Jets Fans Need to Have Patience with Mark Sanchez

Why are Jets fans so impatient?  Yes, they have suffered for a long time without a championship, however; Mark Sanchez has played a total of six games.  He became the only Quarterback since the merger to win the first three games of his career as a Rookie.

Rex Ryan Thought of Pulling Sanchez During the Game in Which he Threw 5 Int.

Coming off the worst game of his very young career, Mark finally looked like a true rookie.  He had that look of an animal, no not the one with killer instinct.   I’m talking about the one that looks like a deer in the headlights.

I’ll admit that I was also enjoying the three game tease and the quick start that Mark was having, but deep down in my gut, I truly knew that Mark was going to experience bumps in the road.  I also told myself that this is part of the process and we need to give Mark time to grow and get better.

It’s very popular to compare players with previous success stories who have been recently in similar situations, specifically Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan.  It’s done all the time.  These two players had great success as Rookies, both last year.  Now everyone thinks every rookie quarterback should be exactly like these players.

It used to be that the secret formula consisted of letting the Rookie hold a clip board his first couple of seasons, sit behind a veteran and learn.  Sure, this has worked in cases like Shaub, and Cassell, and the list goes on.    The Jets did not have that luxury.  If Brett Favre was still with the team, I would go on a limb and say Sanchez is sitting the bench.  Kellen Clemens is hardly a vereran QB that you want a young talent learning from especially since Kellen has spent most of his career as a professional backup.

Let’s compare Mark Sanchez to Eli Manning.  Manning started his career as the starter 11 games into his rookie season.

Eli Manning  finished the 2004 season with:

1 Win 6 Losses:  95-197 1043 Yards 6 Td 9 Int

Mark Sanchez’s numbers after 6 games in 2009:

3 Wins 3 Losses:  85-163 1035 5 Td 10 Int

Sanchez's 1st 6 Games are Similar to Manning's as a Rookie.

My point is Mark is following a very similiar track as Eli so far and Manning took his team 11-5 the next year.  As long as we continue to see improvements each game, Mark will be our guy for the future.  We shouldn’t give up on him so early on his career.  Remember, if he’s going to emulate Eli, then we should be expecting a superbowl ring soon.

Jets fans, have patience.