Factoid
Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco both had the wildly successful rookie seasons, directly their teams to 11-5 records. And nobody is expecting Matthew Stafford or Mark Sanchez to have that kind of success in their first years.
But with the preseason now complete, Sanchez’s numbers – his preseason numbers – were actually a lot better than either Ryan’s or Flacco’s. And Stafford is in the same ballpark as those guys.
Look at yards-per-attempt (which is kind of the quarterback’s equivalent of a runner’s yards per carry).
Avg Per Att
9.4 Sanchez
7.1 Stafford
5.0 Ryan
4.2 Flacco
Or look at completion percentage, where Sanchez is the clear No. 1, and Stafford is right in there with Ryan and Flacco.
Pct
64.9 Sanchez
57.6 Ryan
54.5 Stafford
52.2 Flacco
Ryan and Flacco were successful as rookies in large part because they were supported by strong running games. The Ravens and Falcons ran the ball on a higher percentage of their plays than anyone else in the league. Sanchez might have that same thing going for him in New York, where there’s a good offensive line and a stable of good backs.
Now let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Stafford threw 4 interceptions in the preseason. And Sanchez attempted only 37 passes – far fewer than either Ryan or Flacco.
But so far, so good for these rookie quarterbacks.
STATS IN FIRST PRESEASON
Matthew Stafford
30 of 55 completions
389 yards
1 TD
4 interceptions
3 sacks
Mark Sanchez
24 of 37 completions
347 yards
3 TD
1 interception
2 sacks
Matt Ryan (2008)
34 of 59 completions
294 yards
2 TD
1 interception
4 sacks
Joe Flacco (2008)
35 of 67 completions
284 yards
1 TD
0 interceptions
6 sacks
—Ian Allan
- Comments [2]
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Posted by CHARLES SAVONI | Sep. 04 at 12:48 AM
I have been a bit surprised that Ian has not honed in on Sanchez's strong preseason -- but, again, Ian some times is quite leary of reading too much into these exhibition games. Still, the way I have treated the performance is to target Sanchez as my # 3 QB -- if I have the luxory of drafting 3 at the position, I am thinking Sanchez could be real solid down the stretch in case my primary signal callers are injured or in a funk.
Posted by IAN ALLAN | Sep. 04 at 02:56 AM
OK. I'll admit I've been slow on Sanchez. With these rookie quarterbacks -- all rookie quarterbacks -- I go in with the strong assumption that they're not going to do anything in their first year. Doesn't really matter who they are or what team they're going to. But Sanchez has been very impressive.