We heard all the cliches in the lead-up to the Colts game. “This is a passing league – you live and die by your quarterback,” they all said. Presumably, they were expecting Mark Sanchez to blow the game, as he had done so many times prior that year. No rookie quarterback had ever played in a Super Bowl, and there was no way a kid with 21 interceptions and a passer rating of 63 was going to be the first. The game came and went, and true to the cynics’ words, the Jets were eliminated from the postseason. Yet, to the surprise of most, it wasn’t Sanchez’s fault. His 56.7% completion percentage for 257 yards may not have been the stuff of legends, but his touchdown bomb to Braylon Edwards might well have been, had Lito Shepperd and Dwight Lowery not decided to take the weekend off.

In a schizophrenic season, Sanchez may have been the most erratic Jet of all. He began the year a three time Pepsi “Rookie of the Week” winner, and looked every bit the future superstar he was touted to be. The media lauded his intangibles, constantly referring to his poise and “It” factor, something they still on occasion do when they want to praise him for his good looks, but struggle to find a way to make that relevant to football. Then things went to Hell, and fast. Over the next three weeks, Sanchez was a Browning Nagle level disaster, throwing eight interceptions to only three touchdowns, with an average QB rating of 44.5. Rex Ryan even weighed the option of benching him against the Bills, following his fifth (!) pick of the night. The home crowd fans would not have been so hesitant to do so. Four more picks would follow in the Week 11 matchup against New England, with three of the four going to the same defensive back: the Patriots’ Leigh Bodden. He would throw three against Atlanta in a crucial late season contest, and start off Week 10 with a pick on the very first play against Jacksonville. The early season star had fallen, and hard.

Go down the field!