It’s the Beginning of the End for Rex Ryan

Nah.

After Greg McElroy led the jets on two good drives in four attempts against the St. Louis Rams it seemed as if the beginning of a new era was being ushered in for the New York Jets. Rex Ryan made sure that was the case when he named Mark Sanchez the starter for the team’s game in Jacksonville this week.

''It's really a decision I feel great about,'' Ryan said.

His passion, determination, and loyalty are commendable, but it leaves reason to wonder what games he has been watching or what he’s been seeing that lead him to believe that starting Sanchez is a great decision.

"I have confidence in all three guys," Ryan said. "But I keep coming back to (the fact) Mark has won a lot of games for us, there's no question. … I believe Mark has a skill set that is pretty impressive. He can make all the throws.

For a player that he has had start at quarterback going on four years now he should have faith in his ability. 

An important distinction that needs to be made here is that  he has the confidence that Sanchez ‘can make all the throws.’ The ability to make them and actually making them are two different things.

Has Sanchez made them? The answer there is pretty easy.

No.

Through the better part of four season he has only completed 55.2 percent of his passes (986/1785). He has nearly as many interceptions (64) as he does touchdowns (67). His career QB rating is 72.9.

That’s not good (in case you were wondering).

The best the passing game has done with Sanchez at the helm is No. 21 (in 2011). In 2009 it was second to last in the league and in '10 it was No. 22. To be fair, when a team runs as much and as well as it did those years you are not going to have great passing numbers. 

This year they are not doing too bad in the running game (No. 12). Combined with the No. 28 passing game they have managed to score 19 points a game (No. 26)--clearly not good enough. So when the unit as a whole isn't performing well who does that fall on? Rex? Do you have an answer?

What throws is he talking about anyway? The only time he has a good completion percentage is for throws beyond 31+ attempts; not something a running team will do very often. When they are in the red zone is when his completion percentage is at its worst (43.6).

He has completed less than half of his passes inside the two minute warning—a time when you primarily pass with just one touchdown to speak of. When the team is ahead he’s pretty decent completing over 60 percent of his passes, but again when he needs to be at his best (when the team is down) he barely completes half.

If you can’t do much better than completing half of your passes it makes it pretty hard not to be behind.

With four relatively soft games left it would not be hard for Sanchez to actually look good giving the false impression that Ryan is right in remaining so loyal to his quarterback.

   

Owner Woody Johnson, who has publicly stated he would like to see McElroy start, is giving his head coach the same kind of loyalty. That is good thing for Ryan in that he is able to coach how he wants without fear of interference from the owner.

It’s also a good thing for Johnson. When he fires Ryan it will be pretty clear that the soon to be former head coach had all the power in the world to do what he saw fit and still failed. Yes, he was loyal to Sanchez, but he wasn't to the organization or its fans.