The New York Jets fans, according to ESPN polls, said they would rather see Tim Tebow running the team's offense over, present quarterback, Mark Sanchez.
63 percent of fans believe that Tebow needs to take the starting job from Sanchez.
My question is, what has Mark Sanchez not done that Tim Tebow has, better yet, is Tebow really the answer to the Jets' offensive woes?
Sanchez is on pace to give NY fans the exact numbers he has produced throughout his four-year career. He took the Jets to the AFC championship twice in his first two seasons being a decent quarterback. Most recently, he staged a late-game rally in 2010 against the defending AFC champion Indianapolis Colts.
Now that Tebow's in the picture, however, fans seem to quickly forget. Sanchez did not take the Jets all the way to the AFC Championship game with amazing numbers. Yeah, Tebow staged a late-game comeback in the playoffs, but he could not get the Denver Broncos past the second round.
So basically what fans want to do is replace a decent quarterback with a decent quarterback, but let's look at the other problems the Jets are facing before we address my thoughts on the QBs and what they bring to the table.
Maybe the issue is not the quarterback position, but everything else around them, especially the running back position.
The Jets are currently a little better on the ground than through the air. They are No. 24 in the league with 86.5 yards rushing and No. 26 with 197.5 passing yards per game.
What about those foolish half-hearted play schemes the Jets run that usually wind up in a gain of maybe two yards, if they even gain yardage on those plays where Tebow is getting snaps? Why not question the offensive play calls or challenge your offensive coordinator (Tony Sparano)?
Now let's look back at what the Jets were able to accomplish when they had a running game.
In 2010, when Sanchez and the Jets' defense almost took the team to the Super Bowl, the team averaged 146.4 yards per game and a guy name LaDainian Tomlinson, along with Shonn Greene, combined for over 1,600 yards on the ground.
As seen above, this season's numbers are nowhere near that average. In 2010, Sanchez threw for 3,291 yards 17 TDs and 13 touchdowns. Let me tell you, those numbers where nowhere near average amongst quarterbacks in the league.
In order to give Sanchez a chance on offense, you have to get him a decent running game because he is not an Eli Manning or Tom Brady who can create plays for their teams.
The problem with Jets fans relying on Tebow as their answer is that he will give you the same production as Sanchez. The only difference is that he can run, but once again, the Jets do not have a running game to allow Tebow to be versatile.
We can't compare their passing totals since Tebow started for the Broncos later in the season, but let's look at both their averages in 2011.
Tebow averaged 6.4 yards per throw and 123.5 yards passing on 19.4 pass attempts per game. The Broncos had one of the best running games in the league, so Tebow was not throwing on every play. Sanchez averaged 6.4 yards per throw and 217 yards passing on 33.9 pass attempts a game.
If Tebow does get to start, what we do know is that he is a hard nose player who will do whatever it takes to win, but in the end, his skill sets are no better than Sanchez's.
What made Tebow seem greater than average in Denver, at least at first, was that even before he took an NFL snap, everybody was questioning his ability to throw and run an offense. Then when he suddenly started winning, people amazed at how he did it. Then when he started losing all of his flaws would quickly show, but by that time Tebow had already won the hearts of millions.
The Jets should have never gotten Tebow if you ask me, but now that he is there, if they want to give him the starting job or a few more snaps, so be it. The reality is that he will not give you bigger numbers than Sanchez through the air.
In the end, the Jets simply have two borderline-decent quarterbacks on their roster.
