Aug. 16, 2009

Eli has been there, knows what awaits hyped Sanchez

By Clark Judge | CBSSports.com Senior Writer
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ALBANY, N.Y. -- Expectations for the Jets' Mark Sanchez are enormous, and the rookie quarterback promises to do what he can to fulfill them. And that's great, but what else do you expect him to say?

What I want to know is what he's really up against -- a rookie quarterback playing in New York with the whole world watching and the weight of the world on his shoulders -- so I consulted a local expert.

Eli Manning, come on down.

Manning knows what Sanchez is going through because he experienced it five years ago. He was the rookie quarterback who would save the Giants, and he was the rookie quarterback who would one day take them to the Super Bowl. He did, but it wasn't easy, with Manning the target of impatient fans and a critical media.

He not only got through it, he did so well the Giants just made him one of the game's richest players. That is why I asked what advice he would give Sanchez now that he's where Manning was in 2004.

"Just try to stay within the offense," Manning said, "and don't try to do too much. Just learn. You're going to make mistakes; don't get down. And if you have some bad games don't let the media or anyone else get your confidence down. That's the most important thing."

Manning speaks from experience. He sat nine games his rookie year before stepping on to the field, then he struggled to straighten himself out -- losing his first six starts before beating Dallas in the season finale. Never did he look worse than in a 37-14 loss to Baltimore where he completed four of 18 passes, finished with a passer rating of zero and was torched by the press.

But Manning stayed true to his word and, as he said, didn't let "anyone get [my] confidence down." A year later he was in the playoffs. Two years later he was in the playoffs. And three years later he was the MVP of the Super Bowl.

But it was a difficult climb to the top. From the moment Manning stepped on the practice field he was sliced, diced and spliced, with critics questioning whether the Giants made a mistake after his first minicamp and after his 1-6 welcome to the pro game. There were too many incompletions, too many interceptions and too many losses to satisfy Giants fans, but, hey, that's what can happen with rookie quarterbacks.

The problem for Sanchez is that the Jets of today are not where the Giants were in 2004. They're better. The Jets were a playoff-ready team a year ago before collapsing down the stretch, losing four of their final five games. Nevertheless, they finished 9-7, the second time in the past three years they had a winning record. The feeling is that had their quarterback, then Brett Favre, not self-destructed in December the Jets were a cinch for the playoffs. That was why the club felt an urgency to trade up for Sanchez. Now he carries the expectations that Manning shouldered his rookie season, and take it from Eli: You better fasten your seat belt, Mark.

"It was a grind," Manning said of his first year. "I didn't come in and start the first part and at the first minicamp I think they kept showing a clip of me, saying, 'Eli had a bad day, and he's overthrowing people.' Well, it was a warmup session. We were just throwing fades. I overthrew a fade and, all of a sudden, it was like 'He's a bust.'

"There is going to be something that comes on [with Sanchez]; there are going to be some people who want [Kellen] Clemens to be the starter and some people who want Sanchez, and it's just not worth it. That's when I stopped reading the papers and stopped focusing on it. I just said, 'I have to worry about doing my job, earn the respect from my teammates and that's the stuff that's most important.'"

For the moment, the media and Jets fans are in Sanchez's corner, but that's because he performed well in his pro debut. That can turn at any moment, and Manning is the evidence. Playing in New York is great when you win, but there is an army of bashers waiting to pounce if you don't ... and, again, Manning is Exhibit A. Even after he led the Giants to the playoffs in his first two seasons as a full-time starter he was pulled apart by critics who thought the Giants erred.

Manning was at a disadvantage for several reasons: 1) He was the first pick in the draft; 2) the Giants paid heavily to acquire him and 3) he has the Manning name, the brother of Peyton and the son of Archie. But there is something he does share with Sanchez, and that's the difficulty of satisfying a demanding New York audience.

"It's going to be tough," said Manning, "because fans are going to expect great [things]. It takes a long time to get comfortable, and fans are expecting things to happen right away because they made the trade and there's everything that goes along with that, like the hype.

"It's not an easy thing to deal with, especially in New York with the media. There's going to be some controversy going on, so you just have to stay within yourself, try to enjoy yourself and have fun. Take your completions and your checkdowns and don't get into forcing things."

Class dismissed.