Mark Sanchez Was Ready To Lay Down His Own Brand Of Hard Knocks On Rex Ryan

New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez admits there was a time last season when he wanted to lay down his own version of Hard Knocks on his coach Rex Ryan-- with his fists.

Last year, after Jets head coach Rex Ryan came close to benching Mark Sanchez, the quarterback said the incident nearly caused him to come to blows with the outspoken Jets coach.

According to the New York Post, Sanchez-- he of movie-star looks and lifestyle-- told GQ magazine, in the new issue featuring the NFL, he wanted to throw down a beating on his mentor and coach.

"I wanted to fight him.  I was really mad," opened up Sanchez in the revealing article.

According to Sanchez, he had not been playing well during consecutive losses to division rivals, the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins, causing the never-shy Ryan to openly speculate about sitting down his signal-caller and replace him with back-up quarterback Mark Brunell.

Brunell was instructed by Ryan to start practicing more with the other starters.

Sanchez said he took this as a subtle message that the head coach was considering benching him and it made the Gang Green QB see red.

The scorned Sanchez put down his dukes after offensive coordinator, Brian Schottenheimer, intervened.

The article reports that Schottenheimer-- as the messenger-- reminded Sanchez of Ryan's order for Brunell to handle more of the first-team practices which made Sanchez want to call out Ryan.

"I was like [Ryan] can come tell me [himself],' recalled Sanchez.

Schottenheimer threw water on the fired up QB.

The coordinator consoled the unhappy Sanchez.  "And [Schottenheimer] is like, ' Come on, man, don't do that,'" he revealed to GQ.

Ryan and Sanchez have always had a father-son relationship-- albeit one that could blow at any time.  It's pretty easy with a no-nonsense-speaker like Ryan, even with the soft-spoken Sanchez, but the head coach has stood by his QB through all of Sanchez's growing pains in the NFL.

"Rex is super honest," said Sanchez.  "I wish he wasn't that honest at times."

In the article, Sanchez delves into his personal life as a rich single man in New York City and the boundaries he has learned to set for himself outside of the game.  He acknowledges that the rock star life style has its limits.

"You have to be a 24-year-old bachelor with the means to do anything, just about, but with the wherewithal and understanding and life skills of a 45 year-old Supreme Court judge," he said.

Even a 45 year-old Supreme Court judge has probably felt like giving the loud-mouth Jets head coach a pop on the snout at one time or another.