FanHouse MarkSanchez

Mark Sanchez caught a ton of grief recently when he decided to eat a hot dog on the sideline late in a blowout win over the Raiders. And I mean that -- people kind of freaked on the Jets quarterback, for no apparent reason other than the fact that the dude was hungry and pounded a dog.

Fortunately for everyone's sake, Sanchez was poised (!) enough to offer an apology after the game. But he wasn't done there; on Wednesday, the Jets announced (via Twitter) that Sanchez was going to get his charitable grub on for a local food shelter.

Back in June, before we knew that Rex Ryan would fix what Eric Mangini broke or that the Dolphins would return to their pre-Tuna form, the long-distance gum-flapping between Ryan and Miami's Channing Crowder was just that. A summertime diversion between an unproven head coach and a chatty linebacker.

Now, four months later, the AFC East division rivals will finally face off, and Ryan sounds like he has gained some perspective. Crowder, however, is a different story.

"I think the thing with Channing Crowder, if I had to do one thing over, that would probably be it," Ryan said in a conference call earlier this week, "because clearly I was joking about the whole thing, which I had done before in the past in Baltimore with Chad Johnson [Ochocinco] and with some other guys."

Jets rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez's NFL career couldn't have had a better start: New York, eight months removed from the evil clutches of Eric Mangini, began the season 3-0 and for the first time since those heady Chad Pennington days earlier this decade, the team had their franchise quarterback.

Reality abruptly set in last Sunday against the Saints -- Sanchez was just 14 of 27 for 138 yards, no touchdowns, three interceptions and he was sacked four times. He set season lows in just about every statistical category but it was his first pick early in the second quarter that might have been the lowlight of his afternoon.

Bobby Hebert was born in Cut Off, Louisiana and he played for the Saints from 1985-1992. So it stands to reason that nearly 15 years after he retired from the NFL, Hebert would still have a soft spot for the team he once quarterbacked* conveniently located in the state in which he grew up.

That might be underselling it a bit.

Hebert was at the Superdome for the Saints-Jets game Sunday and he appeared to lose his mind when New Orleans recovered a Mark Sanchez fumble in the end zone to make the score 17-3.

Hebert's Karate Kid impression after the jump.

Sunday Evening Wrap checks out players who increased or decreased their value during the Sunday afternoon games.

Faller of the Week: Everyone on the Oakland Raiders. The Houston Texans entered the game as one of the league's worst defenses. They were the worst in the NFL against the run. Sunday, the Raiders gained just 165 yards and only a single first down on the ground against those same Texans. I'm done with Darren McFadden. Michael Bush and Justin Fargas shouldn't be considered viable fantasy contributors in any format, and I'd even give up on Zach Miller (which isn't his fault, but he's not going to put up stats for this embarrassingly inept offense). This team is dead to me, and they should be to you, too.

Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse's weekday roundup of the NFL news with fantasy football impact.

It's your Friday installment of "CNG" and we're taking you into the weekend. You've had the whole week to circle the wagons, analyze your fantasy rosters, read all the experts and gather the various weekly rankings around the Internet. The easy part is done, now comes the hard part -- the waiting for Sunday morning. At least you're prepped and ready.

Let's take a quick-hitter look around the NFL on this Friday and piece together any fantasy-worthy news that may have slipped through the cracks.

The 2009 Patriots look nothing like the Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli creations that dominated the league for most of this decade. Tom Brady's reconstructed knee has something to do with that, but the complete lack of a defense hasn't helped much, either. Especially in the second half.

"This was a problem against the Bills and an insurmountable one against the Jets, who rang up 197 yards and 13 points in the second half to 57 yards and a field goal in the first. Worse, the first two quarterbacks they've faced, Trent Edwards and rookie Mark Sanchez, finished with passer ratings of 114.1 and 101.1. It is unlikely the last game either plays this season will be the Pro Bowl."

That was Ron Borges, who has made a living panning Belichick and the organization, even as they reeled off three Super Bowls in four years. But he actually makes a good point here (hey, it happens). Of course, no Borges column would be complete without getting in a few shots, and this time he targets Randy Moss.

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- This is how Jets receiver Jerricho Cotchery knows his quarterback is an overgrown child. On the first play of the second half Sunday against the Patriots, Mark Sanchez hit Cotchery with a 45-yard pass down the right sideline. When Cotchery got up at the end of the play -- a 45-yard pass play, remember -- Sanchez was standing right there in front of him, screaming in Cotchery's face and whacking his helmet in celebration.

And it's not the first time that's happened.

"When you catch a long pass 30, 40 yards down the field, you're not used to seeing your quarterback right there in your face when you get up," Cotchery said Monday. "I'm like, 'What happened? Did you throw it and start running after it right away?' "

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- David Carr has been where Mark Sanchez and Matthew Stafford are -- sort of. He knows what it feels like to be a high draft pick with huge expectations who's named a starting quarterback in the NFL right out of college. A 16-game starter on the 2002 expansion Houston Texans, Carr got to experience first-hand what Sanchez and Stafford will start experiencing for real this weekend. And it's not that he's trying to scare anybody, but ...

"If I had it to do all over again, I think I would have rather watched," Carr, now the Giants' backup QB, told FanHouse on Monday. "There were just so many bad habits I picked up that, if I'd seen another guy doing it, I don't think I would have."

---

---

Jets coach Rex Ryan has informed Mark Sanchez and Kellen Clemens that Sanchez has won the starting quarterback job, FanHouse has confirmed. A source said Ryan gave the news to the two candidates this morning, as first reported by Jay Glazer on FOXSports.com. Ryan's daily press conference is scheduled for 2 PM ET, after the Jets practice today in Florham Park, N.J., and he's likely to make his decision public at that time.

---

---