It's OTAs, but still: Mark Sanchez outperforms Tim Tebow; Sanchez agent not surprised

Posted: 05:50 PM ET May 24, 2012

By Josh Katzowitz | NFL Blogger

The guy on the left didn't perform as well as the guy on the right. (US Presswire)
Before you begin reading this post, let me remind you that it's May 24, the season doesn't start for more than three months and that we're talking about OTAs. OK?

That said, the NY Daily News has the news that Mark Sanchez was clearly the No. 1 quarterback in Jets workouts this week.

Of course, we all know that Tim Tebow doesn't get warmed up until the fourth quarter of games (usually in the last five minutes), so this news shouldn't shock anybody. Nor should the fact that Tebow threw two interceptions during his session Thursday (meanwhile, Sanchez hit second-round draft pick Stephen Hill for a 75-yard touchdown pass).

Although practices this week don't mean much of anything -- and my colleague Clark Judge specifically recommended to give stories like this a rest-- it's probably good for Sanchez immediately to show his dominance over the rest of the quarterbacks at OTAs. Even if it's just to give himself some breathing room in the New York spotlight.

“(Tebow's) popularity drives a lot of that,” Sanchez said, referring to the extra scrutiny that's been placed on him since the Jets traded for Tebow. “At the same time, I wouldn't be in this position if I couldn't handle it. And I'm prepared for it.”

“I'm getting a good vibe from what we're doing now.”

Tebow, on the other hand, perhaps did not. With his coach at Florida, Urban Meyer, in attendance at practice, Tebow looked decent at times scrambling and throwing on the run but also looked shaky, throwing interceptions to safety Yeremiah Bell and linebacker Bart Scott.

“It's definitely frustrating,” Tebow said. “But it's seven on seven. Those plays… were the first time I ran them. So I'll learn from it. Honestly, it won't bother me again. When you make the bad play, you got to put it behind you and move on. I felt like I did.”

Sanchez was quick to compliment Tebow's worth to the team. And we just don't mean the fact Tebow practiced Thursday as a punt protector as well.

“We've been to the playoffs around here,” Sanchez said. “We know what it's like to have different media outlets. When you get a guy as popular as Tim, it's just natural. It's good exposure for our team.”

Good exposure until, of course, Tebow takes Sanchez's job. Which according to Sanchez's agent, Brian Murphy, is obviously not going to happen.

No offense media, but of course Sanchez is going to out perform Tim T. Mark is a franchise quarterback and Tim is a great athlete.

— Brian Murphy (@A1Murph) May 24, 2012

Something to remember if Sanchez struggles during the regular season.

For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow @EyeOnNFL on Twitter, and subscribe to our Pick-6 Podcast and NFL newsletter. You can follow Josh Katzowitz on Twitter here: @joshkatzowitz.

Tags: Bart Scott, Mark Sanchez, Stephen Hill, Tim Tebow, Yeremiah Bell, Minicamps, New York Jets, NFL

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Manning over Mario Williams? Not on this free agent board

Picking up Williams to bolster your defense is better than taking Manning on offense. (Getty Images)

Free agency begins Tuesday afternoon, with quarterback Peyton Manning at the top of nearly every board. Considering his resume, that makes sense, but this isn't about making sense. This is about making plays.

Which is why I'd put pass rusher Mario Williams ahead of him.

The reason: Let's start with his age. Williams is 27. Manning turns 36 in two weeks. I know Williams is coming off a torn pectoral that sidelined him for all but five games, but Manning is coming off neck surgeries so serious that he never suited up last year, which means he hasn't taken a snap since the 2010 season.

I know what I'm getting with Williams; I'm not sure with Manning. He could be one of the game's most accomplished quarterbacks, or he could be someone at or near the end of his career, one hit away from retirement.

But that's not all.

Williams is a pass rusher, and you can't have enough of them in today's game. The proof was Super Bowl XLVI, and the lesson we learned then is the lesson we learned four years earlier -- namely, a great pass rush trumps a great quarterback.

There is no better quarterback in today's game than New England's Tom Brady, yet he's 0 for 2 in Super Bowls against the New York Giants' defense. That's not a coincidence; that is a trend.

Once upon a time we talked about "The Patriot Way," but it's time that should yield to "The Giant Way." I mean, if the NFL is a copycat league -- and it is -- why wouldn't you follow the Giants' lead and look for the best pass rusher out there and make him yours?

