Up close and personable

Mark Sanchez will probably never win a Super Bowl. Ordinary odds and the Jets’ long, anything-but-ordinary agony dictates as much. So Sanchez will likely always trail Eli Manning in the title chase. And it won’t matter.

Sanchez will be a more beloved quarterback than Eli. Personality sells in sports and Sanchez’s every move screams he knows it. This is a guy who went shirtless in GQ and built a cult following at USC before he ever started a game.

Sanchez wants the Madden cover, while Eli lives undercover.

You can even see this on a night when the rookie throws a pick six on his first pass and almost throws another on his second. Give him credit, though, even when he’s jittery, Sanchez knows how to project confidence.

It doesn’t matter if he’s hitting defenders right between the numbers, his body language screams he’ll figure this out this whole NFL thing soon enough.

This could be what allowed Sanchez to come back and throw a touchdown pass later on in that Monday night game against Baltimore. Or it could just be that Ed Reed and Ray Lewis were out of the game.

Either way, it shows why Mark Sanchez is Rex Ryan’s perfect quarterback.

The Jets’ coach wants bravado and Sanchez gives him just that — gives him what the Giants’ quarterback never had much need for. Eli deadens stories with his wooden quotes. You can be certain that Sanchez will not sidestep controversy. 

And the press and the fans will embrace him for it, no matter what happens on Sundays.

Sanchez’s personality will shield criticisms of overpaid contracts and missed opportunities. So go ahead and enjoy that personality, Jets fans. It won’t come with any prizes.