"If you watched Mark Sanchez the last month of the season," Esiason said on WEEI's Dennis and Callahan Show show on Wednesday, "he was like a chihuahua standing on Madison Avenue and 36th Street entering the Midtown Tunnel, eyes bigger than you know what, and just so shaky."
Esiason was responding to a question about the Jets' possible interest in trading for Peyton Manning, and was candid in his belief that he doesn't believe Sanchez is a long-term solution for the Jets.
The former Bengals (and at one point Jets) quarterback also came under a bit of fire for his comments due to Sanchez's Mexican heritage, but Esiason defended his comments to ESPN.com.
"I chose a small dog that always looks shaken and has big eyes, and doesn't like big things — a chihuahua," he clarified. "It's a skittish dog and he's been a skittish player."
In his last four games this season, Sanchez completed 57.1 percent of his passes while throwing seven touchdowns and seven interceptions. That was good for a 69.6 quarterback rating during a stretch where New York went 1-3 to finish the season 8-8 and miss the playoffs.