It’s rare for a rookie quarterback to lead a team to the playoffs, period. But after what Mark Sanchez saw his rookie year, and what he’s seen since, he has a different confidence about Dak Prescott.
Sanchez was the last rookie to lead a team to the conference championship game, during his first year with the Jets (2009). And his first game made such an impact on him that he realized the playoffs were simply different. That was the day against the Bengals when punter Steve Weatherford developed an irregular heartbeat before the game and Jay Feely had to kick and punt.
“Did you ever see I Am Legend, the movie? Remember when they capture the zombie guy and he’s in there breathing superfast?” Sanchez said, via Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I promise you he was on the training room table like that before we took the field. I was like, ‘Oh, my God. What happened?’ He had something happen, and we had no punter.
“Somebody had to punt, maybe it was [kicker] Jay Feely, but somebody had to punt for the game and it wasn’t our punter, and I’m walking out there thinking, ‘All right, nothing to be nervous about. Let’s go. And I see him having like a heart attack. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, the punter can’t even handle it, how am I going to handle it? Geez Louise, we got guys dropping like flies.’ So it was pretty wild.”
The current Cowboys third-stringer got through it better than most. In the modern era, only 20 rookies have started in the playoffs, and they have a combined 10-20 record as starters. Sanchez owns two of those (as does Joe Flacco), and thinks Prescott has the kind of demeanor to handle it.
“It’s a bigger deal than not making it bigger,” Sanchez said. “With everything else huge on the outside, the field’s the same size; the ball’s the same size, same rules, same playbook, everything. And now, what do we want to do? Shoot, we had a negative play on first down, let’s get back on track. Oh, we’re third-and-short, do I need to throw it 30 yards down the field or can I hit my back, whatever. Just eliminating all those distractions.
“With coach [Scott] Linehan, Sticks [quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson] and coach [Jason] Garrett, the way they talk to us and prepare us to recommit every week, I think he’ll be just fine. We’ll help him as much as we can, but he’s going to do great.”
Prescott at least has the advantage of playing his games at home, as both of Sanchez’s wins with the Jets as a rookie were on the road. And hopefully, he doesn’t see anything like Sanchez saw during his first playoff experience.
