Hoping the Jets' experiment works - New York Post

There are a lot of reasons why the Tim Tebow/Mark Sanchez experiment can work. There are a lot of reasons why the Mark Sanchez/Tim Tebow experiment can’t work. There are a lot of ways the Tim Tebow/Mark Sanchez experiment can be an utter fiasco. There are a lot of ways the Mark Sanchez/Tim Tebow experiment can be a hell of a lot of fun.

There is one reason and one reason alone why I have a vested interest in the Tim Tebow/Mark Sanchez experiment, one reason and one reason only why I hope the Mark Sanchez/Tim Tebow experiment is the kind of sensation that gets them both on the cover of Sports Illustrated for three straight weeks this autumn, breaking Jeremy Lin’s unbreakable record.

Neil Miller

DOUBLE TROUBLE: The pairing of Mark Sanchez (left) and Tim Tebow may implode, but that doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to be a disaster.

And it is this:

Because it would cause a crash of conventional wisdom. Because it would take 100 years of football beliefs, throw them all in a blender, and force us to think of something different, something new. There are few things that are more corrosive than using this as an argument when arguing for or against anything: We always have done it this way.

Well, let’s forget for a second that the L.A. Rams actually won a championship 61 years ago by using two quarterbacks (they were both Hall of Famers, sure, in Bob Waterfield and Norm Van Brocklin, but Waterfield played in 11 games and Van Brocklin all 12). And, while we’re at it, let’s ignore the fact when the Giants won the ’56 NFL title â€" and no matter how many Super Bowls the contemporary Giants win, they never will be remotely as beloved as the ’56ers were ... and are â€" Don Heinrich started all 12 games, and Chuckin’ Charley Conerly relieved him in all 12.

OK. Those two exceptions aside, the notion of using two quarterbacks has been greeted as more outdated than dial-up internet, more obsolete than a phone booth. And it’s not just the notion, it’s the attitude: of course this can’t work, won’t work, has no hope of working. Only a madman would think otherwise.

You know who else was a madman? Tony La Russa when he decided the ninth inning should belong to his closer. Now, TLR wasn’t always right â€" you’ll notice almost all pitchers still bat ninth, not eighth, mercifully â€" but he was with this, and when he first introduced the concept with Dennis Eckersley in the late ’80s, the reaction among most baseball cognoscenti was something approximating McKayla Maroney’s.

Same with Rick Pitino when it occurred to him, before almost anyone else, that if 3-pointers count more than 2-pointers, perhaps it would be a good idea to shoot many, many 3-pointers. Same with the neutral-zone trap, which may not have been easy on the eyes but sure won the Devils an awful lot of hockey games. Same with ... well, with just about any innovation that has been introduced to sports going back to ancient races when this crazy new invention called “wheels” were added.