NEW YORK — Mark Sanchez probably did a dozen things wrong.

And yet none of them mattered.
When Sanchez scrambled to score the Jets’ opening touchdown of a 24-17 win over the Titans, when he lowered his helmet and squared his shoulders, sacrificing his body to poke the football across the plane of the end zone, he surely sent the pulses racing and the blood pressures rising for a franchise desperate to protect its marquee player.
And yet, when Sanchez turned a third-and-10 desperation play into a touchdown, the beginning of an afternoon that would see the Jets become the most improbable 3-0 team in the NFL, he did one thing that no purist could lament: He won over a football team.
“How many quarterbacks do you see do that?” receiver Wallace Wright said, his head shaking in disbelief.
Not many. For all the wisdom in sliding to safety, for all the intelligence of curling up in the face of a collision, Sanchez saw the end zone and wasn’t going to be stopped.
With that one decision, he proved he is just what this team needs. Across the last three seasons, Jets’ players have been in front of two different coaches and behind four different quarterbacks. Sanchez’ arrival brought stability. But it is his ability that is bringing the real excitement.
Chad Pennington could manage games, Kellen Clemens could survive games and Brett Favre could parachute in for a season of games. Sanchez? He’s here to win games, no matter what the price, and do so for a long time to come.
“He showed me some grit,” veteran linebacker Bart Scott said.
“The guy’s a gamer, a football player,” right tackle Damien Woody said. “I want to know if he ran the guy over (on the touchdown). It’s just football instincts. At the end of the day, when you see the end zone you’re going to make a play for that end zone. If you want that touchdown bad enough, you’ll do it.”
Sanchez wanted the end zone bad enough.
“That felt pretty good. That was a big-time hit,” Sanchez said. “Two guys going at each other on the goal line like that, one guy’s going to win and I’m glad our side did. I was excited. I haven’t had a rushing touchdown since high school probably, a long one at least, and 14 is long for me. Maybe I should slide or try to get out of the way, but that’s just the way I’ve been playing since I was little.”
Of course we understand that the ’San-chise’ probably shouldn’t have risked his own melon when he set himself up for a head-on collision with Tennessee safety Michael Griffin. We realize that hands the size of catcher’s mitts are still no excuse to wave the football around like a flag on a victory parade route, that Sanchez should have tucked the ball to his chest. But forgiveness came as soon as he got the six.
“I don’t know if the coaches were thrilled about it, but I’m glad it worked,” Sanchez said.
No worries, Mark. Rex Ryan loved it. “That was great,” the first-year head coach said. “It’s just the competitor he is. There’s no question about it. He’s probably going to do that every time. I never knew he’d bury his head in there and try to look like Larry Csonka. That was impressive.”
Just as impressive was Sanchez’ ability to lead a comeback. As good as the rookie was in the first quarter — his 2-yard TD pass to Ben Hartsock gave the Jets a 14-0 lead — he was that bad in the second. “A disaster,” is what he called his two-sack, two-fumble, one-turnover, four three-and-out quarter. Tennessee was coming alive, and on its first drive of the second quarter, took a 17-14 lead.
But Sanchez never panicked, and when a muffed punt return by Tennessee’s Ryan Mouton gave him the ball at the Titans’ 23, he reclaimed the lead with a 6-yard TD to Jerricho Cotchery. In the fourth quarter, Sanchez’s beautiful 46-yard sideline pass to Cotchery set up a field goal for the final score.
“I like the way he bounces back from things,” Ryan said. “It’s not always going to be perfect, but he relies on teammates. He knows he doesn’t have to do it all himself.”
With the defense, special teams and running game the Jets have, that certainly is true. But Sanchez is the hub. Players have to believe in him for this magical ride to continue, and after becoming the first rookie quarterback in NFL history to win his first three starts, the legend is growing.
“Teams are going to get to him, get in his face, knock him down,” Scott said. “He just gets back up, smiles and keeps on taking it. Any time you have a quarterback that’s willing to sit in the pocket, stare down the barrel of the gun and get hit just so he can get the pass off for a completion — I respect that. A lot of these quarterbacks do the ’chuck and duck.’ They throw it and curl up. They have football pads, too. They are going to get hit. Take it like a man.”
That’s precisely what Sanchez did.