with several questionable pass interference penalties helping keep drives alive. And Sanchez did a fantastic job of capitalizing on those mistakes. He was very nearly picked at the goal line on a pass to Kerley in traffic, but again San Diego couldn't take advantage. With new life, Sanchez stepped up and found Burress for his third touchdown of the game, and the game-winner. Sanchez's final big play of the game was converting a third down scramble to pick up a key first down on a roll out. He made a couple of nice fakes to keep the defense honest before finally diving forward to pick up the necessary yardage. It appeared at first glance that he had come up short of the marker, but the officials ruled it a first down and San Diego never challenged.

Week 9 at BUF - Sanchez had a very efficient game in a relatively easy road win over the Bills. The Jets were able to move the ball at will in the first half and held the ball for nearly 21 minutes of possession, but the score was only 3-0 at halftime thanks in part to a couple of errors from Sanchez. He threw an interception in the end zone on the opening drive when he overthrew a tightly covered Dustin Keller and had it picked off by free safety Jairus Byrd. Later in the first half, he also bobbled a snap from the shotgun that was recovered by the Bills. The running game was working well for the Jets, however, and that allowed Sanchez to work play action for much of the game. He completed 11 of 12 passes attempted after a run fake for 129 yards and his only touchdown, which came on a nice throw to Santonio Holmes despite blanket coverage. The Bills brought quite a few blitzes in the game but were not able to generate much pressure or disrupt his timing. As a result, Sanchez completed a season-high 71% of his passes and looked surprisingly efficient.

Week 10 vs NE - Sanchez continues to play maddeningly inconsistent football. On one drive, Sanchez will lead his team down the field efficiently, throwing good passes and running for first downs himself when need be. On the next play, he's throwing yet another in a long line of interceptions involving defenders who come in from the side and snatch a ball going to a receiver Sanchez thought was wide open but was not. While one interception was not Sanchez's fault (the pass bounced off Shonn greene's hands), he knew his target wasn't the surest receiver, and yet threw the ball incredibly forcefully. The second interception was the real killer. Sanchez threw a short pass to LaDainian Tomlinson, but didn't see OLB Rob Ninkovich sliding across the middle. Ninkovich stepped in from of Tomlinson and returned the pass for a back-breaking touchdown. Ninkovich was the beneficiary of both Sanchez's interceptions Sunday night. After watching Sanchez for several years now, he appears to have some real field vision issues. There are times he sees the field very well but quite often he misses a key defender, which leads to some real big mistakes. Sanchez was able to move the ball in the second half, but too often drives stalled out before the team could punch in a touchdown.

Week 11 at DEN - Regardless of his statline, this was not Mark Sanchez's best day and, in fact, left onlookers with more doubts about the quarterback than ever before. Sanchez looked uncomfortable all day, under pressure from the vicious combo of Elvis Dumervil and rookie Von Miller. There were a few uncalled late hits which likely contributed to Sanchez's stress, but even when not under pressure, he looked skittish. The biggest issue he has though is his inability to see the whole field, which once again cost the Jets dearly. Sanchez quite often locks onto his receiver early, very rarely seems to go through progressions and either he chooses not to go long or offensive coordinator doesn't trust him to go long. The worst part is that Sanchez happens to turn the ball over in ways that are not just drive killing, but morale killing as well. Take for example his pick six from the late thrid quarter. The Bronco who intercepted the ball, Andre Goodman, had been abused by the Jets several times so it made sense that they try to take advantage of that again by going to Plaxico Burress, who Goodman had been covering. It was dangerous in some ways because the Jets were already backed up to their 25 yard line. On the play, Burress ran a short route that he button hooked and stopped right at the first down marker. Goodman was posted just behind and to the side of Burress, but right in plain sight. Despite the presence of the Broncos defender, Sanchez threw the ball--which appeared to come out very slow on top of everything else--and Goodman simply stepped in front of Burress to snag the ball and six points. Sanchez did have his moments, like the eleven completions in a row he had as well as some good pre-snap reads. Overall though, Sanchez appears to have regressed in 2011 and that has to be discouraging for the team and fans alike.

Week 12 vs BUF - Although he did not play particularly well in this game, Sanchez took full advantage of some defensive mistakes to put up great fantasy numbers. Despite facing little pressure from the Bills pass rush, Sanchez made some questionable decisions with the ball including an interception over the middle that led directly to a Bills touchdown. When the Jets got near the goal line, however, he came through and tossed 4 different touchdown passes in the game. The highlight for him came with about a minute left when he rolled out to his right and bought time before hitting a wide open Santonio Holmes for a game-winning 16-yard touchdown pass.

Week 13 at WAS - Sanchez and the Jets offense had a positively Denver-like game on Sunday, struggling and often looking just plain ugly for three quarters only to put together a very solid last quarter. This win was the 10th fourth quarter or overtime comeback of his career. Early on though, he had some issues which are becoming very common. Sanchez looked uncomfortable in the pocket and threw some passes which were quite off the mark. On the other hand, the former USC quarterback took care of the ball and didn't turn it over. The offensive line also did not allow the sack for the second week in a row. When push came to shove, Sanchez rose to the occasion, leading the offense down the field and capping the drive off with a 30 yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes. On the play, Holmes ran a slant, pulling a double move on Redskins cornerback Josh Wilson, breaking free and into the open. Sanchez threw a nice pass, hitting Holmes in stride as he sprinted his way to the touchdown. Seemingly settling down for the stretch run, if Sanchez can take care of the ball, he can be an effective quarterback in the last part of the season. Which begs the question: what was going on for the first 3/4s of the year?

