STILL LEADING THE GANG: Mark Sanchez, raising his arms after a fourth-quarter touchdown yesterday, took a back seat to Tim Tebow this offseason but it was Sanchez — not Tebow — who directed the Jets offense to a prolific performance in a season-opening rout of the Bills. (
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Tim Tebow is the backup quarterback who from time to time will be asked to deliver fire-and-brimstone football sermons on those occasions when he trots onto the field
But make no mistake: Jets 48, Bills 28 was wholly Mark Sanchez.
Not holy Tebow! Not holy Wildcat!
Wholly Sanchez.
Amen.
It was Sanchez (19-27, 266 yards) who threw three touchdown passes.
It was Tebow who was booed after one of his Wildcat plunges, second-and-6 at the Buffalo 12, went nowhere after Sanchez had methodically marched his team down the field.
Sanchez smiled sheepishly and said: “I don’t pay attention to that stuff, I don’t pay attention.”
It was Sanchez who was the unquestioned leader of the Jets.
“No doubt in my mind, Mark’s the starting quarterback, I think he proved that today,” tight end Dustin Keller said.
It was Sanchez who wouldn’t llet the Wildcat disrupt his rhythm.
It was Sanchez who established a chemistry with size-speed rookie wide receiver Stephen Hill (5-89-2 TDs).
It is Sanchez who was starting his moment-of-truth fourth season.
He showed you what he can do with the moment when he is at his best.
Showed Tebow, too.
“I thought he had a great game,” Tebow said, “and I thought he did a great job checking the ball down, and when he had his shots, he took ’em, and we were able to hit ’em.”
Showed Rex Ryan, too.
“When Mark has time to throw the football,” Ryan said, “he can throw it with anybody.”
It is Sanchez who gives the Jets their best chance to win as long as he remembers to take care of the football. He is a quarterback. Tebow is a one-man congregation of belief and willpower. That by itself isn’t enough to take you to the Promised Land in this NFL.
The first moment of truth of the 2012 season for Sanchez came when he brought a halt to his first possession with an ill-fated shovel pass under duress to tight end Jeff Cumberland. Cumberland wasn’t ready for it and it bounced off his left hand and was intercepted.
Here we go again?
“That was stupid,” Sanchez said.
Here we Tebow again?
“He didn’t get down at all, frustrated at all, that’s him,” Tebow said.
“Tried to do a little too much, shoulda just tucked it and ran, but I kept my head up, and it kinda goes as the quarterback goes,” Sanchez said. “If you hang your head a little too low, then guys’ll start to question. If you keep your heads up and stay focused and stay calm and stay into it, we come back and get ’em, the next drive.”
On that next drive, Sanchez found Jeremy Kerley for 21 yards and then a 12-yard TD. “I think he kept his composure and he wasn’t afraid to keep attacking downfield,” Shonn Greene said.
You saw Tebow congratulate Sanchez after his touchdown passes. You saw Sanchez congratulate Tebow after he recovered an onsides kick. “I don’t think that he has a bigger fan maybe than his mom and dad than me, and I feel like the same thing for me,” Tebow said.
“Rex made a great comment to us, at some point in this season, everybody in our locker room’s gonna see that we’re all bleeding green,” Sanchez said.
I asked Sanchez why he embraced the Wildcat when other starting quarterbacks assuredly would not. “I bought in,” he said, “just like everybody on the team. Transcending football we’re a family. I knew Tim could come in and help us, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
The Wildcat (22 rushing yards overall) looked more like the Titanic. Tebow was 5-11 rushing and did not throw a pass.
They were all bleeding green in the locker room. “Remember this,” Sanchez said to teammates. The Jets need him to remember this more than anyone. Even Tebow.