Mark Sanchez Takes Solace in the Career of His Giants Counterpart

July 30, 2012; Cortland, NY, USA; New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez (6) delivers the pass at the New York Jets practice. Mandatory Credit: William Perlman/THE STAR-LEDGER via US PRESSWIRE

Mark Sanchez is getting used to the rough road that is being the quarterback of a New York football team. He has had his ups and downs, just as his New York counterpart, Eli Manning, did in his first three seasons. If you remember, most Giants fans wanted Eli out of town during the early part of his career. Mark has done his homework on Eli’s career, and the ascent it took beginning in his fourth year, so much so, that he rattled off stats, unprompted:

“That fourth year, I think he threw one pick in the playoffs when they won that Super Bowl — one. And I think he might have thrown 20 in the regular season. I’ve been there, plenty of quarterbacks have been there, so you see the margin for error in this league is so small. And once the quarterback, the offense and the coordinator really realize that, and take advantage of that and show that on the field, you can win a lot of games and be very successful.”

We have outlined here before, how their careers took similar paths. In their third seasons, Eli completed 57% of his passes and recorded 24 TDs, while Mark completed 56% and recorded 26 TDs, so the natural parallel is there.

Mark has done a lot of homework studying other careers:

“You see guys elevate their game in the playoffs, you look at other careers — that kind of stuff gets brought to your attention,” Sanchez said. “And especially (if) you have similar career tracks as somebody else in the league or a similar upbringing. Just like (Andrew) Luck and (Peyton) Manning. They are both first-round picks; they both stayed for their senior year. You just pick up on similarities like that. So yeah, I looked into it, and have seen how successful he’s been and seen how he has really weathered the storm and played really well. His game is unbelievable. He’s doing a great job.”

Sanchez knows it’s a tough road to becoming an elite quarterback, and the patience and hard work that it takes:

“It takes time, it takes a confidence level and that only happens through getting more and more reps,” Sanchez said. “And as guys mature and get a little older and more familiar with the defenses they see, get more familiar with their surroundings, what a pre-game routine is like, they really nail down their own routine and kind of find themselves. “They just start playing better, they feel more comfortable, they suddenly become more accurate and people take notice of it in their fourth, fifth, sixth year. But it’s a process and a lot of them who had early success might have sat for a couple years and watched somebody do it for two, three years and then came in and really took the league by storm.”

Mark is showing his maturity by the minute so far in 2012. The fact that he understands what it takes, and how long it can take, to become a great QB, he won’t press. He will work hard, but will allow things to take shape and not do more than he can do.

He has been taking control of the first team offense so far, let’s hope he keeps it going.