Philly Sports Jabronis
By Chris McPherson, Eagles.com
Mark Sanchez
has learned at least one thing from Chip Kelly. That is not to deal with hypothetical situations. The head coach has routinely eschewed questions that deal with speculation. Sanchez did the same on Monday.
After the St. Louis Rams announced that quarterback Sam Bradford will miss the 2014 season with a torn ACL, there were reports that the Rams could look to acquire Sanchez. The Rams expressed interest in the veteran quarterback before he signed with the Eagles. The Rams’ offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer was Sanchez’s offensive coordinator with the New York Jets. Sanchez, however, is not interested in any conjecture.
“I’m not going to deal with hypotheticals. I’m an Eagle. I love being an Eagle,” Sanchez said. “That’s all I’m going to say about it.”
The 27-year-old Sanchez has started 62 regular season games and won four playoff games leading the Jets to back-to-back AFC Championship Game appearances. He’s rejuvenated himself in Philadelphia with a brilliant preseason completing 81 percent of his pass attempts for 281 yards and two touchdowns against one interception. Former Eagles quarterback and current ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski said that Sanchez has been the most impressive quarterback in the league this preseason.
With the injury to St. Louis QB Sam Bradford this week, Sanches has become a speculated piece of trade bait. Photo credit – Philadelphia Eagles
“I honestly don’t think about it. I just want to keep doing what I’m doing here and that’s playing the best that I can,” Sanchez said. “I have to continue to improve on the mistakes that I made during the preseason, fine-tune my footwork, keep mastering the playbook, help Nick (Foles) as much as I can, help this team as much as I can and that’s all I’m worried about. I don’t care about anything on the outside.”
Sanchez signed a one-year deal with the Eagles in March in large part to play for Kelly. The decision has proven to be a prudent one for Sanchez.
“It’s a great organization. I think anybody can do well here because of the culture that they built,” he said. “It takes a lot of hard work. I think if anything I hit it at the right time. They worked out a lot of the kinks last year. Now there’s a certain system and the way they go about things, like I said the culture they’ve built here is incredible. I’m happy to be a part of it.”
Offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur isn’t surprised to be fielding questions about Sanchez’s performance. He’s just glad that Sanchez is an Eagle.
“I think everybody should be interested in Mark. I think he’s done a good job and played well for us and he’s won a lot of football games in the league,” Sanchez said. “I’ve said it before, but he was sitting in the locker room at halftime of two AFC Championship Games, ahead. So we are very glad we have him. I think he’s added a lot to this team as a football player and as a professional, and you know, we’re sure a lot of people should want him. But we have him, so that’s the reality.”
