Now, the Jets are getting pity.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said he feels bad for Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, his former pupil at USC. Carroll, appearing on 710 ESPN Seattle, said Tim Tebow is a “distraction.”
“I think he’s in a very difficult situation,” Carroll said of Sanchez yesterday. “The whole emphasis of the two-quarterback thing is really hard. You saw it [Sunday]. It didn’t get much for them. It’s got to be a little bit disruptive. I feel for him.”
Carroll had nice things to say about Tebow as a player and said he thinks the Jets are doing the “right things” with how they’re using Tebow. But he believes it has caused the fans to be harder on Sanchez than they normally would be.
“It’s just a distraction,” Carroll said. “It’s mixed signals that go out. Their fans are torn up. If they didn’t have a situation like this, they wouldn’t be hooting and hollering probably the way they do at him, so it wouldn’t be as difficult. That’s just part of it. I do feel for Mark and anybody that would be in that situation.”
Sanchez said the Tebow talk has no effect on him.
“It’s something that’s on my plate and it’s my job to deal with it,” he said. “I know I can handle it. It comes down to me just playing better and not really worrying about anything else.”
Asked if it has been hard to deal with as Carroll said, Sanchez said: “I don’t really think about it like that. I think about the Xs and Os and what went wrong in the game, not what happens if things go bad. Am I still going to play? I don’t really think like that, so it’s really a non-issue. I try and just block it out. I feel like I’ve done a good job of that.”
Carroll and Sanchez remain close after spending four years together at USC. Even though Carroll criticized Sanchez’s decision to leave school early for the NFL, the two have remained friends.
Carroll said he and Sanchez spoke on the field before Sunday’s 28-7 Seahawks win. Carroll said Sanchez has a good attitude about Tebow’s presence, but it’s clearly a sticky situation.
“This whole factor has been really hard on him,” Carroll said. “I’m sure that it’s been confusing to their fans. That part at home has got to be hard. I don’t know this because I haven’t seen a game there but I think they’re hard on him at the stadium, too. So, it’s as hard as it can get.”
Tebow took part in eight plays against the Seahawks, throwing three passes.
Tebow played eight plays against the Seahawks, throwing three passes.
* Marshawn Lynch ran for 124 yards against the Jets, the third rusher this season to gain 100 yards or more against them. The Jets allowed three 100-yard rushers combined in 2009 and 2010. … The Jets’ 3-6 start is their worst nine-game start since 2007 (1-8) when they finished 4-12. … The 185 yards of total offense Sunday was the Jets’ fourth-lowest total under Rex Ryan. Three of the five lowest totals under Ryan have come this season.