Greg McElroy went from 3rd to 1st in a hurry.\u00a0 After months of Mark Sanchez vs Tim Tebow talk, the 2nd year player got an opportunity and made the most of it.\u00a0 With Tim Tebow inactive due to fractured ribs, McElroy was called into action after Mark Sanchez struggled.<\/p>\n
Here is what Greg McElroy had to say to the media after his first win:<\/p>\n
On how much notice he received before going into the game\u2026<\/strong> On if there was any indication at halftime that he would play\u2026<\/strong> On what advice Mark Sanchez gave to him\u2026<\/strong> On if he felt the energy in the stadium\u2026<\/strong> On if he ever thought he would play since he was third on the depth chart\u2026<\/strong> On his touchdown pass\u2026<\/strong> On if he\u2019s been aware of the fan\u2019s desire for him to play\u2026<\/strong> On how he improved his arm strength over the offseason\u2026<\/strong> On whether he was throwing more and getting more repetitions\u2026<\/strong> On how comfortable he felt when he was placed into the game after playing on the scout team this week in practice\u2026<\/strong> On whether he expects to start next week\u2026<\/strong> On the difficulty of the uncertainty around the team\u2019s future at the quarterback position\u2026<\/strong> On his strength as a quarterback\u2026<\/strong> On how much Alabama\u2019s SEC Championship game yesterday ate into his preparation for today\u2019s game\u2026<\/strong> On the experience going from third string to winning a NFL game\u2026<\/strong> Greg McElroy went from 3rd to 1st in a hurry.\u00a0 After months of Mark Sanchez vs Tim Tebow talk, the 2nd year player got an opportunity and made the most of it.\u00a0 With Tim Tebow inactive due to fractured ribs, McElroy was called into action after Mark Sanchez struggled. Here is what Greg McElroy had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16713,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1337,213],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16712","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-home-slider","8":"category-jet-news"},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/McElroy2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peLffi-4ly","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16712"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16715,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16712\/revisions\/16715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIt was kind of one of those things (where) we had just come off and had sputtered the drive before. He told me to just go warm up,<\/p>\n
\n(There was) no indication at all. Going into the entire week, I just prepared as always. I played against the defense on the scout team. I was Ryan Lindley during the week. That was my role. That\u2019s what I was expecting to be. Coach Ryan decided to do something differently.<\/p>\n
\nHe just gave me a hug and said, \u201cGo get them.\u201d It was the same thing I\u2019d say to him. I really appreciate the way he handled it and was very supportive. He was very helpful and I was thankful for that.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s tough to gauge the energy. I didn\u2019t have a decibel meter where I could tell what the crowd noise was (laughter). It was fun. We were having a good time. It was exciting to get a shot and go in there. Fortunately, my teammates did a fantastic job executing. We were able to stick to the run game. We really did a good job of getting some holes for (Bilal) Powell and Shonn (Greene). That made my job a lot easier.<\/p>\n
\nYou never know. This is a crazy game. Even if you\u2019re the one, two or three, you\u2019re always a couple of plays away at most. The Arizona Cardinals started their third quarterback today. Things change throughout the course of the season. You just always have to be ready and always study. Fortunately for me, I\u2019ve been able to work with two great quarterbacks in Mark and Tim. I\u2019m really fortunate to have Coach (Tony) Sparano and Coach (Matt) Cavanaugh preparing us (and) having us understand what the defense is going to be doing and what we\u2019re going to be doing offensively to attack them.<\/p>\n
\nTo tell you the truth, it was a bit of a floater. It was a run reverse option and I almost didn\u2019t want to throw it, but I had to just let it go. Jeff (Cumberland) did a great job of selling the run and Brandon Moore did a fantastic job getting in up front and trying to skirt the edge. It was just great execution. It was a great call by Coach Sparano. I was pretty fortunate and luckily we were able to get in.<\/p>\n
\nI don\u2019t necessarily read the clippings. You try to stay current as an NFL fan. You try to stay current on what\u2019s going on, but I stopped doing that about a year and half ago (laughter).<\/p>\n
