Patrick Causey, on Twitter @PhillySportsPMC
ALL-22 BREAKDOWN OF BENNIE LOGAN AND MARK SANCHEZ
Part 1; Part 2
I broke up this article into two posts because all of the gifs were making it hard to view as one page. Let's get right to part two.
Mark Sanchez Ends the Quarterback Competition
Another concrete conclusion we can reach is that barring injury, there is no legitimate quarterback competition between Sam Bradford and Mark Sanchez.
Chip Kelly tried as hard as he could to sell us on the notion that Sanchez had every opportunity to win the starting job. But you do not trade away a young, cheap and productive quarterback, and a second and fourth round pick for a guy that is just going to "compete" for the starting job.
Even if Kelly was serious (and given what we have seen this offseason, he might be just a little enough off-kilter to actually mean it), Sanchez likely lost the opportunity to compete based on his abysmal showing against the Colts.
Sanchez was erratic the entire game, missing open receivers with regularity. Even when he did connect with his receivers, his passes were often too high for the receiver to make a play after the catch.
Let's first look at some clear misses.
On the Eagles first play from scrimmage, Sanchez had Trey Burton streaking down field wide open, a good five yards behind the nearest defender. Sanchez under throws Burton, forcing him to come back to the ball, which ultimately falls incomplete.
If Sanchez hits Burton in stride, it's either a touchdown or huge gain. Either way, those types of missed opportunities are killer for an offense.
Sanchez compounded that mistake by missing a wide open Darren Sproles on the same drive.
It's 3rd and 1. Sproles is lined up in the slot against a linebacker. And while some Eagles fans probably would have liked to see the Eagles run the ball here, getting Sproles one-on-one with a linebacker is a mismatch the Eagles will take every day and twice on Sunday (see what I did there?).
Sproles beats his defender with ease, and judging by open space in front of him (thanks to the corner being run off by the outside receiver), Sproles likely would have gotten more than enough yards for a first down.
But Sproles never gets that opportunity because Sanchez sails the throw. While you might be able to chalk up the bad throw to Burton as a result of it being the first throw of the first preseason game, Sanchez simply cannot miss this throw.
It forced a quick 3 and out, putting the defense right back on the field; an issue which plagued the Eagles too often last year.
This next throw was probably Sanchez's worst of the day. The Eagles run three receivers to the left side of the field: Celek throws a chip block then runs a short out route, Cooper runs an intermediate dig, and Matthews runs a deep crossing route from the right side of the field. Matthews is wide open. Sanchez simply just overthrows him.
Some people will say that this was a hard throw because Sanchez had to run to his left while throwing across his body. Normally, I would agree with you. But when a receiver is that open? It becomes harder to justify.
Jordan Matthews is not a reactionary player on the field. He is a level-headed, team first guy that does not fall into the "diva" category occupied by most wide receivers in this league. But just look at his reaction to that play. It should tell you everything.
Even when Sanchez did connect with his receivers, his throws were usually off target.
Take this next play, which preceded the play that we just covered. The Eagles are running a staple in Chip Kelly's offense: both outside receivers run go routes, while the tight end (here, Brent Celek) and slot receiver, Matthews, run a high low crossing pattern.
As you can see, the Colts are showing a single high safety, which means Sanchez should read the safety to determine the best spot for the throw. The deep safety is held up just long enough by Cooper's go route that Matthews is able to find open field between the safety and the linebacker, who was distracted slightly by Celek's route (watch him point to Celek to make sure someone had him covered).
By NFL standards, this is a fairly easy throw. Sanchez completes it, but it was high, forcing Matthews into a defenseless position over the middle. Matthews gets popped and was lucky not to get hurt. All of which probably could have been avoided had Sanchez hit Matthews in stride.
And of course, the play we saw on loop all week long: the touchdown throw to rookie wideout Nelson Agholor. Watch how high Agholor had to jump to catch this ball on a simple comeback route five yards from the line of scrimmage:
(To break up the doom and gloom: Agholor is a stud. Even though he had some drops in the Colts game, this kid has serious talent. If you were a betting man, you might venture a wager on Agholor as offensive R.O.Y.).
While it is fair to assume that Sanchez's play will improve — he was not this bad last year, and from all reports, he looks better during training camp — it was still a harrowing reminder that Sanchez is what he is: a top backup who can fill in for a few games but will kill any chance of long term success if he has to be "the guy."
So we better hope Bradford stays healthy. Or we could be in for a long season with Sanchez at the helm.
Part 1; Part 2
