GOOD ENOUGH: Greg McElroy, who completed 5-of-7 passes for 29 yards, wasn’t great, but he came off the bench to lead the Jets to victory. (
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The moment was never too big for Greg McElroy on the day Mark Sanchez earned the right to lose his job, after he already had lost the faith and trust of Jets Nation.
If you are the quarterback of a 4-7 team, and you get three of your first nine passes intercepted, even a coach who has coddled you for four years can recognize that it is finally time for you to take a seat, and let someone else try.
“When you’re around this game long enough, you get that feeling that: You know what? I’ve seen enough,” Ryan said.
Everyone had seen enough, and for too long, and so offensive coordinator Tony Sparano informed Sanchez he would be the clipboard holder, and mercifully, with 4:48 left in the third quarter of a game the Jets trailed 3-0, here came McElroy, to the loudest cheers you have heard at Met Library Stadium in a long, long time.
And just like that, it wasn’t only the stadium that came alive, it was the banana-peel team that plays there. And just like that, McElroy capped a masterful 10-play, 69-yard drive by bootlegging right on a run option and flipping to tight end Jeff Cumberland and it ended Jets 7, Cardinals 6 only because Arizona rookie Ryan Lindley (10-for-31, 72 yards, 28 QB rating) posted numbers that Tim Tebow might snicker at.
“I really like the way he controlled that clock,” Ryan said.
Not Tebow Time.
McElroy Time.
And it is not time to turn back the clock, it is not Sanchez Savings Time.
Mac to the future instead.
Not when there was such a marked difference in how the team, and specifically the running game, responded to a new voice from a new leader. Let’s see what the kid can do now with first-team practice reps.
McElroy was bare-chested at his locker, after he had made his first NFL podium appearance, before Sanchez faced the music with his usual class, and was asked about his first NFL touchdown pass.
“Oh, so excited, just elation,” he said. “I mean, you dream your whole life about a situation like that, having that opportunity so. … Coach (Sparano) made a great call, and they executed it great upfront, they were expecting run, and we were able to sneak up the back side, and we get an easy touchdown.”
No touchdown is easy, for these Jets, of course.
“To tell you the truth, it was a bit of a floater,” McElroy said. “I almost didn’t want to throw it, but I just had to let it go.”
McElroy won over one Jets fan so much that when Cumberland spiked the ball and it flew into the stands, he threw it back.
“How cool is that?” McElroy said. “That’s great of him. I wish we could have gotten his name. Throw him a jersey or something.”
McElroy (5-for-7, 29 yards) looked nothing like a quarterback who had never thrown a professional pass in anger, following a lost rookie season on injured reserve because of thumb surgery. He looked more like the winner he was at Southlake Carroll High School in Texas and again for Nick Saban’s 2010 national champions at Alabama. Not once, mind you, was Brandon Moore’s butt ever in danger.
“I’m a little nerdy so, pardon me if this comes across wrong, but I think one of the things that I really try to do, and one thing Coach Saban always tried to emphasize with me … just play the game by the numbers. If it’s first-and-10, we want it to be second-and-5. … If it’s second-and-5, we want it to be third-and-manageable,” McElroy said.
Look, he’s no Dan Marino. He was a seventh-round pick in 2011 for a reason. The jury is still out on whether he has enough arm for the job. But he is smart and tough and can manage you a game.
Moore: “He’s a pretty confident guy.”
Matt Slauson: “You didn’t see any hesitation with him. He stepped in and he was loud and very direct with all his calls.”
Ryan consoled Sanchez in the locker room.
“He just told me to hang in there,” Sanchez said.
But for the first time, his job is hanging out there.
Q: Does Sanchez give you the best chance to win?
Ryan: “We’ll address that going forward. … I believe in Mark, I believe in Greg, I believe in everybody we have.”
Q: Will McElroy will be the starter next week?
Ryan: “I’ll let you guys know who’s gonna be the quarterback when I’m ready to.”
I’m ready to.
It’s McElroy Time.
Greg McElroy bio
Season: 2nd
Experience: Never took a regular-season snap before yesterday
College: Alabama
Drafted: Seventh round 2011
Resume:
* Led Alabama to 14-0 season and national title during junior season
* Went 10-3 as a senior
* Threw 39 touchdowns against 10 interceptions during his Crimson Tide career
* Applied for, but did not win, a Rhodes scholarship
* Made headlines after last season when he criticized the mix in the Jets locker room, saying he had never been around more selfish players
steve.serby@nypost.com