Mark Sanchez Can’t Finish Drives In Relief


Photo by Jeff Fusco

Photo by Jeff Fusco

On first down, with 10 yards to go and a little over 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Mark Sanchez thought he saw something he could exploit.

In part, he was right. As he looked over the Eagles’ offensive line, making sure the linemen were set and ready to snap the ball, he saw a Miami player running, out of the corner of his eye, off the field.

This, he thought, was his chance to catch them out of position and hit a big play.

“While I was making sure we’re set, I’m seeing somebody trying to run, and they were just confused,” Sanchez explained after the game. “They didn’t know, they were trying to make their calls, and so that’s when we can really go.”

Sanchez dropped back, Miami was lost in the secondary, and he launched a ball to Zach Ertz, who had run a post and was open in the end zone for a touchdown.

But Riley Cooper wasn’t set, and the Eagles were called for an illegal shift on the play. Combined with Miami’s twelve men on the field, the penalties offset and the Eagles wound up kicking a 37-yard field goal. Instead of leading by three, they trailed by one, and they would until the game ended.

Sanchez entered the game with 21 minutes to go, and led the Eagles into the red zone twice, but only came away with three points to show for the pair of drives.

“We moved the ball really well,” Sanchez said. “Unfortunately, we weren’t set on one of them, and Miles was just out of bounds on another, and then we turned the ball over. It’s really too bad. We’ve just got to finish one more of those drives and we end up winning the game.”

Sanchez finished the game 14-of-23 for 156 yards and an interception, which would cost the Eagles a chance to kick a field goal from inside the red zone to take the lead with under seven minutes left.

Each time Sanchez and the Eagles picked up momentum, they fell back out of sync, and mistakes set them off course.

On the interception that cost the Eagles three more potential points, Sanchez looked for wide receiver Miles Austin, but the two weren’t on the same page.

“I think it was just a miscommunication between me and Miles,” Sanchez said. “I thought he was going to do one thing, and he was thinking another, so I put the ball trying to anticipate where he was going, and it didn’t pan out very well.”

It proved tough for Sanchez to replicate the success he had early on last year when he replaced Nick Foles.

“I think I was ready to throw the ball a couple of times, anticipating certain looks, and they just didn’t pan out,” Sanchez said.

“Can we get a little more familiar? Of course, and is that only going to get better with repetition and practice? Of course. But the point was, just get in and win the game, and unfortunately that didn’t happen.”