Mark Sanchez Explains Why He Came To Philly
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- Mark Sanchez is in his fifth NFL season and he's already seen it all. As a four-year starting quarterback with the New York Jets from 2009 to 2012, Sanchez who had success early in his career reaching two AFC Championship games, eventually began to struggle and was released this Spring.
Sanchez chose Philadelphia and now, due to a Nick Foles injury, the 27-year-old QB will make his first start since December 30th, 2012 on Monday night against the Carolina Panthers. But what made he pick Philly?
"So we're looking at a couple different options and we ended up deciding on Philly," Sanchez told Angelo Cataldi and the 94WIP Morning Show on Tuesday. "I played against Coach [Chip] Kelly in college. I love his system. I think it fits my personality and my style of play. It gets the quarterback on the move, it's a great pace, up-tempo, I love that. And I'd have a chance to help out Nick, be a veteran presence in that quarterback room, get to be with [Matt] Barkley who I know from USC---recruited the guy at SC to come there---so, I had some friends on the team, some guys I knew. I thought it'd be a good spot, but more than anything I knew I'd get some preseason film, see what happens if I play during the year or not, and we'll just roll from there. And we signed a one year deal and now we'll see what happens."
Sanchez, who had one touchdown and eight interceptions in his final four starts with the Jets, is infamously known for his "butt-fumble." However, the former first-round draft pick says he isn't trying to prove anything to anyone.
"You can't get too caught up in all those things outside of the building that you can't control," Sanchez explained.
"It's not like, 'Oh yeah, well now I'm gonna show 'em!' Who are you gonna show? The only guys I'm accountable to are the people in that locker room, the coaches, and myself. I want to play well for myself and for these guys in the locker room. You gotta come in, do your job, watch the film, prepare yourself, and go play well because other guys are dependent on it. Just like I depend on those guys to make catches, and make blocks, and tackles, and all those things. That's who I'm playing for. So, it's not like, 'Yeah, I'm back' or anything. No, it's not like that. I just want to go out and play well because I love doing it."
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