Denver Broncos running back C.J. Anderson might very well be happy that he’s back with the team after flirting with the Miami Dolphins during the spring.
He’s heading back to Denver with the strong likelihood that Mark Sanchez will be the team’s starting quarterback after it lost both Brock Osweiler and Peyton Manning earlier in the offseason.
According to Anderson, this isn’t a time for the defending champs to worry. They have a quarterback in Mark Sanchez that has two AFC championship belts. At least, according to the running back.
“People forget about (Mark) Sanchez, you know, he has two AFC championship belts,” Anderson said, via NFL.com. “Even though he lost them, he has two under his belt, that he’s been to. And it shows, the leadership that he had when he was with the Jets.”
Okay, we can ascertain from these comments that Anderson simply misspoke. The NFL doesn’t hand out trophies/belts/rings for making an appearance in a conference title game.
As Anderson does note, Sanchez did lose both of his AFC Championship game appearances with the New York Jets.
This quote will surely be cause for ridicule moving forward, as Sanchez hasn’t proven himself to be anywhere near a decent starting quarterback in the NFL. After all, the veteran has thrown just two more touchdowns (86) than interceptions (84) in his career.
Though, it must be noted that Sanchez has proven he can win with a dominant defense. That much was clear in the two seasons that he did “lead” the Jets to the conference title game. The team finished first in scoring defense in 2009 and sixth in 2010.
Sanchez now joins a Broncos team that boasts the league’s best defense from a season ago.
Still, it’s rather interesting that Anderson would be talking up Sanchez in this light. He tallied 29 touchdowns compared to 33 interceptions in the two seasons New York made it as far as the conference title game.
Anderson better hope he has a huge season ahead of himself. That coupled with continued domination from the Broncos’ defense could help them at least contend for a conference title. But let’s face the facts here. Sanchez won’t be the primary reason this team goes far.