Kids Listings: March 21 to 27, 2014

Former Jewish leader Sharon laid to rest

First Posted: 11/9/2014 Mark Sanchez last started an NFL game on Dec. 30, 2012, at Buffalo. His New York Jets lost, 28-9. Sanchez completed 17 of 35 passes for 205 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. His passer rating was 55.1. The Jets wrapped up a 6-10 season and went on to draft Geno Smith out of West Virginia.
Sanchez&#8217;s journey from that night in Buffalo to Monday night at Lincoln Financial Field, where he will be introduced as the Eagles&#8217; starting quarterback for the first time, has been a bumpy one. The key event was a shoulder injury suffered in 2013 when he was reinserted late in a meaningless Jets preseason game, causing Sanchez to miss that entire season and closing the door on a future with the team that had drafted him fifth overall in 2009.
Sanchez said yesterday he isn&#8217;t allowing himself to think past Monday&#8217;s encounter with the Carolina Panthers, to the possibility of again becoming a franchise QB, but he acknowledged he has thought about what it took for him to get back to this point.
&#8220;It&#8217;s been a lot of rehab. [There were] a few phone calls I made after the game last week to thank some people that have really helped me through one of the most adverse situations of my life,&#8221; said Sanchez, who entered the Eagles&#8217; 31-21 victory over Houston in the second quarter, after starter Nick Foles left with a broken collarbone.
Sanchez listed athletic trainers who work for Dr. Joseph Andrews, his own parents and brothers, his high school coach, the Jets&#8217; trainers.
&#8220;I called a lot of those people and made sure I sent &#8216;em some text messages after the game, because I couldn&#8217;t have made it back without &#8216;em, and then, obviously, the Eagles for giving me an opportunity,&#8221; said Sanchez, who turns 28 on Tuesday. &#8220;I&#8217;m very thankful, fortunate, and want to make the most of the opportunity.&#8221;
How much of an opportunity is it? The door seems wide open for Sanchez, playing here on a 1-year contract. Eagles coach Chip Kelly said yesterday he has &#8220;no idea&#8221; whether Foles will get his job back when his collarbone heals, probably right around the end of the regular season.
&#8220;We could have no [healthy] quarterbacks by that point in time,&#8221; Kelly said. &#8220;That&#8217;s why I don&#8217;t get involved in that stuff.&#8221;
Kelly made it clear this week that Sanchez had been on his radar a long time, telling reporters about a trip to Sanchez&#8217;s high school in Mission Viejo, Calif., to scout another player, the trip on which he first saw Sanchez. Kelly was offensive coordinator at Oregon when Sanchez starred for USC.
Kelly was asked whether he&#8217;d ever dreamed, that day in Mission Viejo, that his destiny would intertwine with Sanchez&#8217;s.
This was right in Kelly&#8217;s sarcasm wheelhouse.
&#8220;Yeah, I had it all mapped out, actually,&#8221; Kelly said. &#8220;Seriously, I wrote it down. I said, &#8216;When I&#8217;m the head coach of the Eagles, I&#8217;m going to make sure I get that guy on my team.&#8217; And then the guy next to me was, like, &#8216;You&#8217;re only the offensive coordinator at New Hampshire.&#8217; I said, &#8216;Don&#8217;t worry about it. Minor details. But it&#8217;s going to work.&#8217; &#8220;
More seriously, Kelly recalled Stanford, Texas and USC scouts being there to watch Sanchez.
&#8220;I wasn&#8217;t talking to him that day [on behalf of New Hampshire], I can tell you that,&#8221; Kelly said. &#8220;I was talking to some other guys.&#8221;
Yet by 2014, not a lot of NFL teams were interested in Sanchez, coming off shoulder surgery, with 68 career touchdowns and 69 interceptions, to go with a career 71.7 passer rating. But, as Kelly has detailed a few times this week, he didn&#8217;t really evaluate Sanchez off what happened as the Jets crumbled around him, playing in an offense unlike what Kelly has devised here.
A case in point was when Kelly was asked yesterday about Sanchez&#8217;s decision-making, and how he seems good at making the quick reads Kelly&#8217;s system requires.
&#8220;I think you just observe him and kind of get a feel for what he&#8217;s like,&#8221; Kelly said. &#8220;I put a lot of stock in people that coached him &#8230; When I talked to his quarterback coaches at USC, when I talked to people that coached him before, how does he process that information? So I think that was part of the evaluation process for me. Then you&#8217;ve got to see it when [he gets to the Eagles]. He did that &#8230; He made some really good decisions early. So I kind of felt comfortable that he would be a good fit for us.&#8221;
Sanchez said earlier in the week he likes playing hurry-up, likening it to fastbreak basketball. Why does he prefer that style?
&#8220;I just enjoy getting in and out,&#8221; Sanchez said. &#8220;Quick communication, it&#8217;s precise, and you just get rolling.&#8221;
There has been much debate about whether Kelly&#8217;s system can really make that big a difference for a quarterback who had become a turnover machine by the time he left the Jets. Sanchez, who came to the Eagles at least in part because he was familiar with what Kelly does and wanted to play in Kelly&#8217;s offense, left no doubt about his feelings yesterday.
&#8220;Can scheme and players make a quarterback better? Are you kidding? Yeah. Of course,&#8221; he said.
We&#8217;ll start to find out Monday night.

Sanchez ready for shot