Way too early to write off Jets, Sanchez
New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez (6) listens to his coaches during a time out in their last drive of their NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Foxborough, Mass. (Dec. 6, 2010) Credit: AP
You want to sound the alarm on the Jets' season after a two-game losing streak? Go right ahead.
Ready to pronounce Mark Sanchez a mediocre quarterback after last Sunday's clunker in Baltimore, when he stunk up the place? Be my guest.
Just leave me out of it. On both counts.
Sure, there's a lot to be concerned about with a team that hasn't played well after a 2-0 start. The running game is not what it should be, the defense was awful against the Raiders, and Sanchez was a complete mess against the Ravens.
But if you think the Jets are about to sputter out of control and Sanchez doesn't have it in him to be a championship-caliber quarterback, good luck with that.
Sorry, it's just too soon.
Even if the Jets can't deliver in Sunday's huge AFC East game against the Patriots.
The Bill Belichick-Tom Brady Patriots look to be the better team in this early-season divisional matchup against a Jets team that hasn't done much right the last two weeks. Then again, New England was a huge favorite the last time the teams met at Gillette Stadium, and how did that work out? The Jets, who were thumped 45-3 by the Patriots last December, scored a remarkable 28-21 upset in the AFC divisional playoffs.
It's games like that -- and others along the way in the Rex Ryan-Sanchez era -- that make it impossible, and ill-advised, to make sweeping pronouncements about this team and this quarterback. Sorry, but the dial still is pointed up for both, even with the myriad problems affecting the Jets in recent weeks.
No better time for a season-changing win than now. And while you have to give the edge to a Patriots team that is putting up yards and points at an alarming rate, there's one thing the Jets have at the ready to deal with a team as formidable as this. It's called resilience, something we've already seen plenty of in the two-plus years of the Ryan-Sanchez partnership.
Consider: In 2009, the Jets became the first team in NFL history to make the playoffs after suffering through two three-game losing streaks. That was a team that started off 3-0, lost four of its next six, and still got to the AFC Championship Game.
Sanchez had his share of clunkers that year, too. The five- interception debacle against the Bills. The four-interception nightmare against the Patriots.
Even so, he gathered himself and got on a roll late in the year and into the playoffs, beating Carson Palmer and Philip Rivers in January.
Last year, Sanchez had three picks against the Patriots in the second-worst loss in Jets history. But he dusted himself off, beating Peyton Manning's Colts and Brady's Patriots the following week in the playoffs.
If Sanchez puts in another solid performance a week after being pummeled by a Ravens defense that might be the best in football, it will be yet another example of the 24-year-old quarterback's resolve. And another example of why it's silly to write him or his team off.
"In this league, you realize that winning and losing is kind of contagious, so we want to get back on our winning track [and] get back to our winning ways," Sanchez said. "We know exactly what we're up against this week. We know it's a tough divisional opponent, so a win would be great."
Not as great as last season's playoff upset, but certainly a reminder of those giddy feelings.
"It was a big one," Sanchez said. "It kept us playing. It got us to one more game, so that was really important." And this time?
"It might not look just like that this year," he said. "It might be better. It could be a little worse, but we just need to win the game, whatever it takes."
