Jets Season Lies in the Hands of the Sanchise

If you were to tell me that after his epic Week 6 five interception stink bomb against Buffalo that Mark Sanchez would win a playoff game this season I would have looked at you like you were crazier than Ron Artest (note: if you’re reading this Ron Ron I am sorry. Please don’t hurt me. Please.). Now, the Sanchise is back in full effect. He played a tremendous game in Cincinnati and led a balanced Jets offensive attack. As dominant as the Jets rushing attack has been all year, Sanchez and the passing game’s struggles have balanced out the offensive unit negatively. It is for this reason that Sanchez continues to be the wildcard or X-factor, or whatever you want to call it. For the record I prefer “the life-sized Mexican question mark”, but that’s just my opinion.

When you look at this matchup on paper, it might actually favor the Jets. In fact Aaron Schatz of the Football Outsiders crunched his number and came away projecting a Jets victory. The Jets run the ball with reckless abandon, leading the league on the ground. San Diego is 20 th in the league at stopping the run, so this matchup seems to favor the NYJ. As I Jets fan for nearly 25 years, I cannot be so naïve. There is always something looming over the Jets signaling their impending doom. Whether it is Terrell Davis, Doug Brien, or even Vinny Testaverde’s Achilles Tendon, something is always lurking to cause yet another year tacked on to a four plus decade Super Bowl drought.

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The key to this game is Mark Sanchez simple as that. The other aspects of this Jets team “are what we thought they were” as Denny Green of the UFL’s California Redwoods would say. The Jets should be able to run the football against San Diego. Their defense should be able to somewhat slow down the Chargers offense and possibly stop them. But the question remains as to whether the Jets will win the turnover battle. The turnover battle will decide this game and the responsibility of protecting the football lies mostly in the arms of the Sanchise. Last week Sanchez played nearly flawless football and did not turn the ball over. In return the Jets turned in a nearly dominant performance. At times this season, Mark Sanchez has looked worse than a close up of Heidi Fleiss on VH1’s “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew”, but last week he seemed to put it all together. Will he be able to do the same thing this week in San Diego? Will he struggle more than “The Situation” when sealing the game is a distinct possibility? Will he cause me to have the first heart attack of what surely will be many in my future? Maybe. This is why he remains the one wildcard on this Jets squad and why no one can predict how this game will end.

Personally wondering about how Sanchez will perform Sunday has kept me awake all week. I am hoping and praying that he keeps it going throughout the playoffs. Stranger things have happened. Rex Ryan has already outperformed Eric Mangini as Jets Head Coach with that win last week and I am extremely pleased with this team’s progress, but I can’t help but be greedy.

Unfortunately the Chargers are the best team in the NFL and the Sanchise has the odds stacked against him.

I refuse to predict this game BASED ON ALL THE REASONS I JUST RAILED ABOUT.

Go Jets!

Viva Sanchez!

In Rex We Trust!

By Daniel Rein
ProFootball-fans.com New York Jets Correspondent