Anonymous Jets criticize Sanchez
The venom continues to spew out of what appears to be a fractured New York Jets locker room, as several anonymous players made comments to the New York Daily News that served to crush quarterback Mark Sanchez while expressing hope general manager Mike Tannenbaum could acquire Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning.
Much criticism was directed at Sanchez, who helped the Jets reach two AFC Championship Games in his first two years before the team finished a disappointing 8-8 in 2011.
None of the Jets quoted by the Daily News identified himself. But they had plenty to say: -That Sanchez was lazy. -That the Jets would never win the Super Bowl because Sanchez was not improving.
-That the organization would not be truthful with him and treated him like a baby.
Head coach Rex Ryan occasionally has taken away practice snaps from Sanchez but has never benched him during a game. The quarterback threw a career-best 26 touchdown passes in 2011 but also committed 26 turnovers (18 interceptions, eight fumbles). He has never completed more than 57% of his passes in a full season.
ESPN analyst and former Jets lineman Damien Woody took issue with the attacks.
“He did have a great work ethic,” Woody said. “He’s trying to do all the right things. ... (Players) don’t see the results.”
Woody chalked up the anonymous comments to frustration after the team took a nose dive after falling a win short of the Super Bowl in Sanchez’s first two seasons.
“I didn’t see any laziness,” he said. “He’s not getting it done as fast as the players want.”
Woody conceded Sanchez seemed to lack a connection with offensive skill players and needed better leadership skills.
Center Nick Mangold said Sanchez was not lazy. “That’s just wrong,” he said on ESPN’S Sportscenter. “I’ve never seen anybody work as hard as Mark has. I support him fully; I think the locker room does as well.”
Mangold was angered by the anonymous attacks.
“If there’s really a problem, you should man up and own up to what you’re going to say,” he said. “When no one has their name attached to it, it’s kind of an easy way out to air your personal grievances that should be kept in the locker room.”
Sparano joins Jets:
He could be stepping into a hornets nest, but Tony Sparano again is employed in the AFC East.
The Jets hired the recently deposed Miami Dolphins head coach as their offensive coordinator Wednesday, about 12 hours after Brian Schottenheimer announced he was leaving the team. Sparano was 2933 in four years with Miami.
Redskins hire Morris:
Raheem Morris, recently fired as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach, has agreed to join the Washington Redskins as their defensive backs coach, it was reported Wednesday night by several media outlets, including ESPN, the Tampa Bay Times and The Washington Post.
The media outlets cited people with knowledge of the signing who were not authorized to speak on the hiring.