Glauber: Make room for Sanchez, Eli

In a league that offers no guarantees when it comes to developing top-flight quarterbacks, New York fans might be in the midst of an unprecedented treat in watching two great ones blossom simultaneously.

Giants fans have seen Eli Manning turn into a Super Bowl MVP by Year 4 of his career, and now Jets fans are witnessing an equally compelling maturation process with Mark Sanchez in Year 2.

When was the last time Giants and Jets fans had it so good, with two homegrown quarterbacks at the same time?

Try never.

When Joe Namath was in his heyday with the Jets, the Giants rented Fran Tarkenton between stints with the Vikings before enduring the Norm Snead years. When Phil Simms was developing into a Super Bowl quarterback with the Giants, the Jets went through Richard Todd, Matt Robinson and then Ken O'Brien, none of whom got past the AFC title game. And when Manning became a champion, the Jets could get only so far with Chad Pennington.

Credit Sanchez with injecting himself into a legitimate discussion about developing into a championship quarterback in the crucible of New York. With the Jets off to a 4-1 start, and with Sanchez continuing the improvement he showed late last season and into the playoffs, we are looking at a potential golden era for New York quarterbacks.

With only 20 regular-season starts and three playoff games to his credit, there is still a ways to go in the developmental process. But with the arrow pointing up and Sanchez still only 23, it is no stretch to see the kid winning it all. Maybe one day soon.

Consider: Of all the quarterbacks who came into the season as the starter, he is the first to go this long without throwing an interception. His touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio of 8-0 is a far cry from last year's 12-20.

Even when Sanchez was not at his best in Monday night's 29-20 win, his ability to protect the ball - even in torrential downpours - was the latest sign of his maturity. "I really don't think I would have been able to sustain this thing last year,'' he said, "and I don't think we would have won this game."

Last year, he would have forced too many throws instead of taking checkdowns, and he's convinced there would have been turnovers.

"I wasn't making the bad decisions that I made last year," he said. "Some of the throws weren't great, but just eliminating the bad decisions, we really have a chance to play well."

Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer can't remember working with another quarterback who went five straight games without an INT. And he attributes Sanchez's improvement to his increased maturity. At least on the field; off the field, Sanchez is as big a practical joker as there is on the team.

"When I'm around him in meetings, I use the word 'mature' and I look at him and I'm like, 'Well, maybe I shouldn't say mature,' " Schottenheimer said. "I think he's matured on the football field in a lot of ways. We threw it 44 times last week, in bad conditions. He's understanding the importance of ball security. He takes a lot of pride in knowing that we're the No. 1 team in the league right now in turnover margin. That's hard to learn."

But Sanchez has learned it at an incredibly early age - both in human years and quarterback years. The learning curve has been huge, and there's no reason to think Sanchez can't continue on the upward track.

And there's no reason to think he can't join Manning as a Super Bowl champion someday - and thus continue an era that very well could turn out to be the greatest collective quarterback run New York football has ever enjoyed.