Sanchez makes his father proud
Nick Sanchez, left, has taken great pride in his son Mark's quick development as an NFL quarterback. Credit: AP
FLORHAM PARK, N.J.
To Jets fans reveling in the team's second straight trip to the AFC Championship Game, Mark Sanchez's back-to-back victories over Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have been two of the most fascinating moments in franchise history.
To Nick Sanchez, the exploits of his son don't seem all that different from the ones he watched years ago.
"Just yesterday, he was playing Little League baseball and Pop Warner football," the Jets quarterback's father said after his son put the finishing touches on the Jets' 28-21 upset of the Patriots in Sunday's divisional playoff game. "In my mind and in my heart, that's how far away we are from that. Just a day away. Just a heartbeat away. Just a thought away."
Like any parent watching his child grow up, Nick Sanchez sees things through the prism of a far more personal nature. So as he sat in the stands at Gillette Stadium alongside his other two sons, Nick Jr., a lawyer, and Brandon, a real-estate executive, the father experienced a peak moment in his life - not because his son's team was moving one step closer to a Super Bowl berth, but because of the deep sense of fulfillment his family has provided.
"I'm watching my son, so it almost takes the game element out of it," said Sanchez, who has not missed one of Mark's football games at any level. "Whether he's competing in junior basketball or playing with the Jets, you want your children to be successful and you want them to remain healthy."
Mark Sanchez was all that and more Sunday. Shaking off two of his worst performances in his previous two trips to Gillette Stadium, he led the Jets to an unexpected win over the 14-2 Patriots just six weeks after a 45-3 loss in the same stadium.
But the take-away for Nick Sanchez wasn't only the win.
"The best thing was being able to be here and enjoy this with all of my sons," he said. "I've got three wonderful sons that I couldn't be prouder of . . . For some reason, the good Lord put Mark in New York with the Jets, and he's making the most of his opportunities."
Nick Sanchez believes Mark's early life experiences allowed him to make a successful transition to playing in New York. And we're not just talking sports here; we're talking lifestyle.
"Coming from Los Angeles, I can take any one of my three sons and put them in that environment [of New York] and they'd be successful," he said. "Whether they were football players or mail carriers, they'd all be successful."
So Nick Sanchez isn't completely shocked by his youngest son's remarkably swift ascent. In just two years with the Jets, Mark Sanchez has won four road playoff games and is playing in his second consecutive AFC title game. Perspective? Sanchez already has equaled the road playoff wins total for Dan Marino and Brett Favre - combined!
"These playoff wins, they're not easy to come by," Mark Sanchez said after the game. "That's what all the older guys have told me, LaDainian and Jason Taylor - you don't get these playoff wins like this in your first two years. It's pretty unorthodox. But I'm proud of the fact that I got drafted to a great team, that I've had the opportunity to play in these big games, and I'm using this experience as we go into next week. But it's not time to get nostalgic and sit back and start thinking about this game. We've got to move on."
It is on to Pittsburgh, where the Jets will try to pull off a third straight playoff upset to get to the Super Bowl for the first time in 42 years. With the Jets having vanquished Manning and Brady, the two pre-eminent quarterbacks of our era, a trip to Dallas not only doesn't seem all that implausible, it seems downright likely.
That's because they have a quarterback undaunted by the pressure of the moment, thanks in large part to how his father raised him. Nick Sanchez, a firefighter for 33 years who now is a captain with the Orange County Fire Authority and a member of the national urban search and rescue team, brought his son up right.
"I just want him to keep an open heart and a level head," said Nick Sanchez, who divorced his first wife, Olga, when Mark was 4. "If he can continue to do that and the Jets can continue to play well with this coaching staff and his teammates, they can continue to be successful. Keep our fingers crossed, keep working hard, say a prayer once in a while, we'll be OK."
