Anonymous Jets Sources Say They Want Peyton Manning, Mark Sanchez Is ‘Lazy’

You didn’t think this whole New York Jets mess was going to just disappear and magically get better, did you?

A tumultuous season led to offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer walking away from his job on Tuesday night, and it also led several Jets players to anonymously speak out to The New York Daily News.

Their most startling message: We want Peyton Manning.

“Come on. That’s a no-brainer,” a Jets source told Manish Mehta. “If you have a chance to get a healthy 36-year-old Peyton Manning and you don’t do it, then you’re stupid. If I could get a healthy 36-year-old Peyton Manning, then, hell yeah, I would trade [Mark] Sanchez.”

It does seem like an obvious statement, but coming from a person inside the Jets organization, those are harsh words for the former No. 5 overall pick.

Mehta, you may remember, was the same reporter who broke the story of Jets receivers complaining to head coach Rex Ryan. Though the people involved adamantly denied that story, Derrick Mason was traded away just a couple of days later.

Part of the Jets’ problem with Sanchez is that the 25-year-old doesn’t work hard enough to improve.

“We have to bring in another quarterback that will make him work at practice,” an unidentified player told Mehta. “He’s lazy and content because he knows he’s not going to be benched.”

While Sanchez has yet to respond (and he may choose to never respond), teammate Nick Mangold rushed to the quarterback’s defense via Twitter.

“If ‘unnamed sources’ want to attack Mark, man up and put your name to it,” Mangold said.

While it’s certainly getting ugly down there in Florham Park, N.J., at least the Jets will always have their Pepsi Max commercial. No anonymous quotes can ever take that away from them.

Oh, and Sanchez reportedly has Kate Upton, so he’s probably not spending any time reading newspapers. He just might be OK.

Photo of the day

Aren’t you glad you’re not a Jets fan today? If you are a Jets fan … are you sad?

Quote of the day

“Manny Pacquiao I’m calling you out. Let’s fight May 5 and give the world what they want to see.”
–Floyd Mayweather Jr., via Twitter, trying to engage Pacquiao for a fight for which the world’s waited years

Tweet of the day

We’re happy to put your dog on TV, but we don’t see you in this photo. Are you a hat, sir? Also, you should charge your battery.

Video of the day

Shawn Thornton has 627 career penalty minutes. He has 29 career goals. But on Tuesday night, he did this. The lesson learned is that NHL players know how to play hockey, no matter what their role on a team is.