The NFL is no different than society as a whole, Mark Sanchez discovers

The New York Jets released their former “franchise” quarterback, Mark Sanchez, in favor of a new version, Geno Smith. I’ve talked about Smith in the past, and it is clear to me that Jets’ fans who heaped contempt on Sanchez because he was not another Peyton Manning or Tom Brady seem willing to suspend reality when judging Smith’s play. Smith was statistically the worst quarterback in the NFL last season, but a combination of playing good teams having down years (Atlanta), unbelievable good fortune courtesy of blown officiating calls (Tampa Bay, New England), solid defensive efforts (New Orleans) and teams wilting under the pressure of playing for a playoff spot (Miami), the Jets turned an at best a 4-12 team into the mirage that was an 8-8 record. Not that this is anything "shocking"; the Jets have a total of 10 double-digit win seasons in 54 years--even Joe Namath had an overall losing record as a starter with the Jets.

Former teammates complained that Sanchez allegedly carried himself as if he was “entitled.” What does that mean, and who are the players claiming that? Head cases and divas. As they say, it takes one to know one—except in this case, they should speak for themselves. What do they make of Smith? Isn’t he the guy that scouts were warning teams from drafting because he was an even more obvious self-involved swell-head? Wasn’t he the player who when he wasn’t drafted in the first round, he fired his agent? Whoever invented the phrase “best chance to win” obviously never considered the fact that players like Smith with obvious decision-making limitations masked by “athleticism” would use it to increase their already bloated conceit? 

Before jettisoning Sanchez, the Jets signed Michael Vick supposedly to “mentor” Smith, although I suspect that how Vick and Smith weigh the situation may be two entirely different things.Vick is clearly a more polished quarterback whose principle problem is an inability to stay healthy. Smith can no doubt benefit by “mentoring,” but only if he finds himself humbled, warming a seat on the bench and wondering how he is going to improve his play enough to win “his” job back.

In acquiring Vick, the Jets management obviously wants to avoid the kind of mistakes it made with Sanchez, simply inserting him in a position that he was not ready for. The Jets had no backup quarterback with long years of experience to “mentor” Sanchez, nor an offensive coordinator or quarterbacks coach to provide the kind of “tough love” that characterized the mentoring provided an undisciplined Brett Favre by Mike Holmgren. Rich Cimini of ESPN pointed out that real blame for the Sanchez self-fulfilling prophecy was the Jets organization:

 “The timing never was right for Sanchez. When it was time for him to go from little brother to head of the family, his supporting cast was virtually gone. The front office didn't do a good job of replenishing the talent, sticking him with Plaxico Burress  and LaDanian Tomlinson--both diminished players--and the diva of all divas, Santonio Holmes…It's sad because it didn't have to be this way. Sanchez has talent. Anybody who witnessed his six playoff games, especially the two conference championships and that magical divisional win at New England, knows he has the physical ability to do the job.  But the whole thing got messy and complicated because the , perhaps, the Jets were doing other teams a “favor” by not usetting theirplayers, building his beloved defense and letting his quarterback—the Sanchize—erode with the rest of the offense.” 

The Jets organization also, as John Clayton pointed out, wrecked any chance of Sanchez of joining an organization willing to give him another opportunity by releasing him until other teams had already signed free agent quarterbacks or traded for one. Perhaps the Jets are afraid if Sanchez actually excels elsewhere and Smith goes to pot, fans will wonder who was really the problem. Or, perhaps, the Jets were doing other teams a “favor” by not “upsetting” their fan base by the possibility that Sanchez might be the starting quarterback on their team. The attitude of more than a few people is probably not unlike one twitter post after a 2012 loss to the Tennessee Titans:

"I SWARE IF I EVER SEE YOU SON U DEAD IDC YOU ARE THE WORST QB IN THE NFL YOU MEXICAN BITCH"

What is the truth of why Sanchez became the “butt” of jokes and contempt around the league, despite solid play in the playoffs; it is no “surprise” that a quarterback with the sixth highest playoff quarterback rating would win four road playoff games? Sanchez was having his way with the Steelers’ defense in the fourth quarter of the 2010 AFC Championship Game, and if the Jets’ defense had made a third down stop late in the game, it is likely that it would have been the Jets losing to Green Bay in the Super Bowl. If that had happened, fans would likely be more receptive to the fact that in 2012, Sanchez was playing with essentially the same cast of characters (sans the diva head case Holmes) that commentators were complaining were insufficient “weapons” for Smith, in absolving him of any blame.

In my mind, Sanchez is a pariah because in the back of people’s minds, they don’t know what to make of a Latino in a prominent position on an NFL team, since there are so few of them. You trash the one player from a vastly underrepresented  “ethnic” group and the attacks seem vicious and unfair to the up tenth degree. They are subject to ugly stereotypes. They don’t “belong.” The players who accused Sanchez of acting “entitled” while offering lame excuses for their “brother” are really making a political comment that is all too common in society as a whole. The same people who are sensitive to the stereotypes of black quarterbacks are quick to degrade a Latino one in offensively personal terms—because they are somehow a “threat” to whatever “privilege” comes with being the “top” minority group. 

The truth is, of course, that the Latino community is too “ethnically” fragmented to be a solid ideological and political block; what all this does suggest is that being Latino in the NFL is no different than being in a country in which you are forced to run between a gauntlet with brickbats flying from all sides.