Clemens, Sanchez Working Together

From Bob Glauber of Newsday:

Kellen Clemens and Mark Sanchez will do everything possible to win the job as the Jets' starting quarterback, with one notable exception: As competitive as they will be on the field, both will do everything possible to support one another during their duel for the No. 1 spot.

You read right.

Barring a dramatic change of heart from either player, this will be as respectful a competition as you could ever envision. This despite the fact that anger and disappointment occasionally bubble to the surface for Clemens, the presumptive starter before the Jets pulled off the blockbuster draft-day trade for Sanchez.


It's always great to see teammates helping each other in the midst of an open, heated position battle. But I can't help but grow worrisome that one of them will grow too close, too attatched, too sentimental towards the other and cede to his opponent in crunch time.

This puts Clemens at a disadvantage. He may feel like a mentor now, but he'll feel the cold, unforgiving clipboard if he isn't careful. Mark Sanchez is a smart guy with talent, a lot invested in him and the New York Jets fan base in his shoulders. Clemens is a high draft pick that never reached his full potential. It's not like Kellen Clemens wasn't already hampered.

While teammates should be cordial, they should also be ruthless, even underhanded, in their quest for a starting job. And this race for the quarterback spot is way up in the air.

The article continues:

"I came into this league and learned from one of the greatest men - and I don't use that term lightly - that I have ever met," Clemens said of Pennington, who was released last year after the Jets traded for Brett Favre. "I have so much respect for Chad Pennington as a person, as a husband and a father. He taught me a lot about the game, because he taught me about being a professional."


Echoing the beaming endorsement of Pennington is Miami Dolphins Linebacker Channing Crowder, who was talking smack about the Jets and comparing Mark Sanchez to Chad Henne.

"He's not flashy," Crowder said of Henne. "He has no rims on his car. His damn truck's dirty all the time. He don't want to be seen and all that stuff. He's not going to get in GQ and do a spread. Henne is real.

"He got it from Chad [Pennington] because Pennington's the same way. Both of them, they're just real, down-to-earth. They have great leadership, got that swagger, that calmness, got that respect from everybody."


I don't know about anyone else, but I miss Chad in New York.


--Max Caster