NFL

Burden on Sanchez to make two QBs work for Jets

Having two quarterbacks can work. Don Shula’s career might have looked a whole lot different if he hadn’t had Earl Morrall to take over for Johnny Unitas in 1968 and Bob Griese in 1972, if he didn’t have Don Strock to caddy for David Woodley in 1982.

One of the most glamorous teams in NFL history were the L.A. Rams of the early-’50s, a team that won one title and played for two others by splitting the position of quarterback in two and giving half the snaps to Bob Waterfield and the other half to Norman Van Brocklin.

And nobody has a deeper understanding of the usefulness of quarterbacking depth than the Giants. Jeff Hostetler happened to be a terrific emergency solution in 1990 when Phil Simms’ ankle went to seed. For years, the 1956 team was considered the franchise’s gold standard, and one of the reasons for that was its fabled quarterback, Chuckin’ Charlie Conerly.

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Would you like to guess how many games Conerly started that year?

The answer is zero. Vince Lombardi, the team’s offensive coordinator, started Don Heinrich every game, figuring Conerly could watch a little from the bench, study the defense and then be ready to apply what he had seen to the huddle. Conerly, as you might suspect, didn’t adore that plan as he did, say, Toots Shor’s saloon.

“If you have pride, you want to start, I wanted to start,” Conerly — who would share time with Y.A. Tittle in all 13 games of his last year, 1961, too — said in 1992. “I hated that Lombardi did that. But, hey, it worked. Argue against winning a title. You can’t.”

OK. We can put on the brakes here, because this is 2012, and the two primary quarterbacks currently in the employ of the Jets, Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow, haven’t yet merited inclusion in the same encyclopedia as most of those names, let alone the same page.

And the Jets continue to insist that Sanchez is their man, that Tebow is a backup who will be integrated into other aspects of the offense, that the inevitable chants that will rain down at MetLife Stadium the first time Sanchez sniffs trouble will fall on deaf — or at least resistant — ears.

In a perfect world, Sanchez has a career year next year, Tony Sparano figures out a way to get Tebow five or six touches a game, the Jets win 12 times and everyone is delighted. Even in a less-than-perfect world, if Sanchez winds up flat on his back with busted ribs or a dangling shoulder, you have to figure Tebow, even with his limitations, is a better choice than Greg McElroy or Drew Stanton.

That should stir the memory bank if you are a Jets fan of a certain vintage. Because it was on Sept. 24, 1978, when Richard Todd was creamed by a Redskins rush at old RFK Stadium, left the game, and Matt Robinson came trotting in to replace him.

“I had nothing to lose,” Robinson said in 2005. “And I played that way.”

The Jets were 1-3 following three straight seasons when they’d been 9-33. Robinson offered light and hope: He went 6-5 in 11 starts the rest of that year, led the Jets to an 8-8 record and became the first quarterback to recognize the vertical greatness of Wesley Walker.

It complicated things. Todd had gotten off to a rough start with Jets fans reminiscent of Sanchez, his performance undermining high expectations. Robinson was the people’s choice, and soon he was Walt Michaels’ choice to start the 1979 season. That didn’t sit well with Todd.

“I was young and I didn’t handle it great,” Todd said in 2005. “I wish I could have been more gracious, but I understand why I wasn’t. I had to learn to be a pro.”

Robinson’s tale faded quickly, after a late night at Bill’s Meadowbrook across the street from the Jets old Hofstra headquarters. Depending on who tells the story he sprained his throwing thumb arm wrestling with Joe Klecko or tripping over a cooler in his room before the season opener.

So, yes: It can go The Other Way, as the Jets have been nice enough to prove in their own history. It’s good to have depth, until depth becomes a problem. Will it be a problem? That’s the tricky part. Fairly or not, that’s on Sanchez. He has to learn to be a pro.