09/22 — Mark Sanchez is off to a fine start to his NFL career and the league continues to take notice of the Jets’ rookie signalcaller. After earning NFL Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week honors for his Week 1 performance against Houston, Sanchez is up for the same award after helping the Green & White dispose of the New England Patriots on Sunday.

Sanchez, who is the first Jets rookie QB to win the first two starts of his career, completed 14 of 22 passes for 163 yards with a touchdown in the club's 16-9 win. After totaling just 57 yards in the first half (including minus-2 net passing) and three points, Sanchez and the offense came out firing on all cylinders after the break.

Two plays after hooking up with Jerricho Cotchery for a 45-yard gain on a post, Sanchez found TE Dustin Keller in the back of the end zone for a 9-yard score. The Jets took a lead they would never relinquish on Jay Feely’s extra point and their next two drives resulted in a pair of Feely field goals. Sanchez completed 11 of 17 in the decisive half for 148 yards.

“He did a great job. He didn’t look like it was his second NFL game,” said Keller of Sanchez. “He kept the game going for us and the fans were our 12th man on the field, which helped us out a lot. He never got rattled after being sacked and held the team together. He is an accurate passer. He puts the ball where it needs to be and you can’t get any better than that."

The 6’2”, 225-pound Sanchez, who left the University of Southern California following his junior year, has completed 60.4 percent of his passes and has thrown two touchdowns against one interception through two games.

Having just been sacked twice, the 22-year-old continues to impress onlookers with his pocket presence and adept footwork. He throws a very catchable ball and can get it to wherever it needs to be on the field.

“I feel like this is an amazing team. I feel like these guys have confidence in me,” Sanchez said. “I feel like I’m getting more and more comfortable with the game plan each passing week. The most important thing is understanding that we haven’t arrived yet. We’re not done by any means. We still have a long season to go and a very tough team coming in here next week. We’re excited about that.”

To vote for Sanchez or any of the other rookies up for this week's Pepsi award, click here.

Sanchez Rates

The Manning boys had a phenomenal weekend as Eli led the crosstown Giants to a comeback victory in Dallas and Peyton somehow got the Colts by the Dolphins in Miami.  The famous siblings were raised by former Saints QB Archie Manning, a Pro Football Hall of Fame signal caller whose 98.3 passer rating during the Saints' first two games back in 1971 still is tops for any rookie passer who started his team's first two since 1970.

But Sanchez's 91.3 rating after the Jets' opening pair of victories vaulted him into second place on that list. Here's the top five from the Elias Sports Bureau:

Titans vs. Oilers

As the coaching staff is hard at work developing a game plan for the Tennessee Titans, the players have today off and will return to the practice field on Wednesday. With the NFL celebrating the 50th anniversary of the American Football League, the Jets will don their Titans blue jerseys and blue helmets this weekend and the Titans (oh this is confusing, so let’s just call them Titans/Oilers) will don white jerseys and those familiar powder blue helmets.

While the Jets/Titans are off to a 2-0 start for the ninth time in franchise history, the Titans/Oilers find themselves at the other end of the spectrum at 0-2. Tennessee, which captured the AFC South and lost only three games last regular season, has lost tight decisions to Pittsburgh, 13-10 in OT, and Houston, 34-31.

“I think they played well enough to be 2-0 right now, just a couple things happening throughout the course of the game, unfortunately,” said WR Jerricho Cotchery. “We know they’re a good team. Everyone in the league knows they’re a good team.”

The Titans/Oilers will be desperate. The facts are that there aren’t many teams that have climbed out of an 0-3 hole and they play in a division that features Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts, who have claimed double-digit victories the past seven seasons. After a thrilling Monday night victory over the Dolphins (a result that surely pleased Jets Nation), the Colts are 2-0.

So what’s wrong with the Titans/Oilers? We’ll study the matchup in detail later this week, but their pass defense is ranked dead last in football as they’re surrendering 339 yards per game. And the Texans offense, a unit which was shut out by the Jets in Week 1, torched the Tennessee secondary last week, which resulted in a few players questioning the coaching staff.

“Let me set the record straight here," said Titans head coach Jeff Fisher in The Tennessean. "When you are a good football team and you start off the season 0-2, there is going to be frustration, OK? And the only way you get out of it is you avoid pointing fingers at anybody."

The vaunted Jets D, which still hasn’t allowed a touchdown, will surely point its focus toward Chris Johnson. The second-year back, a 5’11, 200-pounder blessed with unbelievable speed, put up an amazing stat line against the Texans: 16 carries, 192 yards and one TD rushing, nine receptions, 87 yards and one score receiving.

“You do extra wind sprints because that guy can fly,” said ILB Bart Scott. “You make sure all your extra pursuit angles are right because if he gets to the open daylight, nobody’s going to catch him.”