Do you agree with Joe Montana that Mark Sanchez is better than Tim Tebow?

Joe Montana knows all about quarterback controversies. After he
helped the San francisco 49ers win four Super Bowls from 1981 to 1989,
he was replaced over time by Steve Young and eventually traded to the
Kansas City Chiefs in 1993. The 49ers won their fifth Super Bowl in
franchise with Young at the helm the next season, and the it could be
argued that the 49ers had the best right-handed and best left-handed
quarterbacks in NFL history on their roster at the same time. Not bad,
really.

The stakes in the New York Jets' current quarterback controversy are a
bit lower at this point -- Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow are two players
looking to meet (never mind exceed) the expectations set for them as
first-round draft picks. Both quarterbacks are still finding their feet
in the NFL, and the Jets' recent trade for Tebow could very well
complicate Sanchez's development process -- unless the Jets are counting
on Tebow as the contingency in case the Sanchez upswing never takes
place.

Tebow Time with the Jets will become official at Monday's press
conference, but Montana has already laid down his verdict on the
decision to have the two passers in the same rotation.

"Mark is a better player right now and that's it," Montana wrote in an email to the New York Daily News.
"As long as Mark believes in himself and plays, it's not an issue. It's
more of an issue for those of you who write, or blog or tweet and all
the other methods of delivering content."

Um, okay. Not sure how it's an issue for those providing content, but
whatever. it is a very serious issue for the Jets, who reportedly plan
to have Sanchez as their starter, and Tebow as a Wildcat/option
quarterback who could see action in up to 20 plays per game. it's an
issue for a fanbase that may wind up wanting Tebow as the full-on
starter no matter what. After all, there are people in Denver
disappointed that Tebow isn't there anymore, and John Elway got Peyton
Manning to replace him -- last time I checked, Sanchez isn't anywhere
near Peyton Manning's approximate universe as a quarterback.

Montana does raise an interesting point about Sanchez believing in
himself, though. As much as this seems like an ill-fitting exercise to
steal the back pages from the Giants (who grabbed them in the first
place by, you know, winning Super Bowls), this is a test of Sanchez's
mettle and ability to deal with distractions. If the Tebow circus causes
Sanchez to shrink from his ultimate potential, the Jets will be that
much closer to knowing who their long-term quarterback isn't.

As a traditional quarterback, Sanchez is better than Tebow --
Montana's right about that. But Tebow has shown an ability to drive
intangibles home with rare consistency, and this is anything but a
typical situation. It's now Sanchez's turn to live up to Montana's
praise.