Clayton: Confident Sanchez has solid showing

[Tribal Warfare]

Confident Sanchez has solid showing
A ball of nervous energy, USC QB Mark Sanchez had a good throwing performance Sunday at the combine.

ESPN.com
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INDIANAPOLIS -- One of the neat things about having a top quarterback participate in the combine is seeing how his personality is exposed before scouts, coaches and GMs for 32 teams.

USC's Mark Sanchez clearly showed his competitive nature Sunday.

Sanchez was in a group that featured 10 quarterbacks, but the only one who didn't throw was Matthew Stafford of Georgia, a close friend of Sanchez's who is competing with him to be the top pick in the draft.

Instead of throwing at the combine, most potential first-round QBs elect to hold their own throwing session in March at their college campuses with receivers they know. Peyton Manning, one of the most competitive quarterbacks in the game, skipped the combine workouts when he turned pro in 1998 and advised Stafford to do the same. Stafford did only the running drills and vertical drills Sunday.

Sanchez, a ball of nervous energy during the drills, elected to do all of them.

"That's just me," Sanchez said Friday, two days before his workouts. "I've got to do this. I feel like I want to do it. I'm a competitive person. I want to win, and that's what I'm about. It would kill me not to throw.''

Sanchez wasn't great in the throwing drills, but he was good enough. He proved he could make all the necessary throws to be a top NFL quarterback. His slant passes to his right were the strongest. He held the ball high and displayed good mechanics. He completed both of his go passes to the right side at 31 and 32 yards. His 40-yard go patterns to his left were accurate and had nice arc. Very few of his passes hit the ground, showing that he has a catchable ball.

I could tell this week that the competitive fire within Sanchez still burns after he had one of the best games of his career in the Rose Bowl. Sanchez completed 28 of 35 passes for 413 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-24 victory over Penn State. He was ready for his next challenge, so he applied for the NFL draft and skipped his senior season.

"I feel like this really was the right time for me," Sanchez said. "That was obviously the pinnacle of my career. I felt very tuned in, dialed in for that game. I visualized things very well, and we played at heck of a game as a team first. We peaked at the right time, and it was a good way to go out."

Sanchez showed confidence in his throwing motion and mechanics Sunday. He also had a good fan base, led by, of all people, Stafford, who cheered Sanchez when he ran his 40 and encouraged him during the throwing session. Although Stafford didn't throw, he took time to help Sanchez loosen up before the drills. Their friendship goes back to the Nike Elite 11 camp in high school.

Stafford edged Sanchez in the 40-yard dash, running 4.84 seconds twice. Sanchez ran a 4.88 and 4.97. Sanchez topped Stafford in the vertical jump, leaping 32.5 inches to Stafford's 30.5.

Should Sanchez go ahead of Stafford in the draft?

"Absolutely," Sanchez said. "I'd better think that. And I think he should think that, too. That's what we've got to think. As a competitor, that's all I want to do is be the best that I can be. And the best you can do in this draft is be No. 1.''

[Reerun_KC]

Originally Posted by KCwolf

I PRAY to CHRIST the Kansas City Chiefs DO NOT draft a QB with the #3 PICK in the draft.....THERE is NO QB in the Draft that warrants the #3 PICK period! I'm not at all sold on Stafford either......YES it is a HUGE need ..... but NO NO NO.....there is no QB worth that pick in the 09' DRAFT! Please don't let this happen.....Please.

So what do you suggest?

[Mecca]

Pat Whites deep ball looked better while at the same time he had slow sloppy dropbacks and his outs were very poor they didn't have much drive or velocity coming out, there was a point when I was like man some of these passes look like White is trying to hard to show his arm is strong enough that he's losing control of the ball.

Personally what I thought of White was he showed he was a good athlete which everyone already knew, and that he could throw a nice deep ball which doesn't have much to do with arm strength and on the real arm strength throws he was overcompensating so much to try to show his arm is strong he was losing everything else.

Which is why I kind of sat in amazement at the statement that White looked better than Sanchez that someone made.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by Reerun_KC

So what do you suggest?

Take the safe player we gotta be worried about right now win 6 games!

[the Talking Can]

Originally Posted by KCwolf

I PRAY to CHRIST the Kansas City Chiefs DO NOT draft a QB with the #3 PICK in the draft.....THERE is NO QB in the Draft that warrants the #3 PICK period! I'm not at all sold on Stafford either......YES it is a HUGE need ..... but NO NO NO.....there is no QB worth that pick in the 09' DRAFT! Please don't let this happen.....Please.

take that nonsense back to WPI where it belongs....

