National Football League

Sanchez, Jets filled with confidence

Published Nov. 21, 2010 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

The Jets have won a lot of close games. It's obvious they're a very talented team. Usually, defensive-oriented teams have close games because they run the ball and rely on playing solid defense in order to win. The most impressive thing about the Jets is how confident they are that they're going to win.

They make the plays at the end of the game like they did today for the simple reason that they expect to make them. It looked like their fans had already given up on them and left the stadium when Mark Sanchez hit that long pass to Braylon Edwards down the right sideline. There were only seconds left when Sanchez threw the winning touchdown pass. He's a really young quarterback, but he handled that entire situation like a seasoned veteran. And that's a credit to Rex Ryan.

Do I like them better than other teams in the AFC?

Well, the way this league is right now, one week to the next, who knows who you like. I think we need to wait until sometime next month. By then, teams will begin to sort themselves out from the pack of pretty good teams.

I guess I'm saying I'm not really sure who I really like right now. You can take a third of the league, and if the teams get hot at the end of the season, they can make a run at the championship. Then you have another third that are somewhere in the middle, then another third that are terrible.

The Jets have a chance to get hot at the end just like they did a year ago.

Titans done with Young?

That was a big story out of Tennessee today when Jeff Fisher said he was done with Vince Young as his starting quarterback. I know Howie and Michael both thought this might really be the end for Young in Tennessee, but I've seen so many emotional outbursts as a coach at the end of a game after a tough loss like the Titans had today.

The only thing that may make you think it's over is that this isn't the first incident with Young. There's been a list of things that have bothered Fisher and some of his teammates also.

But still, he has a huge contract, and the club has a big investment in him. He's a talented individual, and he's won games for them. Coaches are emotional. Players are emotional. And they definitely had an emotional loss. Personally, I think Fisher and Young need to sit down and iron things out because they both need each other.

Vikings in disarray

The Minnesota Vikings have officially imploded. We saw them arguing on the sideline among themselves. They were arguing with coaches. They've been backstabbing Brad Childress for the past month or more.

There's a halfway mutiny going on in Minnesota. And on top that, they're losing a bunch of games. After being a couple of plays away from a Super Bowl last season, they now have seven losses and counting.

We know there's plenty of talent there, but a lot of talented teams through the years have lost games and not reached their potential. That's what they're doing. I don't think it's correctable this year, and I believe changes have to be made with the Vikings.

The No. 1 change is they have to start looking at some of their younger players. They definitely have to look at another quarterback, like Tarvaris Jackson. Based on today, Brett Favre's career is over. And I think in his mind he knows it's over, but his pride is such he's not going to show it or even admit it to anyone.

Childress may be finished there, too. I'm not sure he can win the team back at 3-7. I'm sure there are other players on that roster who no longer have a future there as far as Minnesota's front office is thinking. The performance today against the Packers was really a shame, because the Vikings are a talented team. But it probably needs to be blown up and restarted again next year.

Cowboys toughen up

The Cowboys won another game, and it's good to see them trying to be physical. They were a soft team both mentally and physically. They're practicing in shoulder pads more now, and Jason Garrett's asking them to do the things that disciplined teams do. I mean, like asking them to be on time for meetings, asking them to hustle in practice, to come to work earlier in the morning, etc.

It's obvious that in Garrett's two games as the interim coach they're giving better effort, without question. I do believe the consensus is they do have talent. Whether it's enough of a turnaround for Jason to win the job, who knows? I do think, though, that Jerry Jones 100 percent wants him to succeed and become the next official head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

If he can win two or three more games, hopefully he'll get the job. I'm pulling for him.

I do believe that because Jerry's had experiences before — when he's gotten around the Rooney Rule by interviewing Denny Green over the telephone — I think the league's going to make him go through the process this time. I don't think he'll get an exception on this even if he simply wants to promote Jason. But having said that, I don't know if any legitimate candidates are going to want to interview with Dallas and Jerry because they're going to know it's going to be a sham.