GANG FIGHT: Mark Sanchez, speaking at the Jets’ practice facility yesterday, says the team’s quarterback competition is a “fierce deal.” (
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The Jets quarterbacks meeting room was less crowded yesterday with David Garrard having retired, but Mark Sanchez said the departure has no effect on him.
“Nothing’s changed,” Sanchez said. “My mindset’s the same. Just stay focused, master this offense, improve on my fundamentals and be as accurate as possible, take care of the football and lead this team.”
Sanchez said Garrard’s decision to retire was “a little bit abrupt” and he did not see it coming. The fifth-year quarterback is trying to beat out rookie Geno Smith for the starting job this spring and summer. Things get started Monday when OTAs begin.
“It’s a fierce deal,” said Sanchez, also including longshots Greg McElroy and Matt Simms as part of the quarterback competition. “We’re all excited.”
“[General manager John] Idzik wants competition. Let’s go, let’s compete,” Sanchez said. “We’ll see who’s the best and the best will play.”
Garrard was not at the Jets’ training center yesterday, but appeared on SiriusXM Radio to talk about his decision to quit because of his balky left knee.
“My knee just never really quite got back to, not to where it was before, but not even just well enough to… it was well enough to get out and run around and stuff but it would still swell on me,” said Garrard, who is mulling an offer from the Jets to be a coaching intern in training camp. “I just kept thinking, how am I going to compete for the starting job if every four days I’ve got to stop and have an ice bag on my knee while the guys are practicing?”
With Garrard out of the picture, Sanchez has a much better shot of sticking on the team and possibly starting. Smith, the team’s second-round pick last month, has to adjust to an NFL offense after playing in West Virginia’s spread attack.
Sanchez said he has been given no indication about how reps will be split when practice begins.
“I have no idea,” he said. “I’m focused on playing the very best I can. As soon as they tell me ‘you’re the guy, you’re not the guy’ then we’ll know. They’ve given me no indication on when that should be.”
Sanchez worked with Smith this week during voluntary workouts.
“He looks good,” he said. “He’s sharp. He works hard, doesn’t say too much. He just plays his butt off and competes. That’s great.”
New offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg and quarterbacks coach David Lee have been working on Sanchez cutting down his turnovers. He had 26 in each of the last two seasons.
“Marty touched on it,” Sanchez said. “He said it’s a mentality. There’s a point where you bite your nails growing up or something and then you just stop. Whatever it takes, you just stop. It becomes a habit. It becomes a way of thinking and a way of making decisions on the field.”
Sanchez said Lee has him working on throwing the ball away in practice.
“I’ve never thrown the ball away as many times as I have these first couple of weeks as we have in these drills,” he said. “It’s something you practice and those things become habit. You just continue to rep them and just don’t let it happen. That’s the plan.”
Everything about the Jets quarterbacks is making news, including Sanchez’s choice of headbands, which spawned its own Twitter account.
“It’s got its own Twitter,” Sanchez said with a smile. “It’s a big old deal now. That was not my intention. It’s to keep it from getting all crazy up there.”
— Additional reporting by Zach Braziller