Former Jets Coach Mike Westhoff Says Sanchez Can't Drive The Bus
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- The bus driver has a ton of responsibilities. Mainly, he has to make sure all of the passengers reach their destination safely. In football, ideally you want your quarterback to be able to drive the proverbial bus.
Mark Sanchez, according to former Jets special teams coach Mike Westhoff, cannot be the bus driver.
"Mark was a piece and really that's all that he did," Westhoff said Wednesday on the 94WIP Josh Innes Show. "He was a piece, a good solid piece, but not enough to carry us [the Jets]. He really just wasn't, but what Mark did a nice job of, is he managed things well and he knew where to go with the ball. Now, we helped him out by running the football. We led the league in rushing, we had great starting field positions---we had the best starting field position in the league, I could score on special teams. So we were able to help, and he sensibly managed it, and did a nice job of it. He did a very, very nice job. But, again as I said, Mark was on the bus. He wasn't driving the bus, he was just on it."
Listen to Mike Westhoff on the 94WIP Josh Innes Show:
The Jets reached two straight AFC Championship Games in 2009 and 2010 with Sanchez as their quarterback and Westhoff as the special teams coach, but they failed to reach the playoffs in 2011 and 2012, and Sanchez struggled.
"I did feel that it could collapse," Westhoff said of the Jets. "We had a particular formula. We had a pretty good football team, not great, but good all the way around. Mark Sanchez, was a part of it, only a part frankly, only a part. We led the league in rushing, we had a good veteran offensive line, we were top five in the league in special teams, top five in defense, we had some veteran receivers, but then it began to dissipate and we lost some really good people and we lost some great locker room."
With Nick Foles out about six weeks with a clavicle injury, Sanchez, now in his first season with Eagles, will make his first NFL start since Dec 30th, 2012 this Monday night in South Philadelphia. Can Sanchez revive his career and eventually drive the bus?
"No, I don't [think so]," Westhoff said. "I don't mean that to be cruel or critical, I just frankly don't.
Can he be the guy and do it? Yes, he can be very successful in all that, but is he gonna carry you? No. We tried to get him to carry us, and that was a mistake. That was a terrible mistake on our part and we didn't give him enough supporting cast. That was ridiculous."
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