Sometimes it really just goes the way you expected all along.
Despite me saying yesterday that I actually expected the Jets to win, that was down to the fact that they were playing a Tennessee Titans side who have been nothing short of dreadful all season. I had forgotten to take into account that Mark Sanchez would be under centre.
Seemingly lost in a haze, Sanchez threw four interceptions, two of them in a calamitous fourth quarter, and then somehow managed to fumble a snap on the Titans 25 yard line with less than a minute to go - when a touchdown would have taken the game to overtime. Five turnovers, three in the final 15 minutes. The jets are now 6-8 and officially out of the playoff hunt.
While Sanchez's $8.5 million guarantee will almost certainly keep him at the Meadowlands for another year (although I'd get shot of him anyway, either try and negotiate a trade, or just flat out cut him) with the Jets' season now in garbage time, it's surely time for Rex Ryan to bench him and go with one of his other two quarterbacks for the final two games. The problem there is that one of them is the polarizing Tim Tebow, and the other is the untested Greg McElroy.
Tebow managed to take an ailing Denver team to the playoffs last year, with a stirring series of fourth quarter comebacks. Look at what Peyton Manning has done with largely the same Denver offence this year however, and made many think that anyone other than Kyle Orton could have lifted that side. There's always been questions about Tebow's arm, and how he'll cope when defences get wise to his running. Although looking at Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson and Cam Newton this season, maybe a young, athletic quarterback with a running threat is becoming the new normal?
Greg McElroy was seen as the Jets saviour in week 13 when he came in for the dismal Sanchez, and threw a touchdown pass that sealed a victory. But McElroy really wasn't *that* good that afternoon. He threw just 7 times, completing 5 for 29 yards and rushed for just 5 yards on 4 carries. Against the Arizona Cardinals, who went on to give up over 50 points the very next week. The former Alabama man definitely has potential, but is he the answer?
If I were Rex Ryan, and as we all know, I am certainly not; I would start with Tebow for week 16 and 17. The jets traded for him for a reason, and although he divides opinion, the guy is wildly popular, and has a track record of winning games. At 25 years old it's no longer a case of not being ready, and with the season already a write off, Ryan has nothing to lose by throwing him in.
Rex has to look to next season. There is no standout quarterback in the 2013 draft - although you only have to look at Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Brett Favre, Kurt Warner and this year Russell Wilson, to see that being a big first round pick isn't the be all and end all. But with a very limited pool of veterans who will be available in the close season, and an even smaller pool better than what he has - Rex may well have to look within. Sanchez is not the answer, so start Tebow and give McElroy some snaps through the last two weeks. In game evaluation is by far the best way...
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