I love my J! E! T! S! To the point that talk to is reminded of me any time they see Gang Green's logo. Anyone I don't talk to has just been taught this fact, and should realize that it is nothing compared to a college degree. So I'm biased. Alot.
This being said, people around the NFL seem to hate Marky Mark. Like, despise this kid. Like, Barack Obama should rue the day his approval ratings are as close to zero as Sanchez's. Like, people are more annoyed by Sanchez than you probably are by the amount of like's I've just used in this. Yet, he really is not as bad as alot of people think he is.
His numbers during his rookie years, horrendous. 15 TDs to 23 turnovers (FYI, I combine td passes and td runs, and I combine interceptions and lost fumbles) Basically, for every td, he gave the ball to the defense one and a half times. You can't be a playoff team, particularly one that goes to the AFC title game, if this is the type of play your quarterback gives you. Unless, of course, you're the 2009 Jets and Mark Sanchez is the man you have under center, then Peyton Manning and the Colts sit in the second to last game of the season and you back into the playoffs. Then, you do get in.
During these playoffs, Sanchez played relatively fabulous football. That 1 to 1.5 td to turnover ratio transformed to 2 to 1. (apparently noone keeps playoff fumbles as a stat, as I could not find them) In fairness, the bulk of the offense rested on the shoulders of Thomas Jones, evidenced by the fact that Sanchez only had 15 pass attempts in the opening round victory against the Bengals, but no coach is asking a rookie quarterback to do much. The man embodied every anti Peyton Manning argument, he played his best football in January.
The 2010 campaign proved to be ery similar to the 09 version, except Sanchez had 20 tds to 14 turnovers. In the playoffs, 5 to 1, and out Brady-ed that Brady cat, and led, all by himself (at that time, Thomas Jones played in Chicago) the Jets to the biggest victory since Joe Namath guaranteed it in Miami. Even though the cheeseheads got the Lombardi, Sanch proved he is the real deal.
This year, Sanchez is 15 to 12, but in fairness, 3 of those turnovers occured as fumbles in Baltimore sans best-center-in-the-league Nick Mangold. The line played t r b l terrible, he had no protection, unusual for a Trojan. (buh dun ching) 7 picks in 8 games, that is absolutely serviceable. Is he and Aaron Rodgers going to be the next Manning/Brady? No, but the kid can play.
I do get the hate, he's handsome, plays for Rex (a.k.a. the only sports figure I loved before he had a title) in the big bad city, pulled off more than one "the fudge did they do that?" comebacks, blah blah blah. I get it. To the rest of NFL America, he is Tom Brady, if Tom Brady didn't have a triumbrant of rings. I get it. But Tom Brady has something else that Mark Sanchez doesn't...
The loss in the playoff game these guys played.
