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This time of year is great for those blind football fans that only choose to believe the positive spin on their team. Ie. if everything works out, we’ll be a playoff team. Optimism reigns eternal. That is especially the case with the rooks ’cause as fans, we really have no idea what we have on our hands with a first-year player. It’s like seeing a woman or a man in sunglasses: you can imagine what you want and no matter what is underneath the shades, good, bad, or ugly, you can have the most beautiful image in your mind. When listening to Jets’ rook Mark Sanchez, he may very well follow through on all the hype and faith of NY fans. He has come in to camp extremely ready to learn the playbook and make it his team. Of course, he’s working with the second unit for now and that may change in the near future, but so much of success in this league revolves around preparation. Mark one down for the man who has a very gorgeous lady friend of his own. Sanchez joined Michael Kay on ESPN New York to discuss the complexities of the NFL playbook, the similarities between college and the pros, his on-field connection with Wallace Wright, and the intensity of the offensive line at practice.
On throwing the ball a ton to receiver Wallace Wright:
“It’s kinda worked out that way, even in OTAs, and he’s kinda been my guy, secretly. Now, people are starting to figure it out so I gotta get smart and spread the ball around, but it’s just actually worked out that way and he’s done a good job. That’s just a result of him working on his routes, staying after it with coach Ellard and mastering his craft. He’s really working hard, and taking to the coaching and doing a great job.”
His take on the offensive line:
“Awesome. They look great and things got fired up today. Guys were getting at it and I don’t know what it was, it was that third day of camp and everybody had a little extra juice today, were going at it and almost getting in to fights and stuff.”
The change in defenses from college to the pros:
“There’s so many different schemes, you prepare for basic cover threes and zone blitzes, and this defense has all that and then a million other things you’ve never seen in your entire life. I tell everyone I guess the best way to explain it is you know you’re ‘A, B, C’s’ by heart and that’s the way I felt about defenses in college – I felt really good about it, solid: I could draw them up, I could play against them, I know how to scheme them – and then, you get here and they add about 100 more letters you have to memorize, and you know, it just blows you away.”
The similarity between college and the pros:
“A lot of guys who have come back from their rookie year, they just said it’s just like college ball and then switch out the classes for meeting time. And, that’s exactly right. There’s no more school, thank God, I’m glad I graduated and that’s awesome. That was just the only tough thing going in to college camp, ‘Ah, I’m so excited for the season to start but dang, I gotta go back to school right now. I gotta go to class.’ Now, it’s like, all right, we got meetings, let’s go and see what I did really well in this first practice, let’s see what I need to improve on, let’s build on the good things and correct my mistakes. That’s the way it is every day; it is an absolute blast.”
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