Before the season started I had a back and forth discussion with jetsbill that resulted in a wager of 100$: If Mark Sanchez had a QB rating over 75 Jetsbill would win, if he was under 75 I would win. Given that he will likely rest next week-we should take the number as it stands as the final one. And the rating? 75.3!

Thus I lose (by 0.3 points). However it is a good time to ask what you think about Mark's progress. If you care about QB ratings (I don't so much) then 75.3-while a marked improvement over last year, is pretty poor. He is ranked only ahead of Matt Hasselback, Brett Favre, Derek Anderson and Jimmy Clausen in the whole NFL and that is pretty poor company. This year QB ratings are at an all-time high, way over last year even, and if I had known this would be the case I probably would have moved that bar up for the wager a bit (:-)). Still, I think Mark has really improved his game and is maturing. He has hurt the team far less than last year, and his good games are better and more numerous. I think Josh Freeman is a good case to look at. They came into the league the same year, and Freeman's rating last year was even worse than Sanchez'. This year, Freeman is 9th at 93.6 (ahead of Drew Brees) and has 23 TDs to only 6 picks. I bring this up not to say that Freeman (who has faced far worse defenses) is better than Sanchez, but to show how a system and offensive coordinator can help his young QB. Freeman is now in a system that is very simple, and he has thrived. The Bucs have removed the risk from his passes. As we have seen the last 2 weeks against very good defenses, when Shottenheimer does the same, Sanchez (and hence the Jets offense) thrives. This is something to look forward to for the rest of this year, and into the next.