Former top-five draft pick Mark Sanchez has found a new opportunity in Philadelphia, stepping into the starting job after Nick Foles snapped a collarbone. So how is the once and future (perhaps) Sanchize doing?
It depends on who you ask.
The player gives himself a tough assessment, pointing to six turnovers in three games under center. Sanchez had two interceptions and two lost fumbles in a blowout loss to the Packers on Sunday.
“Whether you’ve been out of the league for 10 years and you suddenly come back, it doesn’t matter,” Sanchez said, via Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News. “You’ve got to take care of the ball.”
Coach Chip Kelly was far more forgiving.
“I think he’s done a good job,” Kelly said, via Bowen. “He played a half a game against the Texans, hadn’t played before that since the preseason. . . . Then he had the Carolina game and the Green Bay game. I thought, obviously, from not playing -- he missed an entire year, a year ago -- with the shoulder injury . . . I thought for the time we’ve had him, half the Texans game and the two games since then, I think he’s done a nice job.”
Of course, what else is Kelly going to say? He needs Sanchez to hold down the fort until Foles can play. After all, the alternative is Matt Barkley, who to date has proven to be immune to the dulcet tones of the league’s latest quarterback whisperer.
So the goal will be to have Sanchez keep it together pending Foles’ return, and to hope that the Eagles can finish strong and nail down a playoff berth. Which makes 2014 in Philly a lot like 2013 in Green Bay, when Aaron Rodgers returned from a broken collarbone just in time to save a spot in the postseason field.