I was having a discussion about this on another thread here with a finsider and I wanted some more opinions.

I know Mark hasn't lived up to a lot of fans' expectations, but I give him a passing grade so far and here's why:

1. Brian Schottenheimer. The incompetent OC has handcuffed Sanchez, shrunk the field opposing D's have to defend down to about 15 yards long, and is just terrible at game time play calling. When the field is condensed like that DB's will tend to jump on routes and what you get are easy pick 6's.

2. When the handcuffs are taken off late in the 4th quarter and Schottenheimer has no other choice but to open up the offense, Sanchez performs at a high level more times than not and has the most 4th quarter come-from-behind victories than any other QB since he came into the league.

3. He's one tough SOB. Say what you want about Sanchez, but he gets back to his feet after hits that would have Mike Vick out for 4 weeks. The man is a football player straight up.

4. He is only in his 4th overall year of starting between his one year at USC and 2.75 for the Jets and has been improving every year.

5. He's had a different receiving corp every year except for Dustin Keller. I would think it's hard to build chemistry with receivers when they are different every year.

6. He's a winner. He's been able to play well enough that we've been to the playoffs in his first 2 years and he's helped the team win 4 road playoff games.

7. Brian Schottenheimer. I know he was the #1 reason, but I think Schottenheimer deserves 2 spots in my list of the reasons why I give Mark a pass; BS is just plain lousy at what he does. I want to see what Sanchez can do with a staff of competent offensive coaches before I could give up on him.

Mark has definitely made his share of mistakes and bears his share in the offensive woes we've been experiencing, but I think he's shown great potential while working with a below-average at best OC.

What do you guys and girls think?