Mark Sanchez’s Jets return stirs memories of team’s last glory days

It's been a tough couple of years for the New York Jets and their fans. And when I say "couple of years," I mean 14 to be exact. Yes, 14 seasons have come and gone since the Jets last reached the NFL playoffs. In 2010, when they made the postseason, the faces filling out the lineup were completely different.

Well, yesterday, one of those faces, one of the more significant ones, paid a visit to his old stomping grounds in Florham Park. Former Jets quarterback and current Fox Sports analyst Mark Sanchez stopped by to watch the current Jets battle through the dog days of August.

Say what you want about the former fifth overall pick, and you can say a lot of things, but the last time the Jets were a real team with real hope, he was heading the offense. Was he perfect? No. God, no. Was he good? Sometimes. Was he beyond important to the Jets' history? Without question.

The Jets will win or lose, succeed or fail, based on their own merits. But it can't hurt to have some positive vibes in the building. I've mentioned before how similar the new air with Aaron Glenn in Morris County feels to when Rex Ryan took over back in 2009 (I live in Morris County, I can confirm).

Mark Sanchez knows what kind of difference a brand-new coach can make. And, hoping against hope here, maybe some of those deep playoff runs will rub off on the 2025 Jets. Perhaps this will be the year when the franchise finally gets over the playoff hump.

The current Jets team can learn a thing or two from Mark Sanchez

I want to make it clear that I am under no impression that Mark Sanchez was some terrific quarterback. I think I speak for most Jets fans when I say he had us pulling our hair from our scalps more than he had us basking in the glow of his success.

His career 54.9% completion percentage, 68-to-69 touchdown-to-interception ratio, and 33-29 record with the Jets leave a lot to be desired. But have you ever heard the old expression that the grass is not always greener on the other side? Well, I don't know what shade of green the quarterback group that followed Sanchez was, but it certainly wasn't greener.

You don't always know what you have until it's gone. He wasn't perfect, and he wasn't even all that good, but he was a professional quarterback who steered a very talented ship to four road playoff wins in back-to-back seasons.

That is so far and away from anything any Jets quarterback has done since that it's staggering. Laugh all you want, but every single active roster member stands to learn a lesson from Sanchez.

I don't presume the Jets will make the AFC Championship Game this season (though I didn't presume they would in 2009 either), but if they want to turn the tide, they have to look no further than the previous Jets' playoff group.

They, similar to New York's current iteration, were a talented team that just needed stability after years of a circus. They got this with the new head coach Rex Ryan. Even if it doesn't mean the same level of immediate success, there's no reason that the 2025 Jets can't mimic that "new-culture" energy.

Sanchez was not shipped from team to team before landing with the Jets, so his story is vastly different from Justin Fields. But like Fields, Sanchez does know what it's like to be considered the weak link of an otherwise stacked roster.

He knows what it's like to be a vocal leader in a room full of superior talent. He knows the inherent pressure of standing under center at MetLife Stadium. I'm not sure to what extent the pair spoke yesterday, if at all, but I certainly hope the new Gang Green gunslinger picked his brain at least a little bit.

Even if it's just to smile and remember "the good old days," it's nice to see Sanchez back in town. As maddening as he was at times, he meant a great deal to my generation of Jets fans.

And though he finished his career, in many ways, as the butt of a series of jokes, he gets to walk through he halls of One Jets Drive with a well-earned swagger that the current Jets only get to aspire to — for now.

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