NY Jets: Will They Win Because of or Despite of Mark Sanchez?

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As a Trojan fan, I feel the average Jets fan's angst. You want to love Mark Sanchez, but he constantly makes you twitch. He did it to us in LA as well.

He'll make 10 amazing passes in a row and then throw an interception that will leave you speechless.

But soon, he will reach a point during the season where his mistakes will be magnified.

Because the team is built to take the lead early and stay in front, the only problem the Jets will have is if they have to come from behind.

Then he will have to step up and make the key plays.

Will he be able to?

5. Win Because of Him: Santonio Holmes

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Now that Santonio Holmes is in the fold, that gives Sanchez one more veteran receiver he can count on to run the right play and be there for him when the pressure comes.

5. Win Despite Him: LT

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Everyone who heard that Ladainian Tomlinson was heading over to play for the Jets thought the same thing: He is going to be a third down back, and he is running on fumes.

No one guessed that he would be the lead back, cranking out 100 yard games and taking over whenever the Jets need to ice a game.

If he continues like this, Sanchez will only need to not lose a game for the Jets to strive.

4. Win Because of Him: The Remaining Schedule

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The Jets will be facing teams like Pittsburgh and New England on the road and Miami and Houston at home in the second half of the season.

All four of those teams know that the Jets are going to try and run first and foremost. All four teams can put points on the board and make the game a shootout.

Sanchez will have to out duel at least two of those quarterbacks to get the wins.

4. Win Despite Him: Rex Ryan

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His defensive guru of a head coach has come up with schemes that have slowed down the Patriots, Dolphins and Ravens already.

As long as Sanchez doesn't give the ball away, Ryan's schemes will keep the team in any game.

3. Win Because Of Him: No Turnovers, Leadership

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If you watched Hard Knocks on HBO, you could see that even though he was a game manager last year and in camp this year, he was still the team leader in the huddle .

And you could see while Favre was fumbling and being intercepted in the bad weather of New York on Monday Night, Sanchez was a cool customer with no turnovers.

It's tough to knock him when he isn't putting his defense in a bad way.

3. Win Despite Him: Low Completion Percentage

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When you run a ball control offense, you need to make first downs.

If you want to control the clock, you need to be able to convert on third down to get a new series of downs.

So far this year, Sanchez is completing 55 percent of his passes which is relatively low for a winning quarterback.

In the team's two closest games, the win against Minnesota and the loss to Baltimore, Sanchez completed less than 50 percent of his passes.

Unless he can raise his percentages, the team will have to run the ball even more.

2. Win Because of Him: Best Option for Jets

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Steve Spurrier believes in coaching up the guys that you have, and it seems like the Jets go by the same principle.

Sanchez was their high draft pick, and he gives them the best chance at winning. If they didn't believe that, they would bring in Mark Brunell.

Sanchez knows he has the team's confidence.

2. Win Despite Him: Poor Clock Management

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There are guys in this league, namely Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Tom Brady, who can do miracles with less than two minutes to go in a game.

Fortunately for the Jets, they faced a guy who some think can still do it, but has proven time and again that he can't.

But if Sanchez puts his defense up against it and continues to have poor clock management, one of these days it will come back to haunt the team.

Ryan can't out scheme everyone.

1. Win Because of Him: League is Too Good

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Everyone points to the running and defense of Mike Ditka's Bears and Ray Lewis' Ravens as the model on how to win the Super Bowl with a game manager.

I say those examples were faulty because both Jim McMahon and Trent Dilfer had to make plays those years.

I say you can't win a Super Bowl with a guy who just doesn't lose it for you. He has to make plays.

And Sanchez will have to make plays.

1. Win Despite Him: New Orleans Saints

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I am in no way comparing Drew Brees, the Super Bowl MVP, to a second year guy who is learning on the fly.

But I will say that the Saints caught a lot of breaks that caused people to say that they were a team of destiny.

Lots of things have to go right for a team to win it all. The Patriots won all three of their Super Bowls by a field goal and then lost by the same margin.

To go the whole way you need some luck and clutch plays. Maybe the Jets can have enough of both of those elements to offset Sanchez and his growing pains.

The Verdict:

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In the end, no amount of luck or breaks or even great defense will take the Jets all the way to the promised land.

If they are to go there, it will be because Mark Sanchez takes them there.

Some say the last great Jets quarterback was Joe Namath. Is there any coincidence that he is also the first, last and only quarterback to lead the Jets to a Super Bowl Championship?