\nTo tell you to the truth, last offseason I hurt my thumb and honestly, I think that was probably the greatest blessing I could ever have. It was a blessing in disguise. Obviously, at the time, it\u2019s such a disappointment and your season\u2019s over and they put you on IR, but I was able to really focus and do grip exercises. I had a great offseason program, working out at D1 in Nashville. They really helped me out. We had a plan. We knew what we wanted to do. I knew what I needed to do after meeting with Coach (Matt) Cavanaugh. He told me exactly what he wanted me to improve on and I understand that. (I) still have a long way to go.<\/p>\n
\nMore repetitions, just hand-grip strength exercises, because most arm strength is obviously in-your-core and in-your-grip strength. And I\u2019m not necessarily known for having huge hands, so I had to just really focus on strengthening the muscles within. I thought it was a good plan of attack. Obviously, it\u2019s gotten better yet, but it\u2019s not where I want it to be. Hopefully, I\u2019ll be able to continue to work on it, and my arm will continue to get stronger.<\/p>\n
\nI felt comfortable. Coach (Tony) Sparano does such a great job of explaining exactly how he wanted things to be run, so I felt really comfortable. I understood the game plan. Obviously, I had a great supporting cast, and have those guys making plays for us and getting open. The offensive line gave me tons of time. Honestly, those other 10 guys made my job a lot easier, to be honest with you. I felt comfortable, though. Obviously, I didn\u2019t get any reps with the offense this week, but I watched Mark, I always took those mental reps, and that was always so important for me, just to take those mental reps, because you never know when you\u2019re going to get called upon. I just really kind of learned a lot by watching and hopefully that\u2019ll pay a lot of dividends going forward.<\/p>\n
\nNo expectations at this point. Obviously, just enjoy this one for 24 hours and we\u2019ll see how the week progresses.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s not\u2019s worth speculating about, to be honest with you. We\u2019re football players. What we do – nothing is ever guaranteed, nothing is ever for sure. We just go out every week and we try to learn and we try to get better. I know that\u2019s Tim\u2019s approach, I know that\u2019s Mark\u2019s approach, I know that\u2019s my approach. There\u2019s no need to stress about the uncertain. We\u2019re just letting it unfold the way it happens.<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019m a little nerdy, so pardon me if this comes across wrong. I think one of the things I really try to do and the one thing that Coach (Nick) Saban always tried to emphasize with me as I was a quarterback coming up in his system, just play the game by the numbers. If it\u2019s firstand 10, we want it to be second and five. If it\u2019s second and five, we want it to be third and manageable, so that\u2019s two or three. If you keep it like that, you\u2019re going to keep yourself sustaining long drives and things like that, minimize turnovers and explosive plays are essentially what wins the game. And that\u2019s always been my train of thought. Coach Ryan, obviously him and Coach Saban have a lot of similarities and I\u2019m very very grateful to play for a coach in the NFL that is so similar to what I\u2019ve been used to and what I\u2019ve grown up in. I think just managing the game. I think it\u2019s often overused to a certain extent, but it\u2019s so important and it\u2019s something that I take great pride in. It\u2019s something that I would like to continue to try to do well.<\/p>\n
\nNot much. We actually had the quarterback meeting with about three minutes left. So, A.J. threw the touchdown and then I had to go to the meeting. We find out they\u2019re on the eight-yard line with five seconds left, and my heart starting going for a second. But I found out that we pulled it out. I was happy for them.<\/p>\n
\nI learned when I was in JV football as a sophomore. I threw three picks in my first five attempts. I learned it\u2019s never too high with the highs, never too low with the lows. Just stay even keel. Obviously, that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to try to do. That\u2019s the way I\u2019m going to approach it. I\u2019m going to enjoy this for 24 hours, I\u2019m going to learn from it, I\u2019m going to watch the film. I\u2019m going to get in there, all of us as a group, all 53 guys, we\u2019re going to get ready for Jacksonville. We\u2019re going to enjoy this one for sure and we\u2019re going to try to learn from it and get better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"