Now that the New York Jets have exorcised Darrelle Revis, they can focus on the “demons” that have haunted quarterback Mark Sanchez.
Or they can watch the clock until the time comes that they can get rid of him.
The “D” word came from ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer, in recent comments to Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com.
Dilfer believes new offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg can fix Sanchez, especially in the aftermath of the coordinator Dilfer calls “the worst hire ever.”
“I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, are you kidding me?’” Dilfer said of the decision by the Jets to hire Tony Sparano to run the offense in 2012. “You’re talking about a defense-centric, offense-minimalizing coach. It made you want to throw up in your mouth.” (We don’t recall Dilfer articulating that opinion at the time the hire was made. Given the vivid imagery, we likely would.)
As a result, Dilfer now believes Sanchez has become possessed by the spirits of bad football. And Dilfer fears it could be too late.
“The demons might be too loud, they might be too much to overcome,” Dilfer said. “But at least now the guy has a chance. I thought Marty was one of the best hires in a long time.”
We’re not prepared to go quite that far, especially since the best approach to the 2013 Jets would have been to hit the reset button. But since the Jets will be paying Sanchez $8.25 million whether he’s on the team or not this year, they can’t truly start over until they can get rid of Sanchez, with or without his demons.
Given that the Jets at least mentioned to the Bucs the possibility of taking Sanchez’s contract in order to get Revis, it would be a surprise if 2013 is anything other than Sanchez’s last year in New York.