The Philadelphia Eagles amazing one night stand with Mark Sanchez

Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia Eagles are about to have an amazing one night stand with Mark Sanchez. Chip Kelly, the Eagles, and Mark will wine, dine, and make sweet music. But after the season the Eagles will search for their next starting quarterback. Dan Salem and Todd Salem debate in today’s NFL TD Sports Debate. Two brothers from New York yell, scream and debate the NFL and sports.

TODD:

The Sanchize has returned!!

I’m vehemently against unnecessary hyperbole as a rule of thumb, but the Philadelphia Eagles are going to win the rest of their games for the remaining future of the franchise with Mark Sanchez at quarterback. He just knows how to win baby!

I am also completely against overreacting, but Mark Sanchez is a much better quarterback for this Chip Kelly system than Nick Foles ever was; long live the Sanchize!

….

In actuality, we didn’t learn much at all from Mark Sanchez Monday night. He only completed 20 of 37 passes and got nothing out of his running game. The opponent dictated much of Philadelphia’s success as it appeared as though the Carolina Panthers were attempting to out-suck Chicago in week 10.

Nevertheless, Sanchez threw the ball down field well and had that tempo up where Coach Kelly likes it. He seemed to be a fine replacement at the quarterback position, which is the real outcome here. It’s not that Sanchez is better than Foles, but he certainly at least seems equally competent.

Of course, that isn’t saying much. Anyone who has watched the Eagles all season can vouch for the fact that Nick Foles was routinely awful. The 10 interceptions in eight games don’t even tell the whole story.

Foles missed so many open receivers down field the first half of the year. He was also simply horrendous in the redzone, completing fewer than 43 percent of his throws in close. For a mostly irrelevant point of comparison, Mark Sanchez, who was so disappointing that the Jets got rid of him, has completed over 48 percent of his career redzone attempts.

Foles was bound to come down from his historic heights of a year ago. The running game and injuries along the offensive line didn’t do him any favors this year either. But maybe that’s just the thing. Maybe there was nothing remotely special about Foles at all; he just happened to have the great offensive system and tremendous running game at his disposal in 2013. If those things return, even someone like Mark Sanchez can excel here.

And that’s not all that is going for the Eagles. The defense is stout, and the special teams are probably the best in the league. Certainly Darren Sproles has locked up a Pro Bowl selection as a return man already.

With all of the non-offensive touchdowns this team scores, there isn’t much the quarterback needs to do well other than move quickly. 17 incompletions are a death wish if you are counting on every pass to generate useful yards. With Philadelphia, the fact that a pass was thrown quickly is useful enough.

I haven’t believed in this team all season. I still don’t to be honest. The way they are scoring points seems fluky and unsustainable (even if it has been sustained for 10 weeks already!). But it should be mentioned that the Eagles are no worse off moving forward this season with Sanchez behind center than they were with Foles.

Do you have any insight here? You are overly familiar with the work of Mark Sanchez. Hey, your Jets fandom has relevance to a conversation for once!

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DAN:

My Jets fandom has relevance to conversations of about half the NFL; unfortunately its the half that is sucking and no one wants to talk about. Moving on. I saw a lot of Mark Sanchez, watched every one of his games with the New York Jets, and know that Chip Kelly is the type of coach to have an amazing one night stand with Mark, only to leave him before the sun comes up and you have to see what he looks like without makeup on.

I’m personally impressed at how well this one night stand analogy fits the career of Mark Sanchez, and how genius Chip Kelly is to utilize it to perfection. There are two very important factors in this situation.

1 – Chip Kelly does not need a superstar quarterback to win. He was gifted an offense full of talent and runs a system designed to operate with a quarterback who simply limits mistakes.

2 – Mark Sanchez is smiling and like a rookie all over again.

Mark Sanchez led a New York Jets team with a great defense and stellar running game to back to back AFC Championship games, nearly making the Super Bowl. He rose to the occasion in the playoffs and made some of the throws he needed to, able to lead his team high but not all the way to the top. He had an excellent defensive head coach and a pretty solid offensive coordinator in those two seasons in NY.

At USC Mark also had an amazing running game, stellar offensive weapons, and an incredible head coach in Pete Carroll. He rode the Reggie Bush train to a title.

The Sanchize graduated USC before sanctions hit and ultimately fell on his face in NY once the running game deteriorated and the defense fell back to earth. He overstayed his welcome in NY, if we are only looking for the good Mark Sanchez. Basically the Jets woke up without their makeup on and so did Mark. Only this was two years later.

Chip Kelly knows what he’s got in Philadelphia. He has a stellar defense, a unit scoring touchdowns at what might soon be a record setting pace for the season. His offense has a solid running game and excellent weapons at wide out. He only needs Mark to limit his mistakes.

For the Eagles, the Sanchize’s history is on their side. He will throw interceptions, but with weapons all around him, Mark will rise to the occasion as the season goes on. But this is a one and done situation, a true one night stand.

Chip Kelly will not keep Mark Sanchez for the long haul, probably finding a new starter for next season even. When you have designed your team to thrive with average quarterbacks, you keep looking for the next star, knowing you can win without him. Mark will lead the Eagles to the playoffs this season. He has a great shot at taking them to the NFC title game. But this one night stand will turn ugly if Chip Kelly and Philadelphia keep Mark around through the inevitable decline of the remaining parts of the Eagles’ offense and defense.

I’m happy for Mark Sanchez; he’s about to do what he does best. Lead. He is a very good leader. He is not a superstar quarterback, but there are very few in this league. He will win with support and the Philadelphia Eagles seem stacked this season. Green and White still look nice on Mark and I’m hoping he keeps it that way.