Boylan: Eagles Lucky To Have Mark Sanchez As Backup QB
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- How is anyone supposed to focus on anything this week? There's only one thing on the collective mind of Philadelphia: Mark Sanchez.
Mark Sanchez is the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. By now, enough time has passed for it to sink in. Let it continue to sink deeper in your brain. When the Eagles play on Monday night, on national television, in a game to keep hold of first place in the NFC East, Mark Sanchez will start at quarterback.
This day was coming, like it or not. Since the "Five Will Always Love You" Era, the Eagles haven't had a quarterback start and finish a 16-game season. Injuries have taken its toll on the position over the last five years, from Michael Vick to Kevin Kolb to Vince Young to Nick Foles, to now.
There wasn't a more obvious game for the change to come than last week against the Houston Texans. With the Eagles offensive line still incomplete and a one-armed Todd Herremans opposite J.J. Watt, the league's most terrifying defensive player, we knew Foles would earn his paycheck. The hits came but it was Whitney Mercilus, not Watt, who laid the season-changing blow. What now?
Mark Sanchez will start at quarterback for the Eagles, and it's not a bad thing. Sanchez came to Philly, on a one-year deal, to back up Foles and be ready when the time ultimately comes. His time came on Sunday and he was prepared and efficient, completing 68 percent of his passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns (albeit with a few poor decisions like his second interception). That completion percentage is 13 points higher than his career number, which is a nod to the offensive system and the man running it, Chip Kelly. The same man who said in March that adding Sanchez was a "no-brainer" for the Eagles.
The back-up quarterback situations around the NFL vary from experienced, to scary, to terrifying, to totally unknown. Only 11 current back-ups have more than 10 career NFL wins compared to 20 who have more than 10 losses. Sanchez is one of four back-ups with a winning record, and other than Christian Ponder and Chad Henne, he's the only one in that "experienced" situation who is younger than 30. Without Sanchez, this would be Matt Barkley time and the state of the quarterback position would fall somewhere between terrifying and totally unknown.
The king of the back-up quarterbacks is 39-year-old Matt Hasselbeck in Indianapolis. He has 80 NFL wins, 201 touchdown passes to 148 interceptions, years of starting experience as a Seahawk and a 5-6 postseason record that includes a Super Bowl appearance.
In fact, only five current back-ups have ever started a playoff game. T.J. Yates won a game then lost in 2011 for the Texans, Matt Schaub did the same for Houston a year later, and Tarvaris Jackson lost his only postseason start to the Eagles. We remember that.
Sanchez has only played in road playoff games and is 4-2 in those starts. The other four QB's are a combined 0-7.
Which back-up QB would you rather start on Monday night? Would you trade with the Cowboys and start Brandon Weeden? What about newly benched Mike Glennon or Ryan Fitzpatrick? They both have better touchdown-to-interception ratios than Sanchez. Schaub, Matt Flynn or Shaun Hill? They sport the three highest quarterback ratings among back-ups.
Or take the Bengals as an example. Like the Eagles, they are in first place in a tight division race. Their quarterback Andy Dalton is not dissimilar from Foles in terms of both potential and head-scratching throws. If Foles ever gets a contract like the one Dalton signed over the summer it would come with much of the same criticism. And if Dalton goes down the job belongs to Jason Campbell. His stats aren't terrible---he's a career 60 percent passer with 27 more touchdown passes than interceptions and a QB rating north of 80. He's also turning 33 in December and has a .405 winning percentage. Would you like to start Campbell over Sanchez?
I would answer no to all of those questions.
Barring an incredible run that revitalizes his career, Sanchez is not a long-term solution. That's not what the Eagles are looking for. Yes, the interception numbers are scary, as is his career 6.5 yards per attempt. Except all that happened on the Jets under Rex Ryan, where quarterbacks go to die. In his first three seasons, when the Jets finished no worse than 8-8, his best offensive weapon was at running back. His go-to receiver was tight end Dustin Keller, who was targeted 297 times in that three-year window. And if turnovers are your biggest concern, that's nothing new since the Eagles already lead the NFL in giveaways.
In Philly, the pieces are in place for Sanchez take the wheel without crashing. He also gets a chance to set his team up for something he's never experienced before, a playoff game in front of a home crowd. Kelly will write the script, but it's up to Sanchez to play the part.
Justin Boylan is a producer at 94WIP. Follow him on Twitter @justintboylan.
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