It’s not so much that Mark Sanchez and the Jets have been winning lately, rather it’s the way in which they’ve done so. In each of their last four wins, the sophomore quarterback has guided his squad to fourth quarter or overtime comebacks over the Broncos, the Lions, the Browns, and now the Texans this past Sunday. Sure, you could argue that a win is just a win, or that none of those teams were above .500, but that misses the point. Late game rallies like those mentioned above have the potential to affect the confidence of a young quarterback in a way that a more controlled, more convincing, more typical path of winning simply cannot.
Throughout the year, Jets head coach Rex Ryan has continually harped on the significant strides Sanchez made during the offseason. He stresses the fact Mark is always the first one in the door and the last one to leave the practice field, and how his teammates have responded to his deepening sense of leadership. Certainly, if he’s exhibited anything, Sanchez has shown that he has the willingness and the determination to improve and excel at this level.
For one he’s learned, and continues to learn, that he still has a lot to learn, to phrase it crudely. He still has trouble throwing a consistently accurate deep ball, as witnessed last week when he overthrew a streaking Santonio Holmes in the second quarter, then sailed one past the arms of an open Braylon Edwards deep downfield late in the fourth quarter, right before throwing his only interception of the game. Sanchez has had issues with accuracy in general this season, whether throwing a 3-yard checkdown toss or a 40-yard sideline pattern, as he’ll bounce a pass in the flat to a runningback one play and fire a long strike to a blanketed tight-end the next. He has also displayed at times a tendency to rush the play, opting for the safe, short pass instead of holding his scan and allowing his receivers’ routes to develop downfield, even in situations with little to no pocket pressure.
This is not to downplay the profound progress he has made on the field, however, especially over the last few weeks. Mark has learned above all that when it comes down to it, he is steadily evolving into an excellent pressure quarterback. He’s mobile, he throws fairly well on the run, his tuck-it-and-sprint and get-rid-of-it instincts are getting better each week, and he has made particularly impressive improvements in his ability to expose blitzes and avoid edge/gap pressure. In the Texans game, Sanchez went 12 of 18 for 189 yards when Houston brought five rushers and 5 for 7 when they brought six. All three of his touchdown passes came in the face of a six-man rush (stats courtesy of ESPN Stats & Information).
Most importantly, however, Sanchez has learned to thrive when the circumstances are most adverse. At Denver, he came back not once, but twice in the fourth quarter to march the Jets to their fifth win. He orchestrated a pair of fourth-quarter scoring drives in Detroit as well, this time within the span of 4 minutes and 26 seconds, to force overtime and eventually steal the victory. Two weeks ago in Cleveland, the magic continued as Mark found Holmes in the closing seconds of overtime to avoid the dreaded tie and salvage what was a dominant second-half performance.
And finally last week in New Jersey, with twenty-four seconds left on the clock and his team trailing by four points, Sanchez uncorked one of the finest throws he’s ever made in a Jets uniform, connecting with Edwards deep down the right sideline for 42-yards to the Houston 6 yard line. The receiver had sprinted into an opening between corner Jason Allen and safety Eugene Wilson Texans safety, giving Sanchez just enough of a window to arch one into his lap. It’s not every Sunday you see a quarterback make that kind of a throw in that kind of situation, let alone a second-year guy who has been criticized for the low degree of difficulty of his completed passes. Mark sealed yet another comeback win with a quick zip to Holmes for the go-ahead touchdown. On the game he netted 300+ yards passing for second time in his career. His first came two weeks prior against the Lions, the first time a Jets quarterback had done so since Chad Pennington in 2006.