Sports Radio Interviews

Mark Sanchez: Every Week’s Like The Rose Bowl In The NFL

Did anyone expect Mark Sanchez to be the backup in New York this season?  Since drafting him, the man has been praised more than the Germans praised Hitler during World War II (Inglourious Basterds is a fantastic movie by the way – sorry, it’s on the brain).  Frankly, I haven’t seen Sanchez perform much, but hearing him speak a couple times here on SRI both pre and post-draft, I’m excited to see the so called “pretty boy” develop.  No offense to Kellen Clemens, but Sanchez is the guy, and from all reports, he has earned the starter’s nod.  I know the Jets should be decent, but playoffs Mr. Sanchez?  Easy, fella.  Gotta love the confidence though.  Sanchez joined Michael Kay on ESPN New York to discuss the meeting where he learned he was the starter, a major difference between college and the pros, and how he felt during training camp and the QB race.

What were your thoughts when you first found out you got the job?

“All I could think about working up to this opportunity, before training camp started, in Cortland, all the things like that, all I could think about was being the guy.  That’s the way it ended up happening; it is a tremendous honor, I’m obviously very excited.  I have a ton of respect for Kellen and he is one heck of a competitor, so, for this to go down today it meant a lot to me when Rex has that kind of confidence in a young quarterback like this.  But the best thing I can say about Kellen is he’s just a stand-up guy, and right after our meeting with Rex, he just pulled me aside and said, ‘Hey man, I’m behind you 100%.  I’m happy for you, let’s go make a run deep in the playoffs and see what happens.’  So, that was real promising to me and obviously I feel great.”

Did you evaluate the race between yourself and Kellen every day?

“I didn’t wanna play that game every day like, who won today?  How many points am I winning by?  How many points is he winning by?  You just drive yourself crazy.  (Host: They have something like that in one of the papers).  I haven’t seen it, I’m sure.  It’s just one of those things, it’s the feel thing and Rex went with his gut and I’m obviously excited.  The main point was it wasn’t just one play, or one drive, or one game against Baltimore, it was the entire body of work, and as close as they may have been, things ended up the way they are and it’s my job to take it and run… It’s pretty special to look in the huddle and see the kinda talent we have and realize, when you really think about it, you don’t have to do it by yourself.”

On the difference between college and the pros:

“It’s a great challenge every week and I feel like some of the toughest games with the biggest crowds in college, are every week now.  The dogfight we had at UCLA in the Rose Bowl with a January 1st Rose Bowl kinda crowd is every week.  The fans are tough, they’re on you, nobody’s nice anymore in this league.  It’s fun for me, I’m learning a lot, and these guys are really helping me along, all the veterans.”

Are the Jets a playoff team?

“Absolutely.  We better be; I feel confident in that.  You can’t make any promises, nothing is guaranteed in this league but I can tell you, no team is gonna prepare any harder, no team’s gonna be better coached, so I’m confident in that.”

Listen to Mark Sanchez on ESPN New York with Michael Kay (starts at 20:17)

Tags: Football, Kellen Clemens, Mark Sanchez, New York Jets, NFL, Rex Ryan