A Star Is Born

Jets fans have watched Jim Kelly lead the Bills, Dan Marino lead the Dolphins, and Tom Brady lead the Patriots, all the while waiting for their own franchise quarterback. The wait is officially over.

In a Super Bowl or bust season, facing enormous pressure, and constantly being referred to as the "weak link", Mark Sanchez has quickly become not only an adequate starting quarterback, he has become a star in the making.

However, should we really be surprised? We should have seen the signs as to what kind of quarterback he could be.

-Hes the kind of quarterback who outplays Tom Brady in only his 2nd career start, leading the Jets to a 16-9 victory over Belichek and the Patriots. The first Jets win home victory over New England since 2000.

-Hes the kind of quarterback who completes 80% of his passes in his 1st career road playoff game in freezing temperatures in Cincinnati.

-Hes the kind of quarterback who scrambles and keeps the play alive on 3rd and goal in San Diego, throwing a touchdown pass to give the Jets the lead in the 4th quarter, orchestrating the biggest upset of the 2009 NFL season.

-Hes the kind of quarterback who throws a picture perfect 80 yard touchdown pass to Braylon Edwards on the road in the AFC Championship game with Dwight Freeney breathing down his neck.

Despite these outstanding moments from his rookie season, Sanchez has continually been scrutinized and ridiculed. His rookie season was far from perfect but it was not nearly as poor as people made it out to be. Of his 20 interceptions in 2009, 15 came in 5 games, meaning in the other 10 games he only threw 5. Not trying to paint him as an MVP, but he played well for a rookie in every two out of three games.

On the biggest stage in the postseason, he became only the second rookie quarterback in NFL history to win two playoff games. His QB Rating of 92.7 through three playoff games is the highest ever for any rookie quarterback in the postseason. All in all, no rookie quarterback has ever had a better postseason than the one Mark Sanchez had in 2009.

In his second season, Sanchez has build on his rookie performance and improved in ways that even the most optimistic Jets fan could not have imagined. The Jets are currently the number one seed in the highly competitive AFC and they owe it all to their 24 year old quarterback.

The running game and defense have not equalized, or even come close, to their 2009 form. The onus has fallen back on Sanchez and he has delivered time and time again. Whether it be a 4th and 6 with the game on the line in Denver, a 10 point deficit with less then 3 minutes left in Detroit, tied at 20 with 24 seconds left in overtime in Cleveland, or down 4 with 55 seconds left and no timeouts while being 72 yards away from pay dirt, Sanchez has come through in the clutch.

There is no doubt that up until this point Sanchez has been the best player on the 2010 Jets. Without his stellar play the team could easily find itself at 4-6 or worse. He only started 16 games at USC but his two biggest performances came in the two biggest games of his college career against Ohio State and Penn State. The recipe for his heroics has been present before he became an NFL quarterback.

Whatever the "it" factor is, Mark Sanchez certainly has it. In a league where offenses and quarterbacks continue to dominate, the New York Jets finally have their man.