Jets give Sanchez the start against Bills
The Jets' Mark Sanchez tries to escape from the grasp of Chicago's Israel Idonije. (Dec. 26, 2010) Credit: Getty Images
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - "The Decision" is in, and it has nothing to do with LeBron.
Rex Ryan is giving Mark Sanchez the starting nod in Sunday's regular-season finale against the Bills at New Meadowlands Stadium, though he's not quite sure how long he'll go with his second-year quarterback.
Sanchez, who definitely won't play the entire game, is nursing a sore shoulder. Ryan had been mulling whether to play Sanchez or sit him, which would give his throwing shoulder extra rest before the playoffs begin the following weekend.
"He looked good, had some zip on the ball," Ryan said. "So we are going to go ahead and start Mark this game. How long he'll play, we'll obviously determine that as the game goes. But he will start for us."
Ryan wanted to see Sanchez whip some passes around Thursdaybefore making a final determination. He had been leaning toward playing Sanchez anyway, in part because he didn't want him to get rusty heading into the postseason.
But really, the Jets didn't want to interrupt the way Sanchez has gone about preparing for games these last few weeks because he's been so efficient, completing 65 percent of his passes for 439 yards with a touchdown and an interception in his last two games.
"He's got a good thing going right now and he's comfortable," Ryan said. "And I just wanted to kind of keep that going."
So does Brian Schottenheimer.
"That's the thing that we're really big on," the offensive coordinator said. "We just want his routine throughout the week to be the same. I know last Wednesday, he was really limited, threw some light balls. He's been the exact same the last two days this week that he was last week. That's all we're trying to do. This is something that we hope continues on for a long time, up through the playoffs and into the Super Bowl.
"We just want to make sure he's kind of working his way through his routine, and that routine, obviously, has worked for him . . . I'm really pleased with how he's worked through these last two days and even going back to last week of trying to mirror those things up."
