CORTLAND, N.Y. -- Mark Sanchez starts at quarterback for the New York Jets' preseason opener, but don’t jump to conclusions. That's no sign he opens the season as their starter, too.
In fact, the more you're around this team the less it appears Sanchez won't sit down sometime soon because ... well, because he's in a battle he cannot win.
Yeah, I know, that will please frazzled Jets' fans who wish he would go away. But they forget that before the infamous "buttfumble" and one stinker of a season Mark Sanchez quarterbacked their team to two consecutive conference championship games -- in his first two seasons, no less.
Nevertheless, the Jets have decided he needs to be pushed. So they draft Geno Smith, say a lot of nice things about him, then declare an open competition at quarterback.
Only it's not.
No matter what Sanchez does here or back at the team's headquarters in Florham Park, N.J., he's doomed. Sooner or later, Geno Smith starts. It could be the season opener; it could be later. It doesn't matter.
What matters is that it will happen, and if you don't believe it you weren't paying attention when GM John Idzik addressed the subject last month. He said he'll have "a pretty big role" in the choice of the Jets' next starter, and read the tea leaves, people.
Idzik didn't draft Sanchez. He drafted Smith. And he wouldn't have made a move if he were satisfied with the incumbent which, apparently, he's not.
So Sanchez isn't playing the competition as much as he's playing against a stacked deck.
"Maybe from the outside perspective that's what a lot of people feel," Sanchez said, "but it's pretty open competition. At the end of the day, if that's the way it turns out I can't control that. I've just got to be able to block that out and control what I can.
"And that's me preparing for practice, trying to stay healthy, being in good shape, making good decisions with the ball and making the right throws."
Of course, not making good decisions and the right throws is precisely what has him in trouble. There were too many mistakes the past two seasons, with Sanchez producing nearly as many interceptions (36) as touchdowns (39), and not enough victories. New York hasn't had a winning season in two years.
Somehow, that's supposed to be all Sanchez's fault, only I don't think so.
Yes, he committed a zillion errors -- with 33 fumbles the past two seasons -- but look what he played with: Zilch. There wasn't a receiver a year ago with more than 3 touchdown catches, the offensive line was little more than ordinary and "Ground and Pound" is what opposing linemen did to Sanchez.
So he stunk.
But the organization did, too. It failed to do its job, which was to surround its quarterback with the talent he needs to win. That cost GM Mike Tannenbaum his job, has Rex Ryan in a pickle and put Sanchez on notice that his job's in jeopardy.
Only the truth is: There's not much he can do to save it.
I mean, look at what the Jets have for playmakers on offense and tell me it's a marked improvement over what they had this time a year ago. It's not. Yeah, maybe Stephen Hill comes around. And maybe Bilal Powell or Chris Ivory turns into Freeman McNeil. And maybe Santonio Holmes is OK after when he returns from a Lisfranc injury. And maybe Kellen Winslow Jr. jump-starts his career.
But that's a lot of maybes.
Maybe Sanchez wins the job, too, and becomes Drew Brees, circa 2004, holding off Philip Rivers in San Diego and winning a division title. But I don't think so. What I think is that the clock is winding down on Sanchez's career with the New York Jets.
Coach Rex Ryan this week admonished fans who booed Sanchez at last weekend's scrimmage, imploring them to cut the guy some slack -- and that's fine. He should. Except the Jets should cut him slack, too. Long before Sanchez went south, they beat him to it, somehow believing he could carry an offense that kept subtracting key players.
That was their mistake, not his. Quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning make everyone around them better. That's what makes them extraordinary. Others can't and are better suited as complementary pieces, and I think you know where Sanchez fits in.
But that's the problem. In this offense, you can't do that and survive. That's why someone like Geno Smith -- who can make plays with his feet as well as his arm -- is ticketed to take over this team. If it's not the season opener, it's when Sanchez throws his first interception in the season opener.
It doesn't matter that Sanchez looked good in practice Monday and Tuesday when others did not, with offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg saying that he's had "an outstanding camp." It doesn't matter that Smith looks great on some throws and dreadful on others. Nope, this is all about following a plan, and my guess is that that plan doesn't include Mark Sanchez for the long haul.
"I can understand it," said one source close to the club. "I mean, who on this team can score? There are no playmakers until Holmes gets back, and no one knows when that will be. But Geno Smith can be a weapon, which is what this offense needs.
"The second play of [Saturday's] scrimmage the defense blitzed, and the guy came untouched. Geno avoided him and completed the pass for a big play. That could have easily been a sack ... but it wasn't. So, yeah, I can see why you start him."
You hear that a lot around here, and if it happens it will be welcomed by Sanchez bashers who embrace change -- any change -- at quarterback, figuring there must be a better solution than what they have. But what they forget is that what they have is a guy who beat Andy Dalton, Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in the playoffs ... and on the road.
Make no mistake, Mark Sanchez should be challenged. He played poorly the past two years, and it's time he moves his game forward. Only I don't know that it makes much of a difference what he does now. In fact, all the signs here tell me it doesn't.
