While his little brother engineered a draft-day trade to New York, Peyton Manning always has been viewed as wanting nothing to do with the Big Apple.
Faced with the likelihood of being the No. 1 pick by the Jets in the 1997 draft, Manning instead returned to Tennessee for his senior season. The Colts took Manning with the top pick the next year, and history still is being made as he will start his 208th consecutive game, counting postseason, in the AFC championship game against the Jets on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The Jets traded down from No. 1 in ‘97, picking linebacker James Farrior at No. 8, and have searched and searched for a quarterback. Weak-armed Chad Pennington carried them to the playoffs. Ageless Vinny Testaverde had his moments. But until landing Mark Sanchez in April, when they traded up for the No. 5 pick, the Jets were a desperate bunch.
Before “The Sanchise,” they tried about everything, including Brett Favre last season. Here are the other quarterbacks to start for Gang Green during Manning’s remarkable run: Brooks Bollinger, Quincy Carter, Kellen Clemens, Glenn Foley, Ray Lucas and Rick Mirer. None evoked images of Joe Willie Namath.
See what you did, Peyton?
“Let me be clear: The reason I decided to stay had nothing to do with who had the first pick,” he said. “My reasons for staying were based purely on the fact that I wanted to be a senior in college. I kind of rushed through my first three years. I wanted to have that one year to slow things down and really enjoy the college experience.
“There is no telling how it would have turned out. Bill Parcells was there. He and I had visited a couple of times through the years, and there is no guarantee they would have taken me.”
Sanchez, a sensation in New York since the draft, now encounters Manning in a David-vs.-Goliath meeting of quarterbacks. Sanchez has been charged with not losing it for a team that has a top-ranked running game and defense and lives by the motto “ground and pound.”
Manning, fresh off his fourth MVP award, is rewriting record books. Sanchez is seeking his place in history too as the first rookie to win a Super Bowl. Manning is trying to win his second in four years.
You couldn’t find two quarterbacks any more different. Sanchez appears polished enough that he likely understands such opportunities can be fleeting. But he’s not consumed by the moment, saying it feels like the Jets are preparing to head to Houston, where they opened the season.
Only the Bears’ Jay Cutler threw more interceptions (26) this season than Sanchez (20). But he has been picked off only once in the last four games, and 10 of those 20 interceptions came in the first six games.
Sanchez recently ditched color-coded wrist bands he wore as on-field cheat sheets, now relying on running back Thomas Jones or fullback Tony Richardson if he has a question. The Sports Illustrated cover boy this week has made plays for the Jets in the postseason. He completed only 12 of 23 passes for 100 yards last week in an upset at San Diego, but it was his scrambling effort that led to a 2-yard pass to Dustin Keller for the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter. He missed on only three passes the week before at Cincinnati in a coming-of-age outing.
“He’s a rookie,” said guard Alan Faneca, who won a Super Bowl in Pittsburgh when Ben Roethlisberger was in his second season. “You start seeing things more and more, things become easier, the game slows down a little bit. You’re able to play in your element instead of trying to play within the element of the playbook.”
Unless Rex Ryan’s aggressive defense can throttle the Colts machine, Sanchez will have to make some plays to take the next step in a storybook season. Some have drawn parallels to what Trent Dilfer did as a caretaker for the Ravens in 2000, with the difference being the Jets believe Sanchez will be a franchise quarterback.
Until then, he’s just a young guy with a wide smile, showing up for his news conference Friday wearing a black T-shirt with “Wonderboy” across the front and a silver lightning bolt.
“Yep, Roy Hobbs,” he said.
Hobbs, of course, starred for the New York Knights and Wonderboy was the name of his bat in the novel “The Natural” and the 1984 film.
“I’ve had it for a while,” Sanchez said. “I’m wearing everything that could bring a little something good.”
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