Jets Start Sanchez, McElroy Out With Concussion

The New York Jets (6-9) will start Mark Sanchez in place of Greg McElroy this Sunday against the Buffalo Bills (5-10). McElroy developed severe headaches Thursday morning while lifting weights and Rex Ryan didn’t even wait for a diagnosis before ruling him out for Sunday’s game. Ruling McElroy out for the game was undoubtedly the right decision because the final game means nothing to the record except for draft order and a team shouldn’t risk a player’s health, especially when it comes to concussions. The only question is why is the team just finding out about this injury now? Ryan said that McElroy didn’t display any concussion-like symptoms after last week’s game, but McElroy admitted to hiding the injury from the team. McElroy spoke to Clyde Gates and Matt Slauson about his symptoms before he decided to tell trainers. While it was the right thing for McElroy to do, what if he hadn’t gone to trainers and had started on Sunday? Should the players aware of his injury be held accountable or is it not their responsibility to inform the team of another player’s injury? This will likely be news, not just for the Jets, for the entire off-season and into the next few seasons at the very least. Unfortunately, concussions are a huge problem in the NFL and one of the primary issues is that some players are afraid to admit if they have symptoms of an injury. Whether it’s a concussion or anything else, it appears that players often feel the need to conceal an injury or symptoms because they are afraid to lose their starting job. Of course we’ve seen this happen first hand in San Francisco. Alex Smith actually self-reported his concussion and a week later he lost his starting job to Colin Kaepernick for the season and his time with the 49ers is likely over. Back to the Jets, the pressing issue besides McElroy being out is why Sanchez is starting over Tim Tebow. The once-Wild Cat quarterback was passed over for the starting job again. Some have speculated that with one game left in the season Ryan doesn’t want to deal with the situation of Tebow playing well and winning the game. If the Jets are planning on ridding themselves of Tebow at the end of the season anyway, I don’t see the big deal in passing him over for Sanchez. It’s clearly the safe move for Ryan because he can’t afford to have Tebow play well if he wants to return next season. Tebow playing well, even against the Bills, will bring doubt into the minds of fans, coaches and team personnel about why Tebow wasn’t utilized sooner. Do you think going back to Sanchez was a big mistake, or at this point it doesn’t even matter who starts? More importantly, is there anyway the NFL and teams can prevent players from hiding symptoms or injuries? Rodgers That   Follow Dan Rodgers on Twitter: @dhrodgers52 Stats and information courtesy of ESPN.com