Mark Sanchez won’t be seen on the NFL on Fox this week. And at this point, it’s hard to tell when he might come back to the network, if at all.
Last weekend, Sanchez was involved in one of the most bizarre and concerning stories featuring a top network analyst. After news broke that he was stabbed in Indianapolis where he was supposed to call the Colts-Raiders game, the former USC quarterback was arrested for his role in the incident while in the hospital.
According to the police reports, Sanchez was allegedly the aggressor in an encounter with a 69 year-old truck driver, who stabbed Sanchez in self defense. The longtime NFL veteran now faces a felony battery charge due to the injuries suffered by the truck driver in the fracas in addition to multiple misdemeanors.
Fox Sports was already shuffling their NFL announcing lineup this month thanks to their annual coverage of the MLB Postseason. Last Sunday that was further complicated by Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma going overseas to call a game from England. Jason Benetti subbed for Joe Davis alongside Greg Olsen while Eric Collins made a memorable cameo appearance. Mark Sanchez was scheduled to work with Chris Myers. Instead, Fox college football analyst Brady Quinn filled in.
This week, Myers will work with his regular season-long partner in Mark Schlereth, calling the game between the Seattle Seahawks and Jacksonville Jaguars. Meanwhile, Adam Amin will partner Olsen and Vilma and Albert will return to Fox duty. The duos of Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady along with Kevin Kugler and Daryl Johnston fill out the Week 6 broadcasting lineup.
With bye weeks beginning in full, Fox may not need to call Mark Sanchez back to duty for a while. The network only has five broadcasts each Sunday through November 9 for Week 11. They can keep the same lineup they are using this week in tact until then.
By that time, we may know more about Sanchez’s legal situation, let alone how he is recovering from being stabbed. Given that Fox Sports could face some liability of their own, it’s quite possible that Sanchez won’t be seen on Fox again until this situation is fully settled. And depending on how the criminal charges against Sanchez play out, we may not see him return to television at all.
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