Mark Sanchez Poised to Handle Increased Expectations in New York

Last season, the Jets asked Mark Sanchez simply not to lose. This year, he will be expected to do much more than that.

Head coach Rex Ryan opted to throw the fifth overall pick into the fire immediately, putting him under center in Week 1. Sanchez wasn’t asked to set the field aflame, but he was asked to manage the game.

Able to do just that — due in large part to the NFL’s top defense and No. 1 running game — Sanchez collected 18 games under his professional belt and didn’t prevent New York from improbably running to the AFC championship game. No one was confusing the Pretty Boy for a Pro Bowler with his 20 interceptions to 12 touchdowns and modest 2,444 passing yards. But the rookie out of USC showed he could assume the duties of game manager early on, including a Week 2 win over the Patriots in which Sanchez threw for 163 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.

With that precious year of experience and a much-improved receiving corps, Sanchez will be asked to do a little bit more in 2010. And he can.

He took his lumps when he needed to throw more than 25 times, recording four ugly games of three interceptions or more (including a particularly nasty contest in Foxboro when he was picked off four times and coughed up the ball for a fifth turnover). But for rookie quarterbacks, a year older is absolutely a year wiser, and Sanchez is a quick study.

For starters, the game slows down for a quarterback entering his sophomore year in the NFL, allowing young gunslingers to unveil more of their repertoire and improve on a usually rocky rookie campaign. They stop thinking and start reacting, taking what defenses give them and exploiting holes. Sanchez has the quick release and the arm strength to compete, and now that he has maneuvered through the first-season haze, he will be able to fully showcase that for all to see.

The 23-year-old also displayed uncanny composure under pressure. He led the Jets from behind in both of their playoff wins, and helped the offense put up 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter at San Diego.

What also plays in Sanchez’s favor is the likely continued dominance of the Jets’ defense — which added cornerback Antonio Cromartie and sack specialist Jason Taylor — and their running game. Sanchez still won’t have to score 30 to win games, and he still doesn’t have to expect defensive linemen to pin their ears back and blitz the heck out of him. No pressure there.

Mix low pressure, a steady head and increased experience with a No. 2 wide receiver not named Chansi Stuckey, and things are going to get better. Sanchez had 14 games to develop a rapport with Braylon Edwards, as well as a full year to click with top wideout Jerricho Cotchery and safety blanket Dustin Keller, and that chemistry will be evident. Throw top 10-caliber receiver Santonio Holmes (79 catches, 1,248 yards in 2009) into the mix, and opposing defenses have to worry about both a powerful backfield and a star-studded receiving group.

Shonn Greene bounces off tacklers and will likely top 1,000 yards on the ground as he replaces aging Thomas Jones, who’s now with the Chiefs. LaDainian Tomlinson no longer is a feature back, but the former 2001 top-five pick isn’t a half-bad change of pace. Throw in the shifty, speedy Joe McKnight (Sanchez’s USC teammate) to replace shifty, speedy Leon Washington, and the Jets’ backfield shouldn’t miss a beat.

Everything around Mark Sanchez is as good as it was last year — if not better — which is why he is being asked to lead New York to an AFC East title. The perennial powerhouse in New England has every reason to worry it won’t have at least a share of the division crown since realignment.

Sanchez proved he can make the Jets not lose all the way to the AFC championship game. Now he has a real shot to help his team win.