New England Patriots vs. New York Jets: Stopping Mark Sanchez Key for Patriots

Turning skeptics into believers.

That's been the name of the game for the New York Jets this season, specifically Mark Sanchez, who entered the season with serious doubts about his ability to lead a team as a franchise-caliber quarterback.

He may not have reached elite status just yet, but he's well on his way.

Bill Belichick notices the growth, too.

"He's showed a lot of poise this year late in games," said Belichick. "He's done a good job of managing games, making big plays when he has to (and) taking good care of the ball."

More and more each week, we're seeing Brian Schottenheimer loosen the leash that's had Sanchez playing a ball control-style of offense. Less and less, we're seeing that the Jets need to run the ball on first, second and third down to win games.

The Jets have rushed for over 100 yards in two of their losses, so it's clear that running doesn't necessarily correlate to winning for them the way it did in 2009.

In fact, in three of the past four Jets games, we've seen Sanchez command a game-winning drive. The wins may not be impressive, but Sanchez's play in the clutch certainly has been.

Last season, the name of the game was to shut down the Jets rush attack and hope for Mark Sanchez to make mistakes.

Although his numbers have been impressive, Football Outsiders tells a different story.

His DVOA is just 5.8 percent and is seventh-lowest among quarterbacks who have started every game. What that means is that per play, he's only 5.8 percent better than an "average" quarterback in the same situations.

Yes, Sanchez has progressed, but he's still hardly an "elite" quarterback.

That being said, there are still weaknesses that can be exposed. Of course, it might help if the Patriots had a solid, consistent pass rush to rely on, but they proved that they can force quarterbacks into mistakes by disguising their coverages.

Just look at what they did to Peyton Manning and to Shaun Hill in the second half of those games.

Rex Ryan said, "There are very few coaches that I steal from, but Bill Belichick is one of them."

Belichick will have to give Ryan a few new things to steal from him if the Patriots want to win on Sunday.