Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, unsurprisingly, does not hold his anonymous critics in high regard.
"It is a gutless thing to do," Sanchez told ESPN 1050 on Thursday, regarding the unnamed Jets players who publicly disparaged the quarterback in comments made to the New York Post shortly after last season ended. "You don't put your name on what you're saying, then you don't speak for yourself, you don't speak for your team. That's how I've always felt about that."
Sanchez said that if he had an issue with a fellow teammate, he would discuss it with them privately. He did say, though, that the comments didn't have much of an effect on him.
"I think that kind of stuff happens, guys get frustrated," Sanchez said. "We have a bunch of professional players, and (if) that's the way somebody chose to do it, that's fine. It really didn't bother me."
ESPN New York reported that Sanchez said Thursday that he and receiver Santonio Holmes have made their peace, having dinner together near Holmes' Florida home.
"I know it can work between us," Sanchez said before the Randall's Island Sports Foundation gala in Manhattan. "It's not a question of if, it's just a matter of when -- and that's now."
"I honestly totally understood what was going on," Sanchez said, acknowledging that it would be incumbent on most teams to at least think about adding a player of Manning's caliber.
"There's probably 25 teams in the league that took a look, and all those 25 teams had a starting quarterback last year," Sanchez added. "So I get it; that's the business side of this game. But at the same time, this recent contract, those negotiations were going on fairly soon after the season, so, you know, I wasn't really worried about it."
The Jets recently extended Sanchez's contract for three years and $40.5 million.
