It is well documented that Tebow isn't the best "thrower," as I've heard people term it. Sanchez is a better thrower than Tebow, but does that make him the better option? You could make an argument that Mark Sanchez is a better thrower than Michael Vick, but would Sanchez be starting over Vick in Philadelphia? No, Vick gives the Eagles the best chance to win, which is why he hasn't been benched even though he's struggled this season as well. You could make another argument that Tim Tebow is a poor man's Michael Vick, better at scrambling and making plays than standing in the pocket and throwing. In Denver, Kyle Orton was a much better thrower than Tim Tebow, but he was benched for Tebow. If you ask me, Orton is better than Sanchez, and yet Orton is backing up Tony Romo in Dallas while Sanchez starts over Tebow in New York. My opinion means nothing, but it does bring up a good question, why do the Jets value Sanchez so much?
Through five games, Mark Sanchez has completed 48.4% of his passes. Last season with the Broncos, Tebow completed 46.5% of his passes. Sanchez's numbers would be the same as Tebow's without his Week 1 performance when he completed 70% of his passes against the Bills. But wait, if the only thing Sanchez has over Tebow is being a better thrower and he hasn't thrown the ball well in 4 out of 5 games, then what exactly is keeping Tebow from jumping him on the depth chart? If you are going to throw out a guy that completes only 45% of his passes, why not choose the one that can also run really well? When Sanchez is equal to Tebow in passing numbers, Tebow becomes the better player. Like it or not, Tim Tebow is the better option for the Jets. What makes Sanchez better? The fact that a few years ago he played in back-to-back AFC Championship games? Those teams were completely different from his current team and that's even before the injuries. Besides if the past meant anything in the NFL, then Donovan McNabb would still be starting somewhere.
Starting Tebow may make life easier for Tony Sparano, the master of the wildcat, as well. The only difference between the current wildcat formation and starting Tebow would be Mark Sanchez won't be lined up as a receiver, which is useless anyways. All he'd have to do is throw in a couple option plays, and the Jets offense would be operating full time out of the wildcat basically. Image what Sparano could do with a wildcat-like offense on nearly every down. He'd be in heaven creating crazy passing and running plays, a majority of which I'm sure Tebow could make work. Tebow turned the Broncos offense into winners with questionable personnel around him like aging Willis McGahee, young receiver Demaryius Thomas, and unknowns Eric Decker and Daniel Fells. When Dustin Keller and Stephen Hill return, the Jets offense won't be that much different than Denver's last year.
Like Sanchez, Tebow is not the future of the Jets, but if he wins, why not ride him until he fails? You will never have to worry about an empty stadium because fans will come to watch Tebow alone, wondering if he'd transform into a super quarterback in the 4th quarter and lead his team to victory. Plus his stats wouldn't matter as long as the team was winning games. If he wins, then why not start building around him? It's not like surrounding Tebow with talent will backfire because any QB after him would benefit from the talent. Tebow had some talented people around him while playing for the Florida Gators. During their BCS title run in 2008, Tebow was surrounded by current NFL stars Percy Harvin and Aaron Hernandez. He also had very talented players in Chris Rainey, Jeff Demps, Riley Cooper, and David Nelson. Tebow was pretty good without top talent last season for the Broncos, imagine if a team tabbed him as their starter and then actually started giving him talented targets? He might turn from serviceable to great.
The Jets have nothing to lose by starting Tebow because sticking with Sanchez is getting them nowhere. Let's say they start Tebow for the next five games, just to see what he does with the offense. If it works, you keep going with him. If it doesn't work, you go back to Sanchez or maybe even throw Greg McElroy out there for a few games. As my friend reminded me last night, McElroy played in the SEC in college and did pretty well against those tough defenses. The point is that it won't hurt the team no matter who is behind center because their season is already on the decline. You start Tebow because he proved last season that he could win games, even against Dick LeBeau and the Pittsburgh Steelers mighty defense.
The only reason Tebow isn't starting right now is because Rex Ryan is stubborn and he refuses to bench a player because the fans and media want him to. Last year, John Fox chose to not be stubborn and it won him the division and a playoff game. A successful Tebow would make management look brilliant for acquiring Tebow and hiring Sparano. Right now both are looking stupid and unwarranted as Tebow averages about seven snaps per game. Mark Sanchez has had plenty of shots to prove that this is his job and he failed. Now give Tebow a shot and let him tebow the NFL. You know he can.
Reference
http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/gamelog/_/id/12482/mark-sanchez
http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/13200/tim-tebow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Florida_Gators_football_team
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