McElroy's Heroics Lead Jets to Win

latimes.com

Obviously the biggest part in the game is the benching of Mark Sanchez, who was god awful in the first two and a half quarters against the Cardinals. Sanchez was on his way to one of the worst performances of his career, as he went 10 for 21 for just 97 yards passing with three interceptions and was unable to help the Jets get any points in his time under center. The chanting for McElroy became louder and louder from the Jets fans; when Ryan benched Sanchez the game turned around for them.

Greg McElroy, making his first appearance in a regular season NFL game did very well and his experience at Alabama winning a National Title certainly had to help him with his nerves in relieving Sanchez and leading the Jets to the victory. The seventh round pick led the Jets on two very nice drives; one resulting in a touchdown pass to Jeff Cumberland and the second bringing them to the Cardinals goalline where he took a knee to ice it for his first career win.

Former Jet Kerry Rhodes came to prove a point it would appear against his former team and the coach that called him a selfish player with a Hollywood attitude. Rhodes got two of the interceptions off his former teammate Sanchez and forced a fumble which led to one of the Cardinals two field goals in this game; also by another former Jet, Jay Feely.

If Jets fans thought their quarterback situation was bad, they must be thankful that they do not root for the Cardinals. As bad as Sanchez has been this season, he looks like Aaron Rodgers compared to Ryan Lindley, who when watching him play quarterback has to keep peoples' dreams alive that you too can be a quarterback in the NFL. Lindley went 10 for 31 with just 72 yards passing, and threw an interception to LaRon Landry. Despite targeting one of the best receivers in the NFL in Larry Fitzgerald seven times, one of the best in the game only had one catch for 23 yards. Overall the defense has to get a lot of credit; they did their job against a bad quarterback and held the Cardinals to zero for 15 on third downs.

It was not a pretty win but it does count so the Jets are now 5-7, and have a very slim chance still of making the playoffs, but the real questions will be in the week to come about who will be the starting quarterback heading into Jacksonville and why Tebow scratched despite being cleared to play with his rib injury on Sunday.