Mark Sanchez cannot afford any mistakes. The quarterback is already on thin ice with the New York Giants and one mistake could mean he loses the starting spot and possibly gets knocked off the roster all together. As the quarterback competes with Geno Smith to be the season's No. 1 guy, his production in OTAs will be crucial. Sanchez is not off to a great start and head coach Rex Ryan is not happy.
Ryan spoke to the media and said Sanchez made too many mistakes during the first few days of OTAs. The quarterback threw three interceptions during practice, something Ryan simply called "unacceptable." While Sanchez made a few great throws, in the heated quarterback competition, the mistakes are magnified.
"This is OTAs and things, but yeah, that's going to be the pressure that we're putting on him. He did a lot of great things. It's not that you try to cover up the fact you had some bad plays-no,no,no you flat tell him. We can't have these and all that type of stuff. He knows," Ryan said.
While Ryan praised the defense and stand out playing for that unit, he was upset to see the quarterback play so poorly. Interceptions is nothing new for Sanchez. He was one of the leaders last season in turnovers. throwing 18 interceptions and fumbling the ball nine times. One of the biggest factors that will play into the decision of whether or not he starts will be the turnover ratio.
"It's a good thing defense makes the plays, but no, I'd rather him not turn the ball over once. He did a lot of great things, and then those negative things, at the end of the day, that's what gets you beat. And so we've go to do a better job of eliminating those turnovers," Ryan said.
If Sanchez is unable to improve during OTAs and eliminate the turnovers, he could likely lose his job to rookie Smith. The coaches have been very vocal about a clear quarterback competition going on. They could like to have a starting quarterback named sooner rather than later. If Sanchez continues to struggle, he could fall to the No. 2 spot on the depth chart with Smith as the top guy.l
