Tannenbaum: Sanchez to Take “Lion’s Share” of Snaps This Season
How much will Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow play at Quarterback this season comparatively? Mike Tannenbaum might have provided some clues Friday morning on ESPN’s Mike & Mike show, per the Star-Ledger.
The general manager said that when the numbers are added up at season’s end, Sanchez will have between 80 and 90 percent of the snaps, or what he referred to as the “lion’s share.”
“In terms of, if that gives us the best matchup on that play, that’s the play we’re going to run,” Tannenbaum said. “But again, Mark’s going to be on the field for the lion’s share. You guys will see. His playing time will be 80-90 percent over the 16 games. He’s clearly our quarterback.”
No surprises there, but of course now that Tannenbaum has used an actual number, media members will be jumping to wild conclusions should the Jets undershoot or overshoot those marks given to them by Tannenbaum.
Brian Bassett, theJetsBlog.com
As Tanny suggests, it would seem as if the Jets there’s some guidance set for how much the Jets could expect to use Tebow Sunday, but for the most part, it’s going to be hard to rightly say until the Jets play a few games. While we expect Sanchez to see the bulk of the time at QB just as Tannenbaum suggests, if the number is closer to 80 percent of the snaps, then that seems like a lot of plays over the course of the season, but consider that the Jets might be using Tebow on two to three successive plays when they do use him. Whether it be in the red zone or just in a situation where they want to keep the Wildcat out on the field.
Years ago, the Saints created a blueprint for teams on how to stop the Wildcat, which was to be overly aggressive with the secondary. That of course opens teams up for an opportune and back-breaking pass. Sparano was joking that the Jets won’t be running the Wing T offense, but the offense that Sparano used at times in Miami showed a significant Wing T component – the three running backs with a quarterback. Now while the Wing T normally would bunch TEs close into the formation, the Jets will likely keep their receivers spread wide as much as possible to keep the threat of a deep ball alive.
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