[doomy3]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Oh bull ****ing shit.

The two fly routes he threw were perfectly accurate, the WR had to take the slightest of hesitations to get there. Not one QB hit their guy in stride on the 9, and Pat White was the only one without a semblance of an underthrow.

It's funny that now you say they were perfectly accurate, because during the actual combine, here's what you had to say:

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Neither one of those 9 routes were in stride from Sanchez, but they were good misses.

Good misses. I'm not sure how UNDERTHROWING a 9 route makes it a "good miss." Those are often times picked.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by doomy3

No, they weren't. Not even close. They were most definitely behind the receivers.

They absolutely were not. If you wanted to see bad throws from the QBs on the deep balls, look at what Painter and Reilly did.

[KCwolf]

Originally Posted by the Talking Can

take that nonsense back to WPI where it belongs....

Really???.....So Take a QB regardless in your opinion? Sorry.....But I disagree.......While I do think the QB position is the most important position....I DO NOT think think it is a automatic selection based on this years draft class. Your willing to draft on position, rather that talent? And U believe the QB class has the talent to be drafted @ #3?

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by KCwolf

Really???.....So Take a QB regardless in your opinion? Sorry.....But I disagree.......While I do think the QB position is the most important position....I DO NOT think think it is a automatic selection based on this years draft class. Your willing to draft on position, rather that talent? And U believe the QB class has the talent to be drafted @ #3?

I'm sure you think Sam Bradford is a better prospect than these guys too right?

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by doomy3

It's funny that now you say they were perfectly accurate, because during the actual combine, here's what you had to say:




Good misses. I'm not sure how UNDERTHROWING a 9 route makes it a "good miss." Those are often times picked.

Idiot.

#1 I never said they were perfect throws. A perfect throw is to the outside shoulder in stride. I said no one hid them in stride.

If you underthrow a 9 by a half step, the receiver sees it and either gets run into (for a PI) or makes the catch, because it's nigh impossible for a CB running stride for stride to make that adjustment after the receiver has done it.

Hence the prevalence of the fade stop.

[Shaid]

I'm not saying don't draft the guy but you have to admit his throws today were not what you'd expect from the 3rd overall pick in the draft. If he had more starting experience I don't think the combine hurts him at all. The problem is he doesn't have a lot of starting experience and he is a Junior coming out. That makes the combine more important for him. I think he was too worried about proper footwork and proper mechanics and not on making an accurant pass. Hopefully his pro day looks better.

[ChiefRon]

I've seen conflicting reports about Sanchez today (didn't get to watch it myself).

Gruden & Mooch seemed to think he did "ok" and "solid", Mooch even mentioned him as "the next great QB from USC", other reports said he looked decent and showed the arm strength to make all the throws.

Then I come to CP and wham, he totally sucked, missed all the throws, etc.

This place will go nuts no matter who we draft.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by ChiefRon

I've seen conflicting reports about Sanchez today (didn't get to watch it myself).

Gruden & Mooch seemed to think he did "ok" and "solid", Mooch even mentioned him as "the next great QB from USC", other reports said he looked decent and showed the arm strength to make all the throws.

Then I come to CP and wham, he totally sucked, missed all the throws, etc.

This place will go nuts no matter who we draft.

Some people thought they were gonna see him display some sort of JaMarcus Russell cannon or something, those are the guys who awe people in workouts but then we look to the field...

[Tribal Warfare]

Originally Posted by ChiefRon

Then I come to CP and wham, he totally sucked, missed all the throws, etc.

This place will go nuts no matter who we draft.

People don't know what to look for.

[doomy3]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Idiot.

#1 I never said they were perfect throws. A perfect throw is to the outside shoulder in stride. I said no one hid them in stride.

If you underthrow a 9 by a half step, the receiver sees it and either gets run into (for a PI) or makes the catch, because it's nigh impossible for a CB running stride for stride to make that adjustment after the receiver has done it.

Hence the prevalence of the fade stop.

I just QUOTED you in this thread saying they were perfectly accurate.

And those weren't thown a half-step behind the receivers.

[Mecca]

By the way is Don Banks really quoted in the thread?

He's like the net version of Todd McShay.