Mark Sanchez Explains Argument With Sproles


Photo by Jeff Fusco

Photo by Jeff Fusco

Late in the fourth quarter, Mark Sanchez attempted a bubble screen pass to Darren Sproles, similar to the play that Sproles had turned into a 35-yard touchdown earlier in the game.

Instead of an Eagles touchdown, however, this time Sanchez’s pass resulted in a Tampa Bay touchdown when Lavonte David intercepted the pass and returned it for six points.

After the play, Sanchez and Sproles were spotted arguing as they walked off the field, presumedly about which of the two had made a mistake on the play.

Sanchez explained what happened in his post-game press conference.

(h/t @JennaLaineBucs)

“It’s not really Sproles’ fault; we’ve got to get that man-to-man guy on the screen [blocked] like that,” Sanchez said. “We’ve got to get that guy blocked.

“I need to get it over the D-lineman to Sproles, and it looked like he’s on the run, so I’m trying to hit him on the run and lead him squirting out the backside there, and he stops and lets the ball go.

“When he stopped, that’s why I was upset. And then looking back at the replay, I can see why he stopped. [David] just made a really good play. We had run that play a couple of times, and it was just too bad it ended up like that.”

Sanchez said the two of them cleared the disagreement up “real quick” afterwards, and he said he didn’t regret getting into it with a teammate as they were walking off the field.

“I mean, look, we’re in the middle of a game, we’re getting beat pretty good, I’m pissed that he stopped, and he’s mad that I didn’t throw it right to him,” Sanchez said. “There’s nothing wrong with that.

“The mature part is that we talked about it at the end. If we would’ve just left it there and just started, ‘You screwed up. No, you screwed up,’ and move on, now we don’t get to the bottom of it. But [Sproles] is a total pro, and a great player, and I know as mad as I was, I needed to hear his opinion, he wanted to hear what I had to say, and we move on.

“He’s a heck of player, and he’s just trying to make a play like I am, and it just didn’t work out.”

For his part, Sproles spoke after the game about what happened on the play.

“We weren’t on the same page,” Sproles said. “That’s it.

“We’re fine.”