Filed Under » Mark Sanchez

New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow says he has spent much of his free time over the past few weeks reading his Bible in search of a verse about getting benched that he can share with Mark Sanchez.

"Mark is going to have to go through a really tough time soon and I'd love to be able to minister to him with scripture about losing your starting job and riding the pine," said Tebow. "I want to uplift Mark's spirits with healing words from Jesus Christ just as much as I want to uplift the quarterback play of the Jets."

Unfortunately, Tebow says he has not yet been able to find a verse that specifically addresses getting benched.

"I was hoping for something like: 'And Jesus said to Peter: He that hath been benched can focus on improving his throwing mechanics to the glory of the Father,'" said Tebow. "But believe it or not, there's pretty much nothing in the Bible about sports. Which is weird, because we all know that God is a big sports fan."

Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez said today that he welcomes the team's acquisition of Tim Tebow and will use it as fuel to make himself better.

"I am confident that at the end of the season, my critics will be forced to acknowledge that the 2012 season was the least shitty of my four seasons in the NFL," Sanchez told reporters. "I fully intend to have repeated flashes of competence in the upcoming season."

In three full seasons as an NFL starter, Sanchez has never thrown for 3,500 yards, completed even 57-percent of his passes or posted a quarterback rating above 78.2 — numbers that put him among the very worst in the NFL over that time. But the former USC quarterback is intent on making improvement across the board in 2012.

"Completing 60-percent of my passes seems a bit bold, but I will definitely shoot for 59-percent," he said. "And I feel like I'm ready to join that level of quarterbacks with ratings in the 80s and call guys like Joe Flacco, Carson Palmer and Kevin Kolb my equals."

If all goes according to plan, Sanchez says that in the next few years, he hopes to "reach the level that Jake Delhomme was at during his prime with the Panthers. It may sound like a foolish dream, but you have to reach for the stars, you know?"