This assumes that Smith doesn't experience setback with the ankle injury that forced him out of the Jets' first preseason game and caused him to miss last weekend's get-together with the Jaguars.
Earlier this week, Sanchez said that he expected coach Rex Ryan to make an announcement regarding the regular-season starter any day now.
“I think we're coming down the stretch here, so I'm sure a decision will be made here soon. Other than that, I don't know," Sanchez said before adding: “I don't care,” Sanchez said. ”I really don't. I've competed my whole life and I'm ready to play.”
Smith, meanwhile, remains optimistic that he, too, can win the starting gig.
“I just have to go out there and execute,” Smith said, “do what I'm told, do what I'm coached to do, go out there [and] run the plays to the best of my ability, make sound reads, be good with my footwork [and] just prove to the coaches and teammates that, hey, I belong here.”
We figure Sanchez for the favorite, partly because he was adequate against the Jaguars in the last preseason game, but also because he's Rex's guy. The Jets traded up in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft to take Sanchez, and the immediate returns were promising; New York went to back-to-back AFC Championship games, before a faltering defense and a disappearing running game promptly torpedoed any talk of "Sanchize."
The Jets went 8-8 in 2011 and 6-10 last season, and unless there's a drastic turnaround in the next six months, Sanchez and Ryan both will be looking for work this offseason.