Week 14 vs KC - While Sanchez still had some 'what the...?' moments, they were few and far between as he and the Jets offense had their best day in a very long time. In the first half alone, the Jets scored 27 points, the most in a first half since Sept 28 2008 against the Arizona Cardinals. Sanchez did damage both with his arm and feet, scoring his fourth and fifth rushing touchdowns as well as his twentieth and twenty-first passing touchdowns. It wasn't all pretty. On the very first play of the game, Sanchez was forced to call a timeout because the wrong personnel was on the field and he had to burn another time out later for similar reasons. As far as Sanchez's effort goes, however, it was a very efficient and solid effort. While his yardage totals weren't high, that was in part because the Jets ran early and often and Sanchez was out later in the game when the outcome was in hand, although he was in the game longer than necessary and on a fourth down play. According to ESPN Stats & Information Sanchez is the first Jets quarterback to rush for two touchdowns and throw for two more in one game. Overall, Sanchez is playing solid football and taking care of the ball as well (despite a fumble during the ill-conceived fourth down play), two things that must happen if the Jets are to make the playoffs for a third straight year.

Week 15 at PHI - Looking at Sanchez's statline for the day will give you only a brief--and possibly incorrect--view into the true game he played. Sanchez was under duress all game as the offensive line was constantly beat by the Eagles' defensive line, most notably RT Wayne Hunter, who was owned by Eagles Defensive End Jason Babin. Of Sanchez's four sacks, Hunter gave up two. Sanchez himself had three turnovers. The first, an interception, was completely Santonio Holmes' fault. Sanchez put the ball right in Holmes' hands but Holmes was either hearing footsteps or trying to turn too quickly and the ball caromed off his hands and into an Eagle defenders.The second interception also came off Holmes' hands as well. The ball came in a little hot and neither Holmes nor Sanchez saw S Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie lurking just behind Holmes--either that or Sanchez thought he could zip it in there. Rodgers-Cromartie reached in and it appeared as though both he and Holmes got hands on it, deflecting it upwards and when it came down it was once again in the Eagles' hands. Sanchez also coughed the ball up when stretching for an ill-advised extra few yards for a first down. With all that going on, Sanchez actually played well and even overcame getting his neck bent and his bell wrung by a shot to the side of his helmet. Still he couldn't overcome the turnovers (including his own) and an offensive line that just didn't show up to play.

Week 16 vs NYG - Sanchez continues to struggle in his third year, a combination of his inability to see the field, his penchant to check down to his closest option and some odd playcalling by Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer. The Jets never really seemed to have a plan of action and seemed to be calling plays as they occurred to them rather than utilizing any game plan. As has often been the case, the Jets rarely tried to stretch the field. Out of a career high 59 pass attempts only eight were downfield. Two of those were completions-to the Giants. No other ball thrown over 15 yards was caught by anyone as Sanchez's throws were often off-target. A prime example of this was on a long ball thrown down the sideline which was tossed way past a streaking and wide open Joe McKnight. Perhaps a wide receiver could have come down under it, but it was well beyond where McKnight could make a play. Sanchez didn't look comfortable in the pocket, as the Giants were constantly pressuring him and parts of his offensive line couldn't protect him. Numerous balls were batted at the line and Sanchez was sacked five times, once for a safety. He also fumbled the ball twice, to go with his two interceptions. The safety highlights a consistent pair of issues with Sanchez. First, a stunning lack of field awareness. Sanchez had room to move to his right and not fully into the end zone, but dropped further back. The second is that Sanchez just hangs onto the ball far too long trying to make a play. While one could argue whether Sanchez was truly 'in the grasp' when he got rid of the ball, it should have left his hands far earlier. If there was nobody open, it was critical that the Jets not lose yardage. In this case, the outcome was far worse.

Week 17 at MIA - It's increasingly harder and harder to paint Sanchez's play in any other light than negative. Once again, the third year quarterback stared down receivers, held onto the ball too long and when he did throw it away, often threw it right to a defender. At one point, Sanchez was trapped in the pocket with no open receivers and about to be sacked. Instead of taking the sack, Sanchez spat the ball out (there's no other term for the flustered 'pass' he threw) towards fullback John Conner, bouncing the ball off a lineman's back and into the arms of a defender. All three of Sanchez's interceptions were preventable, the only one half excusable being a very nice play by defensive lineman Randy Starks. Sanchez constantly threw behind his receivers as well, including a badly thrown ball to Shonn Greene which was intercepted in the red zone and basically ended the game. A good quarterback leads his receivers, but Sanchez's throw was more to the defender than his player. It's very easy to merely focus on Sanchez though, and forget the very vanilla playcalling which OC Brian Schottenheimer is in charge of. Are the plays obvious and simple because of Sanchez? Or is Schottenheimer making things hard on his quarterback by calling short routes and never stretching the field. The truth is somewhere in between and the Jets now have the whole off season to ponder it. As far as Sanchez is concerned, he needs to find a way to see the field, recognize where he can and can't throw the ball and read defenses. He needs to make better decisions and his three interceptions (could very well have been four) are a big part of the Jets' failure to win on Sunday.