Monday, October 29, 2012

Rex Ryan says he will find role for Tebow but Sanchez still starting

Rex Ryan had his first golden opportunity to to make a quarterback change Sunday when the New York Jets trailed the Miami Dolphins at halftime, 20-0, and the slow rumblings of "Tebow Tebow" were starting to fill MetLife Stadium while the team hit the locker room.  But Ryan didn't bite.

Now, if there was ever a better time to make the move of replacing Mark Sanchez with Tim Tebow, it's during a bye week after getting trounced, 30-9, dropping the Jets to last place in the AFC East with a 3-4 record. Still, Ryan is adamant that that scenario is still out of the question.

Ryan insisted that Sanchez will remain the starter while moving ahead on a season that is slowly slipping away.

"Offensively, the problems aren't one man," Ryan said Monday.  "If it were one man, that would be easy to do.  But it's not one person.  Sometimes, we're accurate with the football (and) we drop some passes.  Sometimes, the pass might not have been as accurate as we wanted it to be.  Then there's times when our protection let us down."

It sounds like Sanchez will still be behind the center after the two weeks pass.



Meanwhile, Ryan says he will look at changes in the depth chart at every position except quarterback — meaning Tebow remain the backup QB.

"I think we'll take a hard look at how we're using him, what we're asking him to do," said Ryan.  "Are there other things we can do with him?  We will definitely look at that."

Tebow played just five snaps in Sunday's embarrassing loss  and ran the ball once.  He was used as a wide receiver as more of a decoy, according to Ryan.  Asked if Tebow was growing frustrated with his limited role on the Jets, Ryan said he doesn't know but would understand if that were the case.

"I think you have to ask Tim," said Ryan. "Any competitor wants to be out there playing, it wouldn't be shocking if that's how he felt.  As a football team we're frustrated.  We're getting closer and closer, we thought we were getting better as a football team but we took a step back yesterday."



Asked if he would take suggestions from his staff where Tebow could fit if he isn't taking snaps behind the center, Ryan sounded open minded.

"I think we'll take a hard look at how we're using him," Ryan told reporters.  "Is there other things we can do with him?  I think you're absolutely right we'll be doing that."

The Jets have a tough road game against the Seattle Seahawks after the bye week and the hostile fans at CenturyLink Field might be a lot louder than the stunned crowd back at home seemed to be.

With two weeks to mull it over, is there any chance that Ryan could swallow his pride and make the switch?

"I think Mark's our guy.  I don't think there's any doubt about that," said Ryan after the game.  "I'm confident in Mark.

"That's my opinion and that's the one that matters."

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