We are just a couple of weeks away from the start of the 2013 NFL season, and those teams with quarterback competitions are beginning to take shape and cement starters for Week 1. This is an important week in the preseason, with the third game on the schedule typically when the starters play the most, and then get some rest during Week 4 in preparation for the opening week of the regular season.
Teams with a quarterback competition are entering crunch time this week, and we’ve already seen some of them make a decision.
Both the Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Browns announced their Week 1 starters on Tuesday.
Neither was a huge surprise, though the Eagles could have gone with Nick Foles. Though Chip Kelly announced that Michael Vick would be the starter for the team in Week 1. This was certainly the right move for Kelly to make. The first-year head coach needed to pick the quarterback with the most experience. Vick has played well in the preseason, and his mobility definitely fits the offense better than Foles. Though Foles didn’t look too bad in the preseason either.
Cleveland picking Brandon Weeden as the starter was also not a big surprise. Weeden was the starting quarterback last season for the Browns as a rookie, and will enter his second season trying to lead Cleveland to a turnaround.
Perhaps the most notable quarterback competition still ongoing is with the New York Jets, between Mark Sanchez and rookie Geno Smith. If Rex Ryan knows what’s good for the team, he should go with the rookie in Smith over Sanchez. With Sanchez, Ryan already knows what he gets. That would be a poor offense with little chance of making the postseason. With Smith, he is getting a young player who will go through growing pains as a rookie, but the potential on Smith is far greater than the potential for Sanchez.
Sanchez has had his opportunities time and again and continues to squander them. He is simply not the answer and Jets fans should be pushing for Smith to get in as the starter. The ankle injury was certainly a setback, but regardless if Sanchez or Smith start Week 1, NFLSeasonSchedules.com predicts Smith will be the starter by the end of the year.