Mark Sanchez May Be Sidelined For Jets Opener

Quarterback Mark Sanchez may be on the sidelines for the Jets season opener on Sunday, September 8 against Tampa Bay because of his shoulder injury.

NFL.com reports that Sanchez, who did not play in the Jets final pre-season game on Thursday against the Eagles, has a deep right shoulder injury and there is a "growing understanding" rookie Geno Smith will make the start.

Sanchez did not play Thursday night's final pre-season game against the Eagles. Third string quarterback Matt Simms, son of Giants great Phil Simms, was 33-for-44 for 285 yards in the Jets 27-20 win.

Sanchez suffered the injury last weekend against the Giants when Sanchez went into the game in the fourth quarter. Coach Rex Ryan has been criticized by some for putting his starter in a pre-season game and is considered to be day-to-day.

Governor Chris Christie jumped into the controversy during two radio appearances this week. Sitting in for Boomer Esiason on WFAN's Boomer and Carton,  he called New York Daily News writer Manish Mehta a “dope” and an “idiot" for questioning Ryan's decision, which led to the tabloid to call Christie an "fatso" on its front page.

On Townsquare Media NJ's Ask The Governor program, Christie was unapologetic for the remark.“Some of the reaction to this is over-wrought reporters who are so thin-skinned that they don’t like to be criticized either,” Christie said. “Let’s try to keep some perspective,” he continued. “These sports writers get called every name in the book by sports fans who read them. I was very interested to see their sensitivity.”

Chris Kissel contributed to this report