Mark Sanchez did enough last night to make you believe he gives the Jets their best chance to win … and enough to let some imaginations run Wildcat with visions of Tim Tebow lighting a spark under the Jets.
Sanchez could have driven a stake into the heart of Tebowmania against a Texans team he had on the ropes, but he couldn’t finish it off.
He’ll get the blame for not engineering a game-winning 82-yard touchdown drive with 3:28 remaining because his catchable third-and-18 pass deflected off the hands of tight end Jeff Cumberland and into the arms of Kareem Jackson.
He was 14-for-31 for 230 yards and two interceptions in the 23-17 loss to the mighty Texans, which means his completion percentage remains under 50 per cent, but if the boobirds and naysayers believe Tebow can do better just because the one long bomb he threw last night was a beauty, even if it fell incomplete, they ought to be careful what they wish for.
Sanchez simply isn’t enough quarterback to beat a team like the Texans and, sorry Terrell Owens, you can’t help him.
The clock may be ticking on Sanchez, but it is not Tebow Time.
Sanchez simply isn’t enough quarterback to overcome a supporting cast that can’t support him. And neither is Tebow.
You don’t throw your offense away and your starting quarterback away now.
Coach Rex Ryan is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
Tebow can provide a spark. But not a fire.
Welcome to the desperate world of the Jets, who threw the kitchen sink at the Texans: A direct snap to Tebow fourth-and-1 at the Jets’ 24 on the first play of the second quarter (successful).
A quarterback keeper by Sanchez fourth-and-1 at the Jets’ 38 midway through the second quarter (successful).
An onside kick (unsuccessful) following Joe McKnight’s electric, 100-yard kickoff return late in the third quarter that led to a Shayne Graham field goal.
Sanchez would not throw Cumberland under the bus for the final pick.
“Could it be more in front of him? Sure,” Sanchez said. “But it’s third down and … half a mile or whatever it was, so we gotta get some yards, put us in a position to go for it on fourth down, and that would have been it. But Jeff made some great catches for us tonight, and he’s not gonna make ’em all, nobody is. But we’ll just keep reppin’ it, keep workin’ it, and try to put it in front of him.”
Cumberland said: “When I came out of my break, it was there, I tipped it. … I’m a great athlete, I could have easily … not easily but … I could have caught the ball.”
Sanchez found Jeremy Kerley for 36 yards early in the fourth quarter. Tebow came in and rumbled for 13 yards, to the Houston 3, and whipped himself and MetLife Stadium into a frenzy.
Sanchez returned on second-and-goal and nearly had a pass intercepted by the omnipresent J.J. Watt. Sanchez didn’t come close to hitting Chaz Schilens in the right corner and exited to boos before the field goal that brought the Jets to within 23-17.
Then Sanchez stalled at the Houston 35, where the Jets burned a timeout before Sanchez was sacked out of field-goal range.
Then came the fateful pick. In the first half, Sanchez had barely missed Antonio Cromartie, the Jets’ best receiver if you ask him now that Santonio Holmes is gone, deep down the right sideline, led him out of bounds.
“I tried to give him a chance for the ball,” Sanchez said. Could you have thrown the ball more inside? “I guess maybe a hair,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez came right back, no interruptions this time from Tebow, only a Brooks Reed strip sack that was recovered by Lex Hilliard. Then he hit Chaz Schilens for 12 yards, Kerley for 36 yards, Schilens for 10 yards. Twenty-nine seconds left before intermission.
Sanchez looked for Kerley.
Watt deflected the pass with his right hand.
Brice McCain returned the interception 86 yards.
Texans 17, Jets 7 at the half.
“When he’s not getting any pressure and they stone him up front, then he’s just gonna wait back, sit there and time his jump, and just watch for my arm to be cocked and ready to throw and he just jumped up and tried to tip it,” Sanchez said. “That’s part of his deal, and we gotta find a way to keep their hands down.”
Asked about Sanchez, Ryan said: “I think he played better than the numbers indicate.”
Once there was Murphy’s Law. This was Sanchez’s Law.
What can go wrong too often does go wrong.
The clock is ticking. But it’s simply too early for Tebow Time.