FanPost

Rex Ryan Claims Mark Sanchez Is (Sort Of) An Elite QB

Rex Ryan had some nice things to say about Mark Sanchez to the press today, according to Waszak and the AP:

"This guy has won four playoff games in two years. All on the road," Ryan said. "When you talk about elite quarterbacks, I think he's an elite quarterback because he wins the big games. And he's a winner."

This was all in reference to Eli Manning's recent controversial comments, claiming that the Giants player deserved to be in the same class of QB as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning; presumably because the younger Manning has also won a Super Bowl as the starting signal caller. Needless to say, this caused quite a stir among sports fans and bloggers.

Another interesting side effect of Eli's...optimistic...self-evaluation is that several signal callers are evaluating themselves under similar criteria: a nonobjective look at the successes (but not the failures) of the team under the starting QB. Joe Flacco echoed Eli's self-praise on the radio with a little ego of his own, saying he considered himself to be in the top five signal callers in the NFL as well.

Our own head coach went so far as to say Sanchez is elite, but Ryan made sure to clarify that Mark is not yet in the same class as Brady and Manning, and there was still work to be done.

No, not (with) those two. (Brady and Manning) Those two have won Super Bowls. Peyton Manning has won a Super Bowl. He's won a zillion games. In my opinion, (he's) the best quarterback in football. Tom Brady's only won three Super Bowls and been the MVP of the league… We're a ways from that. There's no doubt.

I think when someone says Ryan is calling Sanchez an elite QB, they're kind of taking Rex's comments out of context, although he did say Mark is elite. Rex was the only person not claiming his signal caller is in the same league as Peyton or Tom. It seems to boil down to what your definition of elite is. Most QB's idea of elite seems to be 1)themselves and 2)a winner in the class of T.B. and Manning the elder.

Mark hasn't directly addressed the "elite" question himself, but he has been telling the press he is focused on improving his 54% completion rating, calling it "not good enough." In Mark's defense, the Jets were 4th in dropped passes last year, and his Rexness himself thinks Mark is elite.

Update: Not surprisingly, Mark was asked the fateful question. His response:

’It’s not for me to rank myself. I know I still have things I need to improve on. After I win the Super Bowl, then maybe I’ll have something to say about it."

What do you think? Do the Jets have an elite signal caller? Is he in the class of Brady or Manning? Are Eli or Joe Flacco, for that matter?

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