Last week was supposed to be a turning point; Mark Sanchez got benched in favor of Greg McElroy, and the New York Jets actually won in one of the ugliest games of football this NFL season. Well, that’s not enough to cost Sanchez his starting job, set up to start behind center when the Jets take on the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Sanchez never had to fight for his position, not until this year. At least according to the media, there was a battle going on. But Sanchez has been the quarterback all the way. The Jets have a lot of money invested in Sanchez, and even if he has turned the ball over 18 times this season, it doesn’t seem to pushing them away in other directions. Greg McElroy has the edge for second string quarterback. Tim Tebow? He can’t do anything but sulk and wait for an opportunity from a head coach that obviously has no faith in him.

If all the losses and turnovers weren’t a wake up call prior to the benching during the 7-6 win over the Arizona Cardinals, in which Sanchez threw three interceptions in just over two quarters, than getting yanked out in the middle of the game was plenty of an alarm clock and warning all together.

It was probably the worst and best experience of my life. As much as you disagree with the decision, you never want to come out of game, I know where he’s coming from because I understand everyone needs to be held accountable, myself included. I think he was more or less sending a message, and it was well received. I know. I get it.

Does he? Does it really matter? Sanchez has thrown for only 12 touchdown passes this season, compared with 13 interceptions and 7 turnovers, 5 of them gone to the wrong hands. His completion percentage of 54.7% is 33rd among 34 quarterbacks who qualified (To qualify, a player must have at least 14 attempts per team’s games played) to be judged by the all mighty statistics. One of only five quarterbacks to throw more interceptions than touchdowns, and his passer rating, for what it’s worth, is 32nd, with 71.4.

Four years into his NFL career, the Jets still feel Sanchez is the man to follow. Not Tim Tebow, who they strangely traded for this summer, and the decision, seeing as Tebow simply isn’t getting a shot to show his stuff, despite the 5-7 record and all of Sanchez’ problems, looks stranger and stranger by the minute. Now Greg McElroy gets thrown into the picture; wins a game for the jets (5-7, 29 yards, 1 touchdown pass), gets the fans to support him for the job.

At least he has Tebow off his back. McElroy won’t get the kind of media backing that Tebow does, simply because he isn’t that big of a deal when it comes to rating. As the Jets head into Jacksonville, Tebow’s home town, the college football star, if healthy enough to suit up for the game, is going to be the third option on Rex Ryan’s depth chart.

There are many questioning every decision made for quite some time during the Rex Ryan – Mike Tannenbaum era. Mark Sanchez is just one in many, but at the current rate of how things are developing, it’ll probably the decision that ends their regime as the guys running the New York Jets in the wrong direction.

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