Today is just another day for Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez. Te NFL Lockout can take away his paycheck, but it can’t remove his desire to succceed. That’s why he started “Jets West” his rookie season and continue to lead the way.
This year that feeling has almost become trendy in the NFL. Players from na handful of teams are hosting their own minicamps and OTAs.
“Ithink it has kind of become the trend,” Sanchez told ESPN’s Michael Kay Show. “This year it is almost a trend because you have to. Last year we did it just to get even better, but it puts an advantage when the season starts.”
Or, if the season starts. The NFL is waiting on a judge to decide on whther the lockout remains in effect. That decision is due Monday.
In the meantime, Jets West continue to go.
“This is the second installment,” Sanchez said. “Each day we start in the classroom and my old high school coach Bob Johnson, his classroom, we go through ‘install’. I’m the offensive coordinator basically and we go through day one formations and shifts, motions, runs, passes, protections, and all that.”
But they don’t just sit in a classroom all day.
“We go down the field work on those specific routes and it goes pretty much like that for five days straight. The guys love the film stuff. They love working the routes and than we got activities because I gotta lure these guys and entice them to come out. We went to the Lakers game Monday and saw them lose unfortunately. What else did we do? We’ve had lunch every day sponsored by a different catering service or a restaurant in the area. Some of my favorite places and then we’ve had competitions each day, so the first day was for a watch and we had a target throwing competition for the wide receivers. No quarterbacks allowed. Today we had a water balloon tossing contest and they won iPad 2′s.”
“We’re out every day, Jets running back Ladanian Tomlinson told XX Sports Radio in San Diego. “We will get a workout in the morning then we will do some classroom time stuff where we go over some installs of plays and things that we need to catch up with. We will watch some film then go out on the field and work on some stuff. It’s a pretty good day. We actually treat it like it’s a normal work day but obviously a lot shorter.”
After his rookie season ever started, Sanchez didn’t feel as comfortable as he wished so he started “Jets West” as a way to acclimate himself with the Jets offense and the players.
“Like any quarterback I just wanted to get acclimated and feel good about the season coming up and my second camp,” he said. “We jumped right in and had this idea.”
Sanchez said it didn’t take much persuading once he showed players where they would be staying.
“I showed them… Pelican Hill and showed them… what I had in mind about guys coming out, where to stay, where to eat, some activities, and it kind of took off from there.”
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