Bennett: Sanchez an impostor as QB

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Monday, December 8, 2014

Mark Sanchez had his worst performance as the Philadelphia Eagles' starting quarterback Sunday, then continued to take more hits from the Seattle Seahawks after the game.

Philadelphia had just 139 yards of offense against Seattle in the 24-14 loss as Sanchez completed 10 of 20 passes for 96 yards. He threw two touchdown passes and one interception and was sacked three times.

After the Seahawks' victory, defensive end Michael Bennett belittled Sanchez, who is starting in the place of injured quarterback Nick Foles.

"Tell the Philadelphia police to put an APB out," Bennett told USA Today Sports. "Sanchez is trying to impersonate a good quarterback."

Sanchez's interception in the fourth quarter was a momentum killer for the Eagles. After Philadelphia got a turnover with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter, trailing by 10, Sanchezunderthrew wide receiver Riley Cooper on the first play of the Eagles' possession and Seattle cornerback Tharold Simon intercepted the pass.

Turnovers have plagued Sanchez as an NFL starter. Although he has thrown for 1,500 yards and 10 touchdown passes in six games (five starts) this season, he also has seven interceptions and has lost two fumbles. He threw 69 interceptions and lost 20 fumbles in five seasons with the New York Jets.

Foles was examined last week and not cleared to return to practice. Sanchez will start against Dallas next week. There are two games left after that, at Washington and at the New York Giants. If Foles is cleared, Kelly will have to decide whether to insert a player who has been inactive for two months or stick with a guy who has played shaky football against playoff-caliber teams Seattle and Green Bay.

"This most important thing is just to get past this one," Sanchez said, "to watch the film and move on and get ready for another huge game. All of these games down the stretch are so important. Big picture is too far out in front of us. We really just need to focus on what is right in front of our nose, and that's getting this bad taste out of our mouth and going out and playing Dallas and giving our best effort next week."

Bennett, however, doesn't seem to be a believer that Sanchez, who is 3-2 as the Eagles' starter, can take Philadelphia very far. After the game he also was asked what he saw in the Eagles quarterback.

"The same thing everyone else saw -- not much."

ESPN.com's Phil Sheridan and Terry Blount contributed to this report.

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