I don't care if you're set at the position. Neither did the Giants in 2010. They had two Pro-Bowl pass rushers, yet spent their first-round draft pick -- the 15th overall -- on Jason Pierre-Paul. The reason: They believed he could improve a pass rush that tied for 18th in 2009 when the Giants allowed more points than everyone but Detroit and St. Louis.

It was the same reason Chicago spent heavily on free-agent defensive end Julius Peppers. In a division with Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, the Bears figured they had to squeeze the pocket to have a chance. So they signed the best pass rusher to a megabuck deal, won their division and came within a victory of the Super Bowl.

There's a moral there, people.

There is no better free-agent pass rusher in this class than Williams. He had five sacks in five games last season. He set a Houston record with 14 in 2007. He's a two-time All-Pro. And from 2006-10 he produced 33.6 percent of his team's sacks.

Only Dallas' DeMarcus Ware and the Colts' Robert Mathis were better, but there's a catch: Ware had pass rushers inside and out to complement him, and Mathis had Dwight Freeney. Williams was pretty much on his own, the only Texan to have six or more sacks in four consecutive seasons.

That's why I'd jump at the chance to sign the guy. I want to see what happens when he has playmakers around him. I saw what happened with the Giants' Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora, and maybe it happens with Williams.

All I know is that he's young, in the prime of his career and available. Plus, he fits the job description for anyone trying to recreate the Giants' success.

If you want to be Super Bowl worthy you better have a quarterback. But you better have a pass rush, too. Offenses sell tickets. Defenses win championships. And the New York Giants just won their second Super Bowl in four years with the best pass rush in the playoffs.

Remember that. Then move Mario Williams to the head of the class.

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Warrant issued for famed sports agent Steinberg over debt

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- "Show me the money" indeed: A bench warrant has been authorized for the sports agent who was the inspiration for the movie Jerry Maguire after he failed to appear in court in a case involving a $1.4 million debt.

An Orange County Superior Court commissioner authorized the warrant after Leigh Steinberg failed to attend court last week, court records show.

Court papers show Steinberg was ordered to pay $1.4 million last year to the Irvine Company in a default judgment for office space he leased in Newport Beach. Steinberg stopped paying under the terms of his lease in 2009, according to court papers filed by the landlord, which declined to comment on the case.

Steinberg was the inspiration for Tom Cruise's character in 1996's Jerry Maguire, which turned "Show me the money!" into an enduring catchphrase, though Steinberg isn't actually known for using that phrase.

Steinberg said he's not hiding or running from the law. He said he has an office open for business in Irvine and thousands of friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter.

The 62-year-old agent said he's still representing athletes and acting as a consultant on projects related to sports in movies, television and video games.

Steinberg said he had asked his attorney to change the date of his Dec. 15 hearing and was told it was taken care of. Steinberg said he was unaware of any warrant in the case, which stems from some payments he missed in 2009 before moving to less expensive office space.

"Since when in this country do you put people in jail for having debt?" he said in a phone interview Thursday. "The point is, I had some financial struggles, which I regret. And I am working hard right now to pay the debts I owe."

The warrant was authorized by Superior Court Commissioner Jane D. Myers. The court would need to receive instructions and fees from the plaintiff, the Irvine Company, for the warrant to become effective.

Steinberg said his financial troubles stem in part from his divorce in 2008. He separated from his wife in 2006.

During the divorce proceedings, Steinberg told the court he had suffered "significant business reversals and losses" that had prompted the couple to refinance the family home, according to papers filed in family court in Orange County.

Since that time, Steinberg has also been sued over allegedly unpaid bills owed to a bank, credit card company, apartment complex and dentist, court records show.

Those amounts were far smaller than the Irvine Company case, including a $6,754 bill from a dentist, the records show.

Earlier this month, the Irvine Company asked the court to require Steinberg to apply a portion of his income stream to pay the judgment, alleging process servers have been unable to directly contact him.

"Steinberg is a semi famous figure with huge apparent notoriety but shows signs of significant recent deterioration," Brooke Brandt, an attorney for the Orange County real estate company, wrote in a Dec. 9 court filing. "He appears to have a phalanx of security protection around him that prevents process servers from gaining access to him unless he allows it."

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Feb. 6.

Steinberg is considered the first super agent in sports, having represented such NFL stars as Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Warren Moon and Ben Roethlisberger, as well as boxer Oscar De La Hoya. His resume includes representing eight No. 1 overall NFL draft picks. He began his career in 1975 and was able to secure huge signing bonuses for some of football's biggest stars.

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Not ready to buy what agent is selling on Pryor

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- Terrelle Pryor signed for free.

