Giants need better luck against Cowboys in the post-Landry era
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PHOTOS () —
By Ian O'Connor
The Record (Hackensack N.J.)
(MCT)
INDIANAPOLIS — Mark Sanchez created something of a stir when he wore that Wonderboy T-shirt of his Friday, the kind of stir Joe Namath used to create by wearing panty hose or a fur coat.
But on Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis, Sanchez needs to embrace this unforgiving truth:
The Jets don't need a boy behind center. They need a man.
Yes, it's a lot to ask of a quarterback whose college coach, Pete Carroll, didn't think Sanchez was ready for the NFL, never mind an AFC Championship Game held in Peyton's place.
Sanchez has started all of 33 Southern Cal and NFL games. If people remember Namath as a brash kid the last time the Jets and Colts played for a championship, well, Joe Willie had been a pro for four full years.
Don Shula reminded a caller of that the other day, and reminded that his Super Bowl III guy, Earl Morrall, had been running the Colts for only four months.
Sanchez is the four-month guy here, and Manning is the established veteran, perhaps the greatest quarterback of all time. The rookie won't get by today with 100 yards passing and a nice little rollout throw to Dustin Keller.
The Jets will need more to maintain this road-warrior run out of the Giants' playbook from two years back. Manning's on the other side of the field, after all, and as Marques Douglas said of the Colts' franchise player, "He's no Carson Palmer."
Sanchez will have to score some points to help out Shonn Greene and Thomas Jones and a defense fully capable of contributing a touchdown or two. Sanchez also will have to ignore that little devil on his left shoulder pad telling him he'll have plenty of postseason opportunities if this one doesn't work out.
Way back when, Dan Marino was a young gun on the wrong Super Bowl side of Joe Montana. He did a cute Pepsi commercial with Montana after the loss, and figured he'd have his fair share of chances to even the big-game score.
Marino never returned to the Super Bowl. Of course, Namath never did, either, after making good on his forever guarantee.
Jets' quarterbacks have gone more than 40 years without reaching the biggest Sunday in sports, so Sanchez has to assume this matchup with Manning is a one-and-done proposition, his singular chance to leave a footprint on the history of the game.
Sanchez has to block out the optimism expressed by Braylon Edwards, who said the quarterback's talent and enthusiasm inspires the hope that the two can "light the league up next (season) and for years to come."
Forget next season. Forget the years to come. NFL teams always are one major injury away from a would-be dynasty to everyone gets fired.
"I don't want to go home," Sanchez said. "This is too cool. This is too fun."
He sounds more like a child on his first sleepover than a bonus baby with a chance of becoming the first rookie quarterback to play in a Super Bowl.
"It's the coolest thing in the world," Sanchez said, "just knowing that everybody in that stadium, everybody on your team, on their team, is watching and waiting for you to say, 'Go.' Waiting for you to hike the ball."
The sport revolves around the player who says "go," the player who hikes the ball. Just in case Sanchez didn't get it before he headed to Indy, Rex Ryan, a rookie himself, told him the following:
"Just because every kid in the world dreams to be in this spot, don't let it affect you."
Sure, Ryan got a laugh out of that one, just like he gets a laugh out of every news conference he attends. When he introduced himself to the media by predicting the Jets would land at the White House in the near future, more than a few coaches and executives around the league thought the joke was on Rex.
Who's laughing now?
Ryan mistakenly eliminated the Jets after the disastrous Atlanta loss left them 7-7, and left his quarterback looking like a hopelessly lost cause. Sanchez was an interception machine in that game, like he'd been for much of the season, but Ryan and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer lifted his chin off the deck.
"We love the way you play," they assured him. "We obviously love your instincts. ... Look how far you've (gotten). Look at how many wins you have as a rookie already."
The positive reinforcement helped Sanchez turn 7-7 into 11-7. So did the encouraging words from Jones and Tony Richardson and the rest of the Jets' veterans who see Sanchez as a likable if vulnerable leader, and a quarterback with the requisite charisma to win.
"Mark has the same characteristics that Brett Favre has," Jay Feely said, "that natural ability to lead. You see how Brett draws teammates and fans to him, and Mark has the same quality."
Sanchez and Favre, his predecessor, could end up in Miami exchanging stories about Schottenheimer, the Jersey Turnpike and whether the weary old Viking looks better in purple or green. But for that conversation to have any chance of happening, Sanchez needs to elevate his game closer to the level occupied by Favre, Manning and Drew Brees.
He can start building himself a legacy Sunday, in Manning's house, with the Jets trying to get to the big game for the first time since January 1969.
His coach wants him to stay loose despite the stakes. "Go out and be a kid," Ryan told Sanchez.
Better yet, go out and be a man.
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(c) 2010, North Jersey Media Group Inc.
Visit The Record Online at http://www.northjersey.com/
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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PHOTOS (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099):
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