The historic moment occurred Tuesday, a few minutes after a fraud of a sham of a joke of a news conference that his manipulating, oily, loud-mouthed superagent called to waste everyone's time. The real news occurred out of sight of cameras and (most) notebooks when Luke Lemoncelli offered his mini-Buckeye helmet to Ohio State's disgraced quarterback as Pryor was whisked away down a Fontainebleau Hotel hallway.

The signed helmet was handed back, signed without -- brace yourselves -- the nation's most famous in-limbo QB asking for a tattoo in return. Let's be kind for a moment: With Pryor's college days over and his professional future less than certain, the market for his autograph has kind of bottomed out. But here's a novel concept: Lemoncelli, a just-graduated high school student, doesn't care.

"I'm going to keep it," said Lemoncelli, who just moved from New Jersey to Florida. "I collect all this stuff."

So does a certain Columbus tattoo parlor owner, kid. That's why that scene may be how we remember Pryor. His mouthpiece Drew Rosenhaus tried his best to hijack the moment in announcing that Pryor essentially had declared for the NFL supplemental draft Tuesday afternoon. That was hardly the news. There's no guarantee Pryor will be a) taken; b) taken high or c) taken as a quarterback.

Or ever take a snap as a professional.

That's why Rosenhaus did his best Rosenhaus, trying to drum up hype for what he termed, "a great, not a good quarterback, a great quarterback in the National Football League." Whatever. The real mystery remains why Pryor is in the situation in the first place. It's easy to draw our own conclusions.

Pryor left Ohio State abruptly last week. On the same day, ESPN reported he had taken more than tattoos and a few bucks for his signature. Pryor reportedly received $20,000-$40,000 during his three years at Ohio State just for being Terrelle. Oh, and there's the appearance that he has driven a used-car lot since coming to Columbus.

Three months away from stepping on the field for his senior year, less than two months from Ohio State's NCAA infractions committee hearing, T.P. bounced. On Tuesday, Rosenhaus tried to draw our attention away from the moral arguments left behind. The ones about paying players, the debate about the level of diligence in the scandal by Ohio State's president, AD and compliance department.

After nine minutes of the badly staged presser, the main message was reinforced: Pryor took care of Pryor. It's a philosophy that Reggie Bush can relate to and one that isn't uncommon. Entitlement R Them.

"For a college student, I understand," Lemoncelli said. "College students don't have a lot of money, know what I mean? I think the NCAA needs to make some new rules for college students with money."

Maybe, but would $3,000 a year have kept Pryor from allegedly making five figures? For that matter, would three large have kept A.J. Green from selling his Georgia jersey for $1,000?

Perhaps those two were sloppier than everyone else. Perhaps the system is broken. Green at least got part of a final season to show off for the NFL. It's clear Pryor is being pushed into this abyss because the NCAA is closing in, but for what? For about 1? minutes of that news conference, Pryor apologized (again, considering he was already suspended for five games) and hinted.

"I never meant to hurt anybody directly with my conduct off the field and I am truly sorry," Pryor said.

We know about some of it. Is there more? There was more from Rosenhaus who quoted his newest client as that client sat right next to him: "Drew, I didn't make this decision. I did not want to leave Ohio State. I wanted to finish at Ohio State, even knowing I would lose five games. I lost that opportunity through my own conduct."

One mystery will be solved. We'll eventually find out the depth of Pryor's wrongdoing when the infractions committee releases its reports months from now. By then, Pryor may be a bigger question on the field than he is off of it.

That's why Rosenhaus manipulated as only he can do. In the space of those nine minutes, he compared Pryor to Cam Newton, claimed his client would run a 4.4 40 for the pros and could "jump through the gym."

"You can't tell me people aren't going to jump on this young man," Rosenhaus said.

Oh, yes we can, if only because the agent seemed so needy trying to rehab Pryor's image. Don't forget that Rosenhaus may have been an inspiration for Jerry Maguire. The difference being that in the movie, Jerry eventually finds his soul. It seems that the real-life Drew would sell his just to get Pryor into the NFL.

Check out this glowing report of Pryor's Tuesday morning workout with Chad Ochocinco at a local high school.

"In the middle of his workout [Ochocinco] came over to me and he says, 'Are you serious, Drew. They're talking about him not being a quarterback? He is as good as any quarterback I've played with.' For anyone who questions his arm strength, give me a break. "

Maybe, but here's what a decidedly more somber Ochocinco was credited with tweeting to Pryor earlier Tuesday.

u ready young grasshopper? Don't blink